BY TERRI WAGNER
What Did You Mean?
An editor and a writer go into a bar . . . Heard that one yet? It ends badly for both. Why? Irony. The two people most likely to have appropriate, effective words at their disposal, don’t! They make rookie mistakes.
When the editor says the sentence is “all wrong,” the writer thinks “ok, so I made a grammatical error, fix it.” The editor hears “fix it,” and does so. The writer explodes with “that’s not right. I’m not making that change,” and thinks the editor is an idiot. The editor thinks the writer is “difficult.” Communication had broken down.
The editor and writer complain to family, friends, anyone who will listen, and they wonder, if editors and writers cannot work together, who can? And, by the way, where do you put that comma? Sound familiar? It should. Google “writers complaining about editors” and visa versa, and prepare to laugh and cry, and agree.
Why should the two people most likely to have an arsenal of highly effective words not be able to communicate? There are reams of papyri, velum, scrolls, ancient script, paper, and now digital sources that can shed a lot of light on the subject. But it really comes down to one gigantic simple thing: perspective.
Years ago, I had a wonderful friend who wanted me to read a religious book that was electrifying his church. He used a terminology that confused me, as my religion did not use those words. Being the concerned person he was, he called his pastor, called me back, and gave me a different word, one most every Christian uses. Voila! We had a communication breakthrough. (Side note: I did read the book, and liked it.)
So, when your piece is accepted by Hamilton Springs Press (aka Xchyler Publishing), it has already been deemed publishable by a group of individuals, some editors, some marketeers. And they have provided some comments through our manuscript submission evaluation. We also require authors to go through the same exercise for every manuscript. I have urged (we as a group have urged) our writers (new and established) to please read the comments and take them into consideration as a content editor is assigned and editing work begins.
I have discovered that many times, the writer and the content editor have read the same words and reached different conclusions. So when the editor says at the beginning, “great piece can’t wait to work with you,” the writer hears “all is good, just a few minor things, and off we go.” So the writer says, “great, let’s get started,” the editor hears, “I stand ready and willing to make significant changes.” And already there is trouble in paradise.
So what can we do, as a publishing company, to hit the right note? Nothing beats the phrase, “what did you conclude about the evaluation comments?” Followed by, “which comment(s) did you understand? Or not understand?” and “how did your answers compare to ours?” And more follow-up questions, until both the writer and the newly assigned content editor are on the same page. Trust me, things will end badly if this starting point gets muddied up.
My day job involves “fixing” computers for middle school students. The students walk in my room and start with “my computer won’t work.” And we have to go through a series of questions so that I can at least pin down what might be happening, and fix it.
Don’t start off in a train wreck, make sure that, as an author, you know exactly what your editor is saying. After all, editors and writers are wordsmiths, let’s prove it to each other.
Terri Wagner lives, writes, and edits from her home in Alabama. Her most recent project, Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk Anthology, was released in May 2014. Her next project, The Mage and the Magpie by M. K. Wiseman, will be released in 2015.
Other works to Ms. Wagner’s credit include Shades and Shadows: A Paranormal Anthology, Mr. Gunn and Dr. Bohemia by Pete Ford, and Conjectrix (Vivatera Book 2) by Candace J. Thomas.