|
|
Writers' panel: "What do writers want from editors?"Facilitator
Heidi Wrightsman began by introducing our panelists, fellow Guild members
Waverly Fitzgerald, Diane Sepanski, and David Williams. Waverly
Fitzgerald
is a writing teacher, writer and writing coach. She just completed her seventh
novel, Every Step You Take, a detective story set in Seattle. She also
writes personal essays and nonfiction articles about seasonal holidays and
dancing, among many other subjects. She has taught classes on writing novels,
nonfiction book proposals, family history, historical fiction and other subjects
for the UCLA Writers Program, UW Extension, Richard Hugo House, Seattle Central
Community College and the UW Women's Center. David
Williams has
written books and pieces about natural history for national, regional and local
magazines and newspapers. In addition to writing A Naturalist's Guide to
Canyon Country and Grand Views of Canyon Country, he co-wrote A
Naturalist's Guide to the White Rim Trail and was a contributor to
Insight Guide: Seattle, Insight Guide: American Southwest, and Discovery
Channel–Insight Guide: Caves, Cliffs, and Canyons. He is currently working
on another book, The Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from Seattle,
which will be published by Graphic Arts in 2005. Diane
Sepanski says: “I was studying for a doctorate in postmodern theory and Victorian lit at
Duke when I took my first proofreading job, for an academic zoology journal.
Little did I know then that I’d be spending the next ten or so years making a
living as a writer, editor and proofreader. And I used to believe Derrida when
he talked about the death of the author! “I
worked for three years at the Elliott Bay Book Company when I first arrived in
Seattle – the best introduction to the world of publishing a gal could have.
Then I was fortunate enough to do an internship at Seal Press. Since then,
I’ve edited and/or proofread for just about everyone in this town, from
Microsoft to Amazon to Nordstrom to Sasquatch to Swedish Medical Center to Seattle
Weekly. I’ve edited fiction and nonfiction books, poetry, magazine
articles on fly-fishing, and computer software help files. “Putting
on my author hat, I took my first paid writing gig at the age of 6, for my
sister Jean, who was a children’s book editor at the now defunct kids’
division of McGraw-Hill. Many essay contests later, I was a contributing writer
at Seattle Weekly for three years, writing features, profiles, and
reviews, from restaurants to books. “My
essay ‘The Skinny on Small’ appears in Body
Outlaws: Rewriting the Rules of Beauty and Body Image (Seal Press) and has
been reprinted in a college textbook anthology, The Contemporary Reader (Longman Publishing). “I
lived for eight months last year in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, Romania, where I
taught writing and conversation to second-year university students. I’m
currently struggling to pay the bills while simultaneously writing a book of
essays about my amazing, beautiful, and life-changing experience abroad. “I
feel I owe any minor literary success that I have had to the nuns who taught me
(by threat of a ruler) to diagram sentences in grammar school, and a lifelong
habit of reading by flashlight under the covers.” *
* * * David,
speaking primarily about the world of magazine editors and writers, opened the
discussion by saying that an editor is someone to learn from. Punctuation is
key; it appears to be a weakness of his, so he is grateful when an editor fixes
it. On the other hand, it’s frustrating when an editor edits his piece but
doesn’t explain his or her edits, or changes things without asking David why
he might have chosen a particular convention (often there is a reason the editor
may not be aware of). The editor should always ask the author questions, David
said. Two other important things are responsiveness and the ability to say yes
or no. Enthusiasm for the work is also welcome. Providing positive commentary
throughout a piece is nice; it shows appreciation and respect for the writer. Diane
agreed that it would be nice to hear positive remarks about the writing as part
of the copyediting, to see not only the red-pen “mistakes” but what works as
well. As a writer, she feels that rhythm in a piece is key, and editors can
often misunderstand or not see the rhythm that the writer has worked hard to put
in place. One of Diane’s favorite editors at the Seattle Weekly used to
call her to run by any changes. Diane really appreciated that. Her
own copyediting style has changed as a result of being copyedited herself;
she’s much more gentle with her queries. She urged editors to realize that
there is always emotion attached to people’s words. The editor/writer
relationship doesn’t have to be adversarial, she said; there will always be a
tension, but at its best, the relationship can be a productive dialogue. Waverly
often edits the work of people writing their first book-length manuscript,
getting it ready to submit to agents or publishers. She’s been edited
brilliantly before, so she appreciates the role of the editor. Here is her take
on what writers want:
Diane said that writers want editors who understand flow
and rhythm, who are well read, and so on. Reading out loud when you edit can
help editors “see” and “hear” the rhythm more clearly. Form and content
go hand in hand. Waverly continued, saying that writers want editors to make
them look good so they can submit manuscripts that are polished and ready for
submission. Writers can learn from an editor's comments and begin to self-edit.
In that way, editing is like teaching. Waverly personally likes it when an
editor not only points out a problem but also offers a suggestion on how to fix
it. David chimed in that having an editor know what they want
is key. Writers also want a lack of ego on the editor’s part. After all, the
words are the writers’. The relationship should be about how writer and editor
are going to work together to make a piece better.
Members asked whether writers’ groups are helpful and
whether writers can be good editors. One meeting participant, Ivan, mentioned
that he’s been writing political blogs (http://ivan.dailykos.com).
After 30 years of copyediting other people’s material, he says that
self-editing is really helping his writing. Another person mentioned how important it is to have at
least 5-7 people look at something before it goes into print, because we see
what we expect to see. Proofreading is really a different skill and a different
step from this. Proofers must read character by character, and often don’t get
the content of the piece because they are reading on such a detailed level. |
