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Writer to Writer

Rie Sheridan

How Far Do You Give? The Editing Process

One of the hardest things about being a writer is that moment when you hand your baby over to an editor and say "Here, Doc! What's wrong with it?"

I still get a wave of nervous tension whenever I get a chapter back from one of my editors. Questions zing through my brain: what do they want changed? Why doesn't it work the way it is? How far am I willing to go?

That last question can make or break a contract. There are things that I am willing to compromise over: changing a character's name for a better flow, expanding a scene to show actions instead of tell them, adding details to flesh things out.

But some things I will not easily give over on. In fact, when my publisher asked me if I was willing to change the title of "The Blood That Binds" because it was similar to another book in their upcoming list, I risked losing the contract to say no. Why? Because that title had been carefully chosen after decades of refinement. Because it had been attached to the book for the last ten years. Because it contains the essence of the theme and the central message of the book. This was a battle worth fighting. In my opinion, it would have compromised the book to give in on this point.

On the other hand, an editor suggested that I change the name of my raft captain because it was too close to the name of another character. There was no point in going to bat on this one, because he was a minor personage that only appeared in the beginning of the book. Besides, it gave me a chance to rename him after an old friend. An in-joke that may never mean anything to anybody else, but I know it is there.

The point I am trying to make here is that a writer must be flexible when it comes to editorial input. In my experience, the editors I have worked with have all added a world of polish to my work. I thank them all for the changes they have "forced" upon me. But on the other hand, when it comes to my work, I have to keep my eye on the overall vision. If the requested change is something that I feel would be detrimental to the piece at large, I will fight against it. Only the author can decide which battles fall into this category.