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Sample idea: The personality of an
editor
Editing is such a distinct and separate discipline from writing
that it's a good idea to adopt a different personality when you're
in editing mode.
When you're writing, you're your true self. Your only job is
to write. Don't worry about mistakes and corrections
- just get the thing written.
When you edit your work, though, you're no longer that same
creative person you were as a writer. You need to be logical,
analytical and pedantic. You need to focus on the accuracy and
meaning of the grammar and language, correcting mistakes, sharpening
the writing, cutting out the waffle and so on.Try giving yourself
a different name. You could even sit at a different desk, and
dress more formally.
The writer part of you might not like the editorial part, who
cuts out your favourite bits and changes the words around. But
your editorial personality is a necessary evil. And he'll do
a much better job if you think of him as someone else - someone
who isn't as emotionally attached to your work as you are.
It's also much cheaper to have a different side of your own
personality doing the editing, rather than employing someone
else to do it. However, editing is just as much a skill and art
as writing is, and you must ensure that your editorial personality
is sufficiently well trained.
I always recommend that you send at least one piece of finished
writing to a professional editing service. It doesn't have to
be an entire novel, which would be expensive to edit properly,
but it could be a single chapter or a short story. This will
show you how good your writing is, how good it needs to be to
bring it up to their standard, what sort of changes they make,
and how they go about doing what they do. The lessons you learn
will benefit you for the rest of your writing career.
Editing services often advertise in writing magazines, including
Writing Magazine, Writers' News, Writer's Forum, Writer's Digest,
and Mslexia.
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