{"id":4,"date":"2010-06-05T18:53:09","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T01:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/?p=4"},"modified":"2010-06-28T23:02:50","modified_gmt":"2010-06-29T06:02:50","slug":"a-case-for-gentle-editing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/?p=4","title":{"rendered":"A Case for Gentle Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Little synchronicities in life never fail to amaze\u2014and delight\u2014me.\u00a0 A few weeks ago,\u00a0 I was writing some content for my web site.\u00a0 I was listing\u00a0 the various editing services I offer to clients and decided to include a few sentences that stated my philosophy on editing since I firmly believe that the underlying philosophy about our work\u2014and the larger purpose it serves\u2014shapes how<\/em> we perform our work.\u00a0\u00a0 I am of the view that the key benefits of an editing service should include (1) honouring\u00a0 authors\u2019 wishes to have their manuscripts accurately reflect their authentic voices and truths and (2) collaborating with the authors to empower the clarity of the message.<\/p>\n

A few days after writing the website content, I was reading Julia Cameron\u2019s book The Right to Write. An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life <\/em><\/strong>(1998) and, would you believe it, tucked within a chapter on containing one\u2019s work (i.e., being very selective about whom you share the early drafts of your work with) was a brief paragraph in which she described the qualities of her favourite editor! According to her, this particular editor inspires her to write freely, phrases his feedback gently in the form of\u00a0 questions, supports her strongest work and is not competitive with her (pp. 179-180). \u00a0The editor\u2019s love of good writing and enthusiasm for words inspires her to use words well (p.180). Bingo! Cameron has phrased it in slightly different words, but the gist of what she seems to like about this editor is that he works with her to empower the clarity of the message! <\/em><\/p>\n

That one little paragraph just resonated for me like one of those large Tibetan singing bowls<\/a>.\u00a0 There was my philosophy echoed back at me, but I only found this passage after<\/em> I’d been shaping my philosophy for quite a few months! It confirmed for me that while editing does by its very nature involve providing feedback on\u2014and often making corrections to\u2014another individual\u2019s work, how that feedback is conveyed to the writer makes all the difference to her openness to hearing and following up on the editor\u2019s suggestions. It can profoundly influence whether the two parties, the writer and the editor, perceive the process as collaborative or adversarial.\u00a0 It\u2019s the difference between engaging in a constructive process that nurtures the writer\u2019s strengths and a destructive process that undermines the writer and his confidence at every turn of the page.\u00a0 It really comes down to this: Are you editing a piece because you love words and you genuinely want the author\u2019s finished manuscript to reflect her voice in a style that captivates the reader with its elegance and persuasiveness?\u00a0 And if you must offer up some criticisms along the way, can they be gently phrased and framed in a way that helps the writer to most effectively convey the truth of the message she wants to share with the world?<\/p>\n

To my way of thinking, an author\u2019s manuscript is so much more than \u201cjust\u201d a collection of carefully or artfully selected words and sentences intended to communicate ideas. It also captures much of the writer\u2019s \u201cSelf\u201d, hence the trepidation and vulnerability that sometimes accompanies the act of turning over one’s work to an editor.\u00a0 At the end of the day, it seems to me that working collaboratively with the writer, maintaining a sense of humour, honouring how much of the writer\u2019s self is in the document,\u00a0 and providing encouraging feedback with respectfully phrased editing suggestions seems to produce a better manuscript and a more rewarding working relationship between editor and writer.<\/p>\n

How about you?\u00a0 What are the qualities that you appreciate in an editor or a “friendly reader”?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Little synchronicities in life never fail to amaze\u2014and delight\u2014me.\u00a0 A few weeks ago,\u00a0 I was writing some content for my web site.\u00a0 I was listing\u00a0 the various editing services I offer to clients and decided to include a few sentences that stated my philosophy on editing since I firmly believe that the underlying philosophy about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26,"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions\/26"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdc-sage-editing.com\/sdc-sagewit\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}