The Editors And The Editing Process

“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” he said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” — Stephen King

Hemingway is right because no matter how good you are, you can’t write a perfect first draft. You may have a different viewpoint, but if the first draft of anything isn’t trash, then editing and rewriting would be non-existent in the writing process. All you have to do is to type and hit publish without reading it through to discover and remove unnecessary words, errors — and rewrite some sentences and paragraphs.

Editing and rewriting remain the most important aspect of the writing process. No writing task is done until it has gone through the editing process. But at times, some writers through their unappreciative attitude would undermine the work of the editors. They would show little or no recognition to these individuals that works hard to help writers publish excellent pieces.

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The work the editors do shouldn’t be sneezed at. The responsibility of giving a written work its deserved quality still rests on their broad shoulders. They have the eyes and the skill to turn the first draft into an excellent piece.

After reading a yet-to-be-published piece, the editors would deduce the places to perform surgical procedures to improve the piece and make it more appealing and enjoyable to read.

You can be done with your first draft at any time. Maybe during a train ride to work, or while waiting for your flight at the gate. All of a sudden, an interesting idea pops up in your head, and you start typing to capture every tiny bit of it.

But there’s a special place for editing and rewriting. Some call it pruning, cutting, and filling. Whatever name you may have for it, editing and rewriting is the time to remove every overgrown branch from your writing. You lighten the weight by removing unnecessary words and adding relevant content to enrich the piece, smoothen it, and make it engrossing for readers.

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Every work of art we find interesting goes through a rigorous editing process before it goes public. For example, movie producers would take their time to meticulously work on different scenes of their movie before they adjudge it to be perfect for public consumption. They are not going to stop until it is edited to good quality.

If you can always remember that your work isn’t perfect until it’s read and edited by you or by a different person, then you will understand why editors are key to a successful writing career. And why it’s worth it to have a good editing process.

Editing isn’t fun. Some people can’t do it because of how challenging it is. It’s tasking and time-consuming. You’re going to put your creative mind to work and stretch your imagination several times before you’re done with a task. I don’t enjoy it, but I feel good when I’m editing any of my posts because it means that the meal is almost ready to be served.

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Let your readers know about your editors

Letting your readers know that your editors played a key role in your published work is a great way to show appreciation to the editors. Acknowledge your editors in your book cover. Talk about their kindness towards you and how they help you to accomplish many writing goals.

Doing this would give the editors a sense of belonging. They won’t feel like their input isn’t being recognized. Rather they’d feel appreciated for doing a good job. And they’d be keen to work for you again.

It also would help uninformed readers to understand that it isn’t only the author that works on a piece. That without the inputs from the editors, most of the pieces they’ve read wouldn’t have been so enjoyable.

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You should speak well of your editors because you couldn’t have achieved many writing successes and grown your writing career without their contributions.

Think about it, if not for the editors, many great pieces will never be ready for publishing. It is the editors that’d ready a piece before it gets shipped to the public. It is their input that would help to present a piece in a way that readers would find interesting and compelling to read. The most important aspect of their work is to ensure that every information or message in a writing is appropriately communicated to readers.

Your insights and writing skill aren’t enough to set some of your pieces on the path to success. But the editors can help you achieve more from your work. They know how best to communicate your ideas, and thoughts to your readers. They know the right words to use, when, and how to use them — and where to use them.

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Conclusion

When it comes to writing, you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know how readers are going to feel reading your post, and how best to communicate with your readers. At times you also don’t know the right words to use, and how to keep readers going from one paragraph to the other till the last one.

But the editors understand how best to communicate with readers.

They’ve read and edited lots of pieces that turned out successful. They know the fundamentals and the ingredients of a successful piece and how to expertly edit your writing and put the necessary finishing touches better than anyone.

Editing and rewriting is essential component of writing. It’s not something everyone can do. And this is why the contribution of the editors — and why having a good editing process is immensely important for a successful writing career.