Revisions, Edits and Other Necessary Evils

You’ve spent years learning how to craft a story worthy of publication. You have enough rejection letters to paper a feature wall. And then, one day, you get THE CALL. Finally, all of your hard work has paid off. You’ve made it to the big leagues. And then your editor says she’d like a few revisions. “Sure,” you say. You’ve got this. No problem.

Your editor sends the manuscript and you open it to discover phrases like “This scene isn’t working for me. Can you rewrite it?” Or “There’s not enough conflict in this chapter.”  And my favorite, “The stakes need to be higher.”

Your euphoria evaporates and you wonder why he/she even bought the book. You whine and complain for 24 hours (per Seekerville rules 😉), then you get to work on those changes. You send the manuscript back by the designated time and promptly receive an email from your editor telling you they loved the changes and will send line edits soon.

Yes! You made it over another hurdle.

You breeze through the line edits, feeling confident. A couple of weeks later, copy edits arrive. Yet as you open them, tears fill your eyes. They’ve butchered your opening line. The one you love and worked so hard to come up with.

Yes, all this happened to me. I was horrified when I opened that file and saw that “Blakely Daniels’ world had turned upside down” had been changed to “Blakely Daniels’s world had turned upside down.” A subtle change, I know, but that apostrophe S changed the entire flow of the sentence.

So, I did what any rational newbie would do. I sent a panicked email to my editor with a big, bold subject line that said HELP. Of course, it was after hours so there was no way I was going to hear from her until the next day. Which I did. It was then that my editor gave me some very helpful advice. She explained that editors are an author’s partner in the publishing process. They point out things we might have overlooked, raise questions that make us realize something wasn’t appropriately explained and anything else that gives them pause. She said it’s important that we look at all suggested changes, however, they are not cast in stone. My name will be on the cover of that book, so if some of those suggestions don’t resonate with me, it’s okay to say no.

Boy, was that a relief. My opening line remained the way I originally wrote it. However, the most important part of her advice was that I thoughtfully look at and consider all of the editor’s changes/comments. Ten books later, I still adhere to that advice. Though it’s not always easy when you open a file and see red text and comment bubbles everywhere. So here are some suggestions to help you through the dreaded editing process.

Pray first – Remember, the words on the page should be what God wants, not what we want. And when we’re hard of hearing, He sometimes uses others to point out what should/should not be on the page. Take a moment to ask Him to guide you before delving in.

Thoughtfully consider each suggestion – Have you ever had someone point out your child’s or another loved one’s inadequacies? Even if we agree, it still has us wanting to dig in our heels and fight. That’s how it can be with edits sometimes. But we can’t let that hurt blind us to what is really constructive criticism. Ponder each comment or change to see if makes sense. If they tell you they don’t understand something, then chances are some of your readers might not get it either.

Sleep on it – In my most recent edits, there were a couple of minor suggestions I ignored because I wasn’t sure how to address them. Yet they lingered in my brain. Enough that when I woke up the next morning, I had ideas to improve both.

Don’t take it personally – As that first editor explained to me, editors are our partners. They’re not sitting there with their proverbial red pen just looking for ways to sabotage us. On the contrary, they’re goal is to help us succeed. Something that’s easy to forget until we get to end of the edits and see those parting notes from the editor telling you how much they enjoyed the story. YOUR story.

Sometimes, despite all the levels of editing, mistakes still happen. I once had the word “thousand” show up as “hundred” in the book. And when you’re talking about elevation, that’s a big deal. The funny thing was, when I went back and looked at the edits, they all said “thousand,” so we have no idea what happened. Fortunately, no one called me out on it.

Editing and revisions are as much a part of the writing process as writing itself. It’s how we approach those necessary evils that’s important. If we ignore them, we’ll quickly get a reputation of being difficult to work with. But if we choose to partner with our editors, thinking of ourselves as part of a team, then everyone’s a winner.

Writers, how do you feel about the editing process, whether it’s from an editor, mentor or critique partner? Do you relish the process or look at it as a necessary evil?

Readers, without mentioning any names/titles, have you ever read a book that you felt was poorly edited?

Award-winning author Mindy Obenhaus is passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. She lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, two sassy pups, countless cattle, deer and the occasional coyote, mountain lion or snake. When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, cooking and watching copious amounts of the Hallmark Channel. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com