Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Plumbean
(Post 1243712)
And he thinks editors rewrite things. Like hell they do.
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It kinda depends. Developmental editors... no. Almost never.
I've been asked to do heavy editing/rewrites by one client with whom I was working as a developmental editor. It turned into a very odd mixture of editing and ghostwriting, and in the end she asked me to be a co-author on the (five-book!) series. So we started from scratch with me taking on a partnership role. A very satisfactory result, because by that time I'd pretty much had to come up with 3/4 of the plot and characterization.
In a different capacity I was chief editor for a publisher who engaged authors in "work for hire" jobs. They wrote short novels for the publisher's imprint, but were paid a flat fee and didn't retain copyrights (as is normal for "work for hire" contracts).
Anyway, since the publisher had strict requirements that the authors weren't always able to fit perfectly, he handed the projects over to me. I did my best to encourage and guide the authors through their rewrites, so they'd understand how to meet the publisher's needs, but with tight deadlines, in the end I rewrote a lot. Like, a
lot a lot.
But these are extremely unusual circumstances. Normally, a developmental editor doesn't rewrite anything. Line editors are a different story. When hiring a line editor, some authors prefer to have comments or mark-ups so they can do the rewrites themselves. But many just want the line editor to clean up the sentences themselves.
(This takes a lot of trust on the part of the author. Still, 99% of the time, the edits are easily revertible by the author if the end result doesn't sound right.)
But developmental editing is primarily about the plot structure, character development, and so on--lots of brainstorming and questioning. A good one does all s/he can to help the author pull the story out from wherever it's stuck (assuming it is), and to help it grow as strong as possible.
Annnnd that's way more than anyone wants to know in a snark thread. Sorry. But damn,
RealityChuck drives me bonkers.
