EDITOR’S NOTE: Genevieve Cogman clearly has excellent taste in bands. Besides that, she’s also had the privilege of writing for some of the most complex and popular role-playing game properties out there, among them the World of Darkness, In Nomine, GURPS and the upcoming and highly anticipated (by us, anyway) Dresden Files game. I’d encourage everyone to click the “more…” link and read the whole of her fantastic article, no matter what genre or industry you plan on writing for. It’s great advice!

Ladies, fish, and gentlemen — sorry, had a Blue Oyster Cult flashback.

Ladies and gentlemen, at some point in your writing career you are going to get edited. I’m not just talking about helpful suggestions from beta-readers, writing groups, or friends who are looking at your stuff. I’m talking about a manuscript which you’ve actually signed a contract to write — or which you’re submitting on the understanding that the editor will take a serious look at — which has come back with red ink and comments all over it.

This is my experience, and my usual course of action. I hope it’s useful to you.

1) You will be angry. This is perfectly natural. How dare the editor criticize your work, insist you cut out your best bits, suggest your grammar would be lucky to secure a failing grade, want you to write more about the bits that most annoy you or substitute his soggy text for your crisp sentences? Have they no taste? Have they no morals?

However, trying to work on your manuscript while in a mood like this will not help you do good work. So have a quick read through to grasp the worst of it, then put it on one side and go and do whatever you normally do to work off tension, be it play computer games, go for vigorous walks in the open air, kill puppies for Satan, or whatever. Get rid of the temper. Then come back to the job.

2) Send a polite communication (email, if convenient) to the editor to let them know that you’ve got the corrections and will start working on them. This will reassure them that you are getting down to work, and it will give them a chance to mention anything that comes to mind. Also, if you have any immediate questions (”The manuscript’s missing the last few pages — does this mean that they’re okay, or have they got lost?”) this is a good moment to ask them.

3) Grit your teeth and get down to it.

4) It helps to set yourself a schedule; so many pages orwords, every night/week/month/whatever.

5) Minor errors, such as spelling, punctuation or grammar (don’t laugh, my English spelling has more than once needed correction by American English editors) can be fixed in a straightforward and easy way. Edits on points of style (”I don’t like how you phrased that bit, please rewrite it”) are more fiddly. Try reading it out loud or bouncing it off a convenient sworn-to-secrecy friend’s ear. Edits on points of accuracy (”Book X contradicts this on page Y, please fix”) are at least unarguably wrong and fairly straightforward to sort out.

6) The two big problems tend to be:

a) Cutting out entire big chunks. Remember to check that you haven’t taken out anything that’s vital to other parts of the document. Always check: the editor may have missed a reference.

b) Altering entire big chunks. (”I don’t like this page. Redo it.”) Hopefully the editor will have given some indication as to why they don’t like it. If not, this is a situation where it’s reasonable to contact the editor and ask (politely) what they mean.

c) Adding entire big chunks. You may know what you’re supposed to be adding, or you may just have been asked to contribute another unspecified thousand words or so. Not much you can do here except just get on with it; again, hopefully the editor will have given some indication about what they’d like added.

7) Remember to check whether you’re writing in American English or British English. I’m from England, which is why I’m using “they” as “singular person of unspecified gender” throughout (plus the fact that I’ve worked for editors of both genders). Usually I’m not able to do this. There was one occasion when an American friend was writing for Hogshead, if I remember correctly, and thus had to conform to the British norm, and was complaining bitterly. I remember laughing like a drain. (ED: Be careful — Writing for a Canadian market can be even trickier!)

8) Don’t trust spellcheck. You know this one, I’m sure.

9) Remember that you are working for the editor. It is their privilege to tell you what they want done, and your job to sit there and do it. You want to impress them with your professionalism as well as with your talent, which means that you need to get the manuscript back on schedule. If they haven’t given you a schedule, contact them and ask what date they’d like it back by. If you think you’re going to be late, contact them before the deadline and tell them so, together with an apology and a suggested revised date. They’re trying to juggle multiple balls, including artwork, layout, re-edit, having their superiors on their backs, etcetera. If you make their life easier, they will remember and they will be grateful and your chance of getting another job will rise.

Also, it is not worth arguing over minor points. If their edits will actually cause an error in continuity/fact, then politely tell them so, tactfully, with sources to support what you’re saying. Feel free to quote the sources to save them having to go and look them up. Try and think of a way of fixing things to satisfy their complaint that will not cause a factual error, and include that.

If you actually disagree on a major point of style and you feel that altering it in favour of the edit will make your work much weaker and lower the line’s quality, then try and find a tactful way of saying so. Be prepared to have to grin and bear it and do the rewrite anyhow. You are a writer. You are not at the top of the food chain. Life is tough.

10) Send in your re-edited draft, hopefully on time, with a polite letter/email requesting confirmation of receipt. That way you’ll know they’ve got it and you won’t have to worry about those calls a month later saying, “What happened to piece Z?” Mention your gratitude for the clarity of their edits (assuming that they were reasonably clear) and your hope for future work, in a dignified and not too obvious way.

Please remember that everything has exceptions to the rule, and that there will be cases where you should throw any or all of these suggestions out of the window. However, I think that your average editor will appreciate you adhering to them, and an editor’s appreciation may be the edge that leads to you getting more work from that particular line.

There are people out there who can’t take an edit. They’re rude, they object to every change that the editor suggests, and they send back the eventual document weeks late. Nobody wants to work with these people. Don’t be one of them.