A Handbook Worth Having at Hand

BOOK REVIEW: An Editor's Guide to Working with Authors, by Barbara Sjoholm

There is a glut of books on the market about how to write fiction, but only a handful on editing fiction. There are a gazillion books on how to fix the mechanics of language, but few on the more creative work of structural or developmental editing.

Barbara Sjoholm’s timeless handbook, An Editor’s Guide to Working with Authors (Rainforest Press, 2010) fills a void in more ways than one: it’s not just a pragmatic “how to” but a reflection on editing as an art and an attitude.

​Sjoholm (pronounced “shoe-holm”) is a Seattle-based novelist, memoirist,  mystery writer, translator, publisher, and editor. In 2004 she started the Author-Editor Clinic, a mentoring program for freelance editors that focuses on the developmental editing of book-length manuscripts and on the author-editor relationship.
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An Editor’s Guide distills the lectures and notes that Sjoholm amassed as a teacher at the clinic. Here are the most important things I got from this book:

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• courage to communicate more closely with the author
• questions to ask the author before editing begins
• a template for an editorial letter
• a “non-judgmental” philosophy of editing

Build a relationship with the author
Since I write better than I speak, the prospect of a phone call or a face-to-face conversation with an author used to throw me into a tizzy. Sjoholm’s handbook reminds me, gently, that editing is not about ME, it’s about authors and their work. My ability to analyze a manuscript is valuable, and my suggestions are important, but what’s even more valuable and important is having a good relationship with the person behind the manuscript—the writer. As Sjoholm puts it,

​In the word “copyediting,” the object is embedded in the verb: you don’t edit an author, you edit copy. But in editing fiction and creative nonfiction, what you edit is not copy. It’s the heart and soul and imagination of a real person. A writer.

​​This means that editors should not march through a manuscript on track changes. Instead, we must call upon all the intelligence, grace, and empathy at our command to understand and respect the author’s vision for the book. If we think we have a better idea, we have to persuade the author to accept it.

Ask open-ended questions
Asking questions helps an editor get to know authors--their goals, writing experience, and expectations for editing. Sjoholm uses a questionnaire and provides sample questions in her handbook. I've since developed my own questionnaire, and I've found that the responses give me a good idea of what authors were thinking or imagining when they created the structure of their book. I often refer back to the questionnaire when writing my editorial letter.

Organize your thoughts in an editorial letter
The heart of the editorial response is what Sjoholm calls the “editorial letter.” Almost half the book (five of the twelve chapters) is devoted to why and how to write an editorial letter.  Most helpful are two templates, one for fiction and one for nonfiction.

Sjoholm admits that writing a long editorial letter may be old-fashioned, but she’s sticking with this method, and for good reasons. To write an editorial letter, you have to organize your thoughts, be specific, and be persuasive. You have to back up your gut reactions with reasoned arguments.

This method works for me, because I think by writing. For authors, the advantages are obvious: they can turn to the letter at their leisure in the revision stage and everything is there; they don’t have to fish through emails for tidbits of advice.

Care deeply but let go
Sjoholm encourages editors to cultivate an attitude of “positive neutrality.” Her golden rule: “Edit your author as you would be edited.”

This is not just about being nice to authors, Sjoholm explains. It’s about being receptive to the author’s work, and balancing honesty and empathy. She goes so far as to advise “practicing non-judgment,” which turns on its head the image of the non-negotiable red pen. There are echoes of Eckhart Tolle in Sjoholm’s idea of caring deeply about a manuscript without ego attachment to the outcome.

I found in studying with Barbara that her philosophy works extremely well when the manuscript is pretty good and the developmental edit builds on what is there. But it's harder to be positive and neutral when a manuscript needs a major overhaul. Barbara is largely silent on how to break bad news to an author.

I highly recommend this gem of a book and Barbara's online developmental editing course at the Author-Editor Clinic.