The Difference

After reviewing everything that I have in our "So you want to be a writer" series, I've decided that this is going to be the last one for a while.

I haven't decided what I think we should talk about next, but I'm considering doing something a little more fun, and a little less stressful on my part.

Let me know if you have any suggestions! Until then, the final installment of our current series...

#11.      Editors are realists, writers are idealists 

 It's true. Yeah, I know, I say that in every single one of these posts, but that doesn't make it any less true.

See, writers and editors are two completely different types of people (you can, like me, learn to do both: but only after you've had enough experience and have come to learn the principles of editing and how they apply to every story).

Editors are realists. They see everything you have on the page, and they'll tell it to you like they see it. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because it helps the work to grow. Bad, because it hurts like no other when the writer reads what the editor has to say.

As I've said many a time before, editors will shred your work. It's just what they do.

They're not trying to be mean. In fact, they're trying to help you. A lot of the time, they're right. You should listen to them.

But.

Ahh yes, there is a but. Aren't you glad?

You should never take what an editor says entirely seriously until you've had the time to clear your head and look everything over like a calm and rational person.

See, editors are good. They know what makes a good story, and they know how to take your story there. But. They don't know your story as well as you know it.

So look at what they have to say, and think very seriously about the big changes before you go along with it.

Some editors don't realize that the weird things we leave in our stories are things that help to build our characters, and that's okay, because that's not what their paid to do.


I'm so looking forward to starting a new Friday series with you guys! Like I said, let me know if you have anything you'd like me to discuss in a new series. If you can't think of anything, I have a few ideas on the horizon.

[love]

{Ar Dee}