Even the greatest writers use editors.
No matter what you write, or how well, you should have someone else look over your piece before you send it on for publication.
An editor polishes and refines, directs the focus of the story or article along a particular course. She cuts out what doesn’t fit, removing all irrelevant paragraphs, characters and subplots. Her task is to ensure the purpose of the story is told in the most effective way. An editor enhances the major points, tying in theme and character to a cohesive, memorable finish.
- Ensures your written message matches what you are trying to convey
- Helps to condense and improve the quality of your writing
- Questions your flow of thoughts, ensuring there’s logic and flow
- Tells you if your content is too technical or if it doesn’t make sense, to the average reader
- Ensures consistency of character and form
- Asks questions or presents an alternative perspective that you might not have considered, even suggesting ideas that lead to another article or book.
“After all, one wants to publish the very best version of the text that is possible. If anyone – friend, relative, fellow writer, editor – can improve my work by as little (or as much) as the necessary substitution of a semi-colon for a comma, I am grateful to them. Editing is what we need, and if we have any sense at all, what we want. That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” Rick Gekoski