Editor’s Choice: Editor’s Fault

There’s a secret organisation that run many [Ed - most sounds better (Sam)] websites. They scheme, and plan, and pull the strings tied to the writers. From their thrones they look upon that which is written and, with a red pen, they lay their invisible mark upon the page.

If there’s a spelling mistake in an article, it’s not the writer’s fault. If there’s a factual error in the article, it’s not the writer’s fault, and if the article is fantastically written, well, that probably is the writer’s fault. As far as most readers care, editor’s [Ed - No apostrophe (Sam)] just don’t exist.

Editor’s [Ed - no apostrophe! (Jenny)] are the secret to great writing.

Every publication is different, so any examples and [Ed - Changing to "or" and removing the comma later on in this sentence (Peter)] opinions in this article come from my own experience both at Nukezilla, and any other website or publication I happen to have written for.

As a writer I [Ed - adding something like "equally" here would round this sentence off. Also, "hate" before "love" makes my brain hurt (Sam)] hate and love editors. I love the safety net they provide. I don’t need to spend my afternoon reading my article backwards to make sure I don’t miss [Ed - I think "use" works better here (Jenny)] an “its” where [Ed - "when" (Jenny)] I mean “it’s”. I also don’t have to try to double-think my way around a sentences [Ed - remove plural "s" (Jenny)] to work out if it makes sense to other people. Editors provide a very real feedback system for writers and for that, I’m eternally grateful to them.

Sometimes, that feedback comes at a price. Many times I have argued (I’d say discussed, but I figure I should be honest here) with editors over almost meaningless things. The article is my baby, and don’t you go changing it! But I want it to be a run-on sentence, that’s the whole point! No [Ed - comma (Jenny)] I was right in how I used my semi-colon; [Ed - Semicolon removed and then duly re-added for comic effect (Peter)] you dick.

Maybe not that far, but I have spent a fair amount of my time talking about my own articles to editors before they get published. It gives you a real friction to pass thorough [Ed - "Through" (Sam)] before everyone sees it. Sometimes I’ve had articles simply stopped dead in their tracks [Ed - bit of a cliche (Sam)] after feedback from an editor. And that makes the editor a fantastic bastard. They stopped me publishing something terrible, but then they also stopped me publishing.

As an editor myself I’ve seen the other site [Ed - "side"? "sight"? (Jenny)] [Ed - Isn't that supposed to be "side"? (Sam)][Ed - Could always go with a compromise: "sighed" (Peter)] all too often [Ed - comma! (Jenny)] too [Ed - Repetition of "too". Clunky, but could be replaced with "as well" (Sam)]. I’ll find some sentence or some point being made that I don’t think works, and talk to the writer. Suddenly there’s two people in the creative process and you have to hammer it out. It all depends on the circumstances and personalities [Ed - Add another comma here to make the word "obviously" flow better in the sentence (Peter)] obviously, but it’s nice to have the back-and-forth, as frustrating as it can be sometimes [Ed - You said "can be" so no need for "sometimes" (Peter)].

But none of this world makes it out on to the page, and none of this world ever seems to be known by the wider reading public. And [Ed - Removing this unnecessary "and" at the start of the sentence (Peter)] there’s one great piece of evidence to back me up: if ever there is a spelling or factual mistake in an article, it is universally seen as the writer’s fault [Ed - I'd add "that" (Jenny)] it’s there. In fact, spelling mistakes are in [Ed - "at"? (Sam)] the very core of what an editor is there to sort out.

So, in the interest of transparency, this is my first draft of my column. Written basically in one or two sittings and with rough error checking. I’m now going to hand it off to an editor [Ed - change to "the editors"; we're gonna need a whole squad on this one. (Peter)] who, instead of ninja-correcting, is [Ed - Are (Peter)] going to just leave notes around the place. [Ed - Ending a little abrupt. Could do with a final, witty sign off (Sam)] [Ed - Something about the editor getting the last word, perhaps? (Peter)] [Ed - I win! (Jenny)]