Tuesday, August 22, 2017

A few thoughts about editors

“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.” —H.G. Wells

"The greatest drive is not love or hate. It is one person's need to change another's copy."

“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”—T.S. Eliot

"The writer who can't do his job looks to his editor to do it for him, though he won't dream of sharing his royalties with that editor." —Alfred Knopf

2 comments:

Lillie Ammann said...

As an editor, I can identify. I love to change my client's words ... but I hope the final result is an improvement. My goal is to make their work sound just like them, only better.

I don't know who to credit, but I like to repeat something I've heard: I can find everyone's mistakes but my own.

Lillie Ammann
A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye

Deb Sistrunk Nelson said...

Lillie: When it comes to editors, you're one of the best. By the way, I like your quote. It's so true!