31st May 2006
A Spiritual Crisis Continued
If nothing else, I can document this, right?
The crisis continues. It’s a low grade affair, sort of depressed fog punctuated by an occasional moan. I picture the June Gloom of Santa Barbara.
I’ll note this for those of you who are interested in writing, editing, and publishing. Since I’ve worked as both an editor and a writer, I do know this:
Making your writer feel dumb, disrespected, and, in general ,crappy will not increase the quality of her work. This is not smart editing because it pisses her off. It does not inspire her. It does not make her want to be “creative,” and please you, except possibly in the pro-creative sense because that, at least ,would be technically possible, while you and your suggestions and needs are technically not.
How should you treat your writer?
Like the Goddess that she is. She can translate your miserable scraps of detail into fully fleshed out experiences. She can catch her own mistakes as well as your own. She makes you look good.
And those little errors? She expects some editing in return. She expects that her work is not so perfect that it can be immediately shipped for 30 million young minds. She expects some editing, some polishing, some rewriting, some restructuring. This is par for the course. But she doesn’t need to be bashed. That makes her mad.
