Editing is often more difficult than writing. In my first editing class, the instructor had a special pen that she used only for editing on paper drafts. It was an elegant fountain pen with beautiful jade green ink, and I’m sure the refills for it were quite expensive. If she thought that the powerful colour of the ink from that pen made the editing easier to take, she was right. It was so clear and positive, and when I looked at my assignment, I saw only writing that was vastly improved by her editing, rather than the toxic slash marks usually made in red by other editors.

I try to remember this while I edit other’s work. The job of an editor is not to judge, nor to completely re-write, or even to correct. It is to deliver the message. To clarify, to be a conduit for information, and to improve. Too often, editors come across like my terrifying third-grade teacher, who used her red pen with such force on my composition book that she occasionally ripped the paper with a stroke. It is no wonder that writers fear the editor, despise them, and avoid them at all costs.

In the age of the Internet, everyone has become a writer. This is a wonderful thing! Many lament the loss of pride in good grammar, good composition, and great writing style. But I’d rather be thrilled at the prospect of new information, from the minds of those who previously thought themselves as “non-writers”. Everyone has a story to tell, if only a short one, but all are interesting.

And so the editor’s job is not to put their own voice over that of what was written, but to gently nudge the author into a zone where they can reach more readers, by way of being more readable. Keeping the voice of the writer is the primary aim of my own editing efforts. The writer’s voice is what the reader wants to hear, not my own.

How is this voice kept, when the editing process can sometimes mean a dramatic change from one draft to another? It is important to remember that editing is a cooperative effort between the writer and editor. Today’s technology facilitates this very easily. (See future posts for technical details.)

The best way for a writer and editor to work together to maintain a writer’s voice in the final product is to keep communication the primary aim in the process. Plenty of tools exist to facilitate this, but none will work if the atmosphere is destructive. By maintaining a constructive atmosphere, the story will emerge, rather than the writing, and be told in the voice of the author.