The truth about hiring a line editor

Some writers think they should write from the gut, and then when once they have been accepted for publication, an editor will correct spelling and punctuation and grammar.  Among those who intend to go the self-publishing route, the corresponding notion is that one can hire an editor who will correct all that.

This is usually attached to the assumption that a writer doesn’t need to know the rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and that can be delegated to hirelings.

Here’s the reality: Unless you know enough of the rules to polish your writing the best that you know how, submissions editors will not be able to get into your lovely story because they will be so distracted by mechanical errors in your writing. Your masterpiece will go straight to rejection pile.

And if you hire an editor yourself, they will not correct your writing. They will merely make suggestions and the only way you’re going to be able to keep from blowing a gasket when you see all the red ink (or comment bubbles in your document file) is if you know enough about the rules of writing to see that they are right.  But if you know the rules, why not just use them from the beginning?

Also, the rules of grammar and punctuation are there for a reason; they help eliminate ambiguity.  And if you don’t follow the rules, then your editor may think you mean one thing when you mean another, and then time is wasted figuring out what you really intended to say.  

When I worked as a writing tutor at ASU, I found that usually when grammar was off, the student wasn’t sure what they meant to say yet. I’d ask them, “Did you mean to say this, or did you mean this other thing?” and they’d scratch their head and say, “Uhhhh, I don’t know!”  They had written something they hoped would sound good to the teacher, without making sure it was exactly what they intended to say.

So what does an editor really do for a writer? The writer comes to the editor when they’ve gotten their work good enough that they can no longer see anything wrong with it. Then the editor helps clean up the mistakes the writer missed.  They will trim out unnecessary words, add those missing commas (because there are apparently 20 different ways to use commas and even good writers forget a few), demand a re-wording occasionally when a sentence or paragraph is garbled, move good sentences where they would work better, etc. 

To use a carpentry metaphor, the writer builds the desk and sands it down. The editor polishes it with 200-grit sandpaper and applies the paint and the clear coat.  Don’t expect your editor to do the sawing and hammering for you.