Re: Editing issues

**fran gustman f*@juno.com**

Fools jump in where angels fear to tread...

Speaking as a fool, I've never met an article that I thought I couldn't
improve. However, I always want the author to see it before it is printed
to make sure that it correct.

It may be that I am exceptional as an editor but this is what I strive
for in a work of non-fiction: keeping the same tone and style as the
author's; gearing it to the audience properly - adding definitions for a
less experienced reader, for example; and, I think most importantly,
absolute clarity - if I have to read it twice, it needs work. 

Fran

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 09:24:10 EDT FRIELSTER@aol.com writes:
> I've been fortunate in magazine writing in that the two editors I 
> write for 
> most often are good writers themselves. When they make suggestions 
> or changes, 
> I've learned to listen. Only once has one of them changed a word and 
> thereby a 
> meaning. This hasn't always been the case; a very well-known trade 
> mag once 
> mangled my story so thoroughly, I barely recognized it.
> Newspapers are a very different creature. I turn in 2 to 5 newspaper 
> pieces 
> (not on gardening) per week, and there's a lot of pressure on the 
> editors to 
> fit everything into the "news hole" -- the space left for news after 
> the ads are 
> laid out. When they need to compress, sometimes the results aren't 
> pretty.
> When home computers came to rule local journalism, writers became 
> unpaid 
> typesetters and proofreaders. It's up to us to make sure the story 
> is clear, 
> accurate and sized to the available space. Otherwise, someone will 
> grind it down 
> until it fits.
> Still, I don't think this addresses the issues Fran raises. A 
> "well-know 
> writer" (sorry, couldn't resist) may have enough clout that editors 
> fear to tweak 
> their precious prose. 
> JF
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Fran Gustman,  fgustman@juno.com
Boston, MA
Editor, HortResources Newsletter, www.hortresources.org
Upcoming Editor, Holly Society Journal, www.hollysocam.org
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For GWL website and Wiki, go to
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