One of the fears
new authors – and even experienced authors, sometimes – often have is that
someone – "the editor" – will make you change your book, or worse,
change it on their own.
Now, I won't lie
and say there aren't bad editors out there. Certainly there are, and that's
where the horror stories come from. But like most horror stories, they're
deliberately selecting those aspects of the truth that we fear, and blowing
them out of proportion.
It is a scary process to hand your story –
especially if it's a story you love – over to someone else, and then know that
this person may want you to change something, maybe even something vital to the
story, for whatever they think your
story should be.
But the truth is,
that's not really what an editor does. A good
editor's job is to help you tell your
story… better. Now, admittedly, "better" may well be, at least in
part "in a more marketable fashion", but – speaking honestly – if
you're submitting your work to be published by even a middling-sized publishing
house, you presumably do have an
interest in being marketable and selling your work.
I'm going to show
you what a good editor does, from the point of view of an author who's been
through it a few times, and hopefully show you why an editor can be, not an
adversary or an obstacle, but one of your greatest allies in your quest for
publication and success.
My most recently
published novel (as of this writing) is
PhoenixRising, an epic fantasy set in my original world of Zarathan.
Phoenix Rising has its origins as an
actual story in stories I started more than twenty years ago (in 1991) and
takes place in a world that I started designing about thirty-five years back.
It's a story I've invested a huge amount of effort into, and one that means a
great deal to me as the first real exhibition of my fantasy universe to the
world.
So one can imagine
my trepidation (mixed with triumph) when I knew that the story was to be
published, but also knew that it had to pass real muster by the editors.
To begin with, the
original novel was titled Fall of Saints
(and I still tend to think of it that way). The main character's last name was
Ross, and her first name was Kyrie, not Kyri, while her big brother's name was
Michael.
Larger differences included the
fact that – aside from the Prologue, which remained unchanged – the story
started much earlier, with a younger Kyrie and her siblings coming home to find
their ancestral house was burning and their parents dead, and following events
for some time after that; the chapter that now begins the main portion of the
book was actually Chapter 13 in the original (although, admittedly, several of
the intervening chapters remain, just moved slightly, as they were for the
other two main characters, Tobimar and Poplock). The secondary character Xavier
played a much smaller part, showing up sort of as a sideline whose only real purpose was to show that this world
was much bigger than just the quest of the main characters, and in fact there
were other, equally vital quests going on in other areas, involving other
people. The "villain" point of view which was being used was actually
that of the true Big Bad; and the ending was significantly different – there
was no second, larger battle after the fight versus Thornfalcon, and no
confrontation with the other Saints in Evanwyl, and the heroes had left Evanwyl
and traveled back to meet the Angelsmith by the end. Perhaps most importantly
in many ways, the Big Bad – as yet unnamed – was the actual murderer of Michael
(later Rion), rather than the treacherous Saint, Thornfalcon.
The book actually went through not
one, not two, but
three sets of
significant revisions, and I will not pretend that each set of requests didn't
hit me in the gut and make me worried about the book. There were indeed times
when I thought that I
couldn't do the
revisions.
Part of that was simply reaction
against "going back to do it again". Some writers do many drafts of a
work, and I would suspect – though I don't know – that they might find such
revisions easier. In my case, I write once, and once only. I don't do multiple
drafts, except in very rare cases under unusual circumstances. So going back to
try to rewrite a story I've already done is something of a traumatic idea by
itself.
Another part of that reaction was
the at least somewhat more reasonable concern that I might damage the story –
or, more important to me, the world and logical consistency I'd developed for
it – by doing the changes. When I do worldbuilding, I try to make the world work. It may not work like this world, but it will be
self-consistent and reliable – and even small changes could damage that, since
self-consistency is all about even the small things fitting with the big
things. I never change something
just because it might make more dramatic sense, at least not without figuring
out how I can make that change fit
with the world.
So the most important step I had to
take in examining the requested edits was to
calm down. Removing the
emotional component and looking at the edit requests from a rational and
practical point of view was critical.
I'm not going to go through the
three waves of edits in order, but more in a general overview of the kinds of
things that were asked – and of some things I chose not to do.
The latter's an important point to
keep in mind when being edited. There will
be some changes to your manuscript that are, pretty much, not negotiable, but
in many cases the editing directions are more requests than demands. Refusing
ENOUGH requests can be a problem, but if you're reasonable, there are times
that refusing an editorial request, especially with a good explanation, shows
that you are as an author able to understand what it is that you're doing and
why some things will and won't work.
On the other hand, there are things
that it's pointless to argue about even if you probably COULD get away with it.
For
Fall of Saints/Phoenix Rising
that would be the request to remove all Christian-associated phrases and
imagery from the novel. That meant, specifically, changing the name of the
Saints to … something else, changing the name of the Angelsmith, and
rearranging other things to fit. Among other things, that of course torpedoed
the title, as "Fall of Saints" only works when there are Saints to do
the falling.
On the other hand, it was just
renaming things. Making more than a kneejerk reaction against it was stupid.
Yes, I think it was a silly change in that case and I really don't think it
would have affected the book's sales one whit. But with global
search-and-replace and modern word processing, those changes were a matter of a
few minutes, and made one of the editors happier. So I had to take the name
"Justiciar", move it over to the former Saints, and then figure out a
replacement for "Justiciar" – which eventually was
"Adjudicator", and make the Angelsmith into the Spiritsmith.
Kyrie's name lost her ending
"e" because I had not realized that "Kyrie" was a word in
real religious ceremonies (seriously, I didn't; I had no religious background
at all) and (A) meant "God" or "Lord", and (B) was
pronounced roughly to rhyme with "weary", instead of with a long-I
sound which was how I envisioned it being pronounced. Again, an easy change, as
was changing the last name from "Ross" to "Vantage".
Originally the name had been "Ross" to parallel that of Xavier Ross
(there are a lot of very deliberate parallels in the book) but I realized there
were limits to how much you can parallel things before they become either
unbelievable, or anvils hitting people on the head with "SEE? SEE HOW
SIGNIFICANT THIS IS???", so I changed it.
However, a more substantiative set
of comments were that the book started slowly and that Kyri herself seemed to
be more dragged from point to point for a large portion of the novel, rather
than being an active force. I, personally, rather liked showing the progression
from an older girl to a young woman and the way in which the events affected
her, but I couldn't argue that it did
slow things down. I have a tendency to prefer to do lots of introductory setup
(I've had to cut chapters from the beginning of Phoenix Rising and from Spheres
of Influence), and so I had to grit my teeth and do some serious cutting
(about six chapters' worth). This also
required me to rearrange certain timelines and sequences of events, and to this
day I'm not quite sure I got all the consistencies smoothed out there.
But when I was done, I had to admit
it did work better. I had to stuff a
bit more expository material into later chapters, to cover information that had
been excised from those earlier chapters, but overall it moved better, brought
the story to the fore.
Making Kyri more active required that I think about what
that meant, and give her more opportunities to choose to drive the action
rather than be driven by it – this with reducing the chapters. But I realized,
after a bit, that I could give Kyri an initial battle at a point where,
originally, I had her simply come out to find the battle concluded. This would
allow us to see her reaction to combat, her skill even as a young woman, and
more importantly put her on the scene when her brother – now renamed Rion – was
killed, giving her a direct and much more compelling attachment to the whole
event.
The problem of the mysterious boy
from Earth, Xavier, was a bit tougher. I realized that I simply couldn't remove him – his presence is
key to recognizing that you cannot isolate adventures and events from each
other, that quests are not always self-contained, and in fact the quest that
Kyri, Tobimar, and Poplock are on is related to that of Xavier and his friends.
At the same time, I had to
begrudgingly admit that the editor was dead right in saying that, as things
stood, he felt like a complete loose end – he comes in, he does two things of
significance, and disappears, even though he's clearly a person of considerable
interest and his group has had several chapters touching on who they were and
what they were doing.
With that, I recognized that I had
to give some sort of a secondary plotline that gave Xavier a purpose in the
book.
My first Aha! moment for that
came when I realized I hadn't done anything much with another subplot that was relevant to Tobimar – the demons
that were said to pursue his people. Once I realized I'd sorta dropped that
ball, it became clear that there was certainly a bit of room in the book for at
least one encounter with the demons… and so why couldn't I find a way to work
Xavier in there?
Once that occurred to me, there was
an obvious way; instead of having Xavier set out for the Archmage (who was in
the wrong direction), have him go towards the Wanderer, who is close to
Evanwyl. The Wanderer and Archmage were the two obvious choices of people he
needed to consult, and choosing the Wanderer would make it a no-brainer that
he'd choose to travel with Tobimar for a while, and get involved in his
problems. Moreover, since the Wanderer's stronghold wasn't that far away from Evanwyl, I might be able to have Tobimar show up
again to tie things up neatly.
That "show up again" was
triggered by a sudden realization that Thornfalcon's personality was the sort
to want to make sure if he died, his attackers died too. Given that – in the
same set of edits that gave Kyri that first battle – I'd established he had
some kind of monstrous allies, why not have his "screw you" attack
unleash a
horde of monsters – and let
Xavier show up to help save the day?
Similarly, Khoros' appearances
through the book had been minimal, but one of them clearly was extended and
highly relevant – yet I had somehow neglected to actually show it, in violation of the basic rule of Show Don't Tell that
most of us hear at one point or another. I realized that this was a terrible
mistake and I needed to add in a section or two showing Kyri's encounter with
the mysterious mage, his strange powers, and end with a rather creepy
conclusion that showed why people were wary of him even when he was on their
side.
The editor also pointed out that
the book didn't actually conclude.
Since it was intended to be part of a trilogy, at first I didn't think that was
a significant problem, but the fact was the publisher didn't want to commit to
a trilogy sight unseen,and I admitted I couldn't blame them. Given that, the
first book had to at least end on a partially
satisfying note.
The original plotline had
Thornfalcon's death merely demonstrate that he was a monster, and the one who
served as the best intermediary for whoever their true patron was. But I
realized, as my editors pointed out, that he was a
perfect choice for a real, main villain – even if behind him was a
Bigger Bad who'd be the main villain for the next book or books. All I needed
to do was give him the chance to actually be an active villain. So I made him
the actual killer of Rion Vantage – and
that
gave a chance for a real conclusion, by letting Kyri Vantage get
real vengeance for her brother's death,
killing his actual murderer in a very satisfying combat.
I was helped in doing these changes
by the fact that there were, in fact, some changes requested that I refused,
and that I was given no trouble over. For example, there's a part in one
chapter where Kyri and her sister Urelle have a pretty long conversation which
is – quite inarguably – there to make sure certain information gets to the
reader. But I refused to cut it, despite its being somewhat long, because (A)
it incorporated a lot of vital information that had been cut out from the
earlier, now nonexistent, chapters, and (B) it was one of the few interactions
we get with Urelle prior to the next disaster, and we needed to see this. The
editors didn't argue, just accepted my reasoning.
These were all changes that I would
never have though of left to myself;
while some people are pretty good at it, I'm virtually incapable of seeing flaws in my own work unless I literally wait
for years before re-reading it – and
by that point I probably rewrite it more for the fact that my writing skills
and my view of the fictional world have changed a lot in that time.
It must be emphasized that these
were – for the most part – changes that
improved
the book, some of them
immensely.
Phoenix Rising is a vastly,
vastly better book, overall, than the
original
Fall of Saints, though I was
at the time perfectly happy with
Fall of
Saints. At the same time,
Phoenix
Rising is still very much
my
book. This isn't something that Baen rewrote to fit their preferences, it's
my book, just better than it could
possibly have been if I'd been left to myself to publish it, or if they'd been
unwilling to edit it to that extent.
I still twitch when I'm asked to do edits – the same reaction, the same
nervousness – but now I have the much more powerful voice reminding me just how
much my work was improved by the
prior advice, and I can use that to help me look at my work through fair,
unbiased eyes and see what it is they're really asking me to do: make it the best book I can write.
If you get even a halfway decent
editor, that's what they're trying to do for you, too. Not take away your book
and make it theirs; show you how to take your book, and make it more yours than
it was before.
Don't fear the editor!
About Ryk E. Spoor
Ryk E. Spoor was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and has lived in South Dakota, Georgia, New York, and Pennsylvania. Severe asthma forced him to spend most of his childhood reading and, by the time he was six, writing. While he began reading fantasy such as Oz and science fiction starting with Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it was his 5th grade teacher that sent him on the course that would make him a science-fiction author, by lending Ryk a battered copy of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Second-Stage Lensmen; this sent him on a reading spree that devoured every science-fiction book he encountered for the next ten years, and instilled in him the conviction that being a science-fiction author was the greatest possible profession anyone could aspire to.
At the turn of the 21st century, Ryk succeeded in achieving this ambition by first launching a clever plan to be published through the diabolical strategem of insulting Eric Flint in public. (Note that neither Eric nor Ryk recommend anyone else attempt his strategy.) Subsequently, Eric brought Ryk's work to the attention of Baen Books, culminating in the publication of Digital Knight, and subsequently two stories with Eric Flint ("Diamonds Are Forever" and Boundary). His next solo novel Grand Central Arena was released in April 2010, followed in June by the sequel to Boundary, titled Threshold. Most recently, his solo epic fantasy, Phoenix Rising, was released in November 2012, and the third book in the Boundary series, Portal, is to be released in May 2013.
I'd like to give Ryk a huge thank you for sharing his pearls of wisdom. I love that he wrote about not fearing the editor because I feel that a lot of authors worry about what editors will do to their work... this is a testament that when you work with an experienced professional, your work can only get better.
Happy writing my friends!
~Marisa
Welcome to the Pearls of Wisdom Author Tour! 
Knowing where to begin a novel is my number one biggest
challenge. I sweat, I toil, I bang my head against the wall (literally...)
until I find the perfect stage. I look for the best way to run and jump in with
two feet, while weaving in just enough character introduction and back story to
keep the reader knowing what’s going on. It’s the first sentence, the first
paragraph, the first chapter. It’s all of it. I firmly believe that if you
don’t struggle with finding that perfect stage, then what you have on your
screen probably isn’t it.
Knowing where to begin a novel is my number one biggest
challenge. I sweat, I toil, I bang my head against the wall (literally...)
until I find the perfect stage. I look for the best way to run and jump in with
two feet, while weaving in just enough character introduction and back story to
keep the reader knowing what’s going on. It’s the first sentence, the first
paragraph, the first chapter. It’s all of it. I firmly believe that if you
don’t struggle with finding that perfect stage, then what you have on your
screen probably isn’t it.
And you can’t muck that up because readers have very
little patience. 
The second example is If You Stay, by Courtney Cole. This is an edgy duo-POV New Adult
book. Cole begins it in the male POV, writing a very graphic but gripping scene
to demonstrate the character’s state of mind that leads him to an accidental
overdose. It’s a punch to the gut but it sets the stage for the rest of this
story well.
The third
example is Seduction and Snacks, by
Tara Sivec. This book is very much about the character, her personality, and
how her personality gets her into the situation that she’s in. Sivec spends the
entire first chapter in, basically, a rant about why the heroine never wants to
have children, before even touching the plot. It’s graphic, it’s crude, and my
jaw dropped at least ten times by the time I was through it. I also had stomach
pains from laughing so hard. It grabbed my attention immediately. I wanted to
know this character. 
Four years ago Kacey Cleary’s life imploded when her car was hit by a drunk driver, killing her parents, boyfriend and best friend. Still haunted by memories of being trapped inside, holding her boyfriend’s lifeless hand and listening to her mother take her last breath, Kacey wants to leave her past behind. Armed with two bus tickets, twenty year old Kacey and her fifteen year old sister Livie escape Grand Rapids, Michigan to start over in Miami. Struggling to make ends meet, Kacey needs to figure out how to get by. But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle anything—anything but her mysterious neighbor in apartment 1D.
