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One of the most famous writers I ever edited basically shrugged and said, “do what you want; send the check.” Arguably the *most* famous writer I edited built into his contract that I wasn’t allowed to do anything except cut for space. I asked for one little thing. He said no.
(It was David Mamet.)
I edited an astronaut once, and his copy was camera-ready, which is infuriating, because, like, it’s not as if I can also fly a rocket ship.
A famous comedian tried to stet all my edits once, telling her agent that I had made her “sound like a” word I will not repeat.
A great feature writer once spent 45 minutes on the phone telling me how he was going to structure his story. I told him I didn’t think his lede was going to work. He took a beat and said, “yeah, I think I’m going to do it anyway.” He was right.
I was always surprised when people were surprised to be edited, or saw being edited as implicitly saying the story was bad. That’s not what being edited means.
I tell writers who ask: The thing to say to yourself when you kick in your first draft to the editor is “I am now half done."
Unless you are mean or rude to the fact checker. Yell at the fact checker and you’re fucking fired.
