Editing is a craft. With skills, experience and training editors learn the techniques of how to be a good editor who doesn’t destroy someone’s work but make sure it’s published. In any creative work, such as photography, videography, writing, film and other relevant areas the editor’s job is not what it used to be anymore.
Some of the old fashioned editing may have killed the writers and the creative artists in an effort to focus on selling products. Sometimes, rather than sharpening the writers and /artists, some editors adamantly trying to shape the creators into something they are not and damaging the birth of good work.
All of the good books, films, and other creative work we treasure now as masterpieces may have once been rejected by editors and producers, or the creative person concerned may have been told to change the creation drastically to suit different tastes. Those writers and artistic creators who refused to do so by standing by their work, trusting their ideas, were able to find the right people with similar thinking to believe in their work. Usually, that is how beautiful things are presented to people.
The good editor knows it’s the people’s decision to reject or embrace the creation. He or she knows not to change someone else’s work to make it lose its signature, its power and the depth because there is a difference between butchery and motivation. The good editor is like a horticulturist. They know the science behind plants. They know how to educate others to grow healthy plants and flowers under natural conditions and if it’s needed, they know how to experiment and make the plants thrive in controlled settings too. The editors who keep up with the state- of –the- art embrace the idea of producing authentic creations by giving meticulous attention to detail without destroying the message of the creation. They try to preserve the authenticity Editing is not simple. It’s a difficult task and one needs much courage to be in that line of work. Dealing with all types of people, negotiations, sharpening other’s work without changing them are them not easy. After all, those are steps one has to live with when the decisions are made.
The editor has to live debating if the right decisions were made or not because in the end, more than the creators his duty is towards the people.
Maya Angelou wrote her first book, bestseller and her most critically acclaimed work, Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) because she had a brilliant editor to get her to write. Harry Potter Author J. K Rowlings was rejected by 12 publishers.
It is said Dr. Seuss, the author of Green Eggs and Ham which has sold over 8 million copies worldwide was rejected by 27 publishers before he found the right editor. Stephen King and Agatha Christie are also a couple of popular authors who got the chance to be read by us even though many times they were stopped from presenting their work to us.
No matter how frustrating it is, one must believe in the work created from the heart. One must take advice. One must sharpen their work. One must learn to work together to present beautiful work to the world. But one must not become anyone else losing one’s identity.
Also, one must not try to damage and change others work in the name of editing. One must use the techniques to be a skillful editor who will help to produce quality work that reveals both the art and the artist. One must know that this combination of an understating editor and the talented creator is possible and one must be patient to let it happen.