Quote:
Originally Posted by Moejoe
So what makes an editor? A degree in English Literature? A Masters or PHD in the very same? There's no 'career path' for that job as there is for accountancy, no way to tell if one editor's choices are any better for the writer than another - at the very best an editor is an opinion giver, a gambler on other people's tastes (not so much a nurturer of talent any longer) You'll probably say 'it's the experience', but these editors that are around at the moment don't have any experience in the digital (or very little) so there's an even keel for anybody who wants to call themselves 'editor' now.
I know it must be terrifying for anybody in the middlemen positions, the proofreaders and the editors and the agents, even the publishers must be, as we colloquially put it, "cacking their pants". It must feel like when punk came along and the punk bands started pressing their own vinyl. Or when bands realised they didn't need to book studio time and only needed a computer to get a good sound.
Transition and change are scary, but only to those that are entrenched. For the writer there has never been a more exciting time to be creative.
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Some of the things that make an editor:
- the fact that they aren't the person who wrote the text, and therefore do not subconsciously skip over errors on account of seeing what the text
should say as opposed to what it
does say
- strong, and I would argue necessarily systemic, knowledge of the English language, typography, and (depending on the type of editing) literature/composition/other works of the same genre
- strong interpersonal skills so they can get the author, who too often believes his writing far better and far more perfect than it is, to agree to necessary changes
These are just the most obvious things that come to my mind.
And while the career path may not be as clear-cut as for an engineer, there are certainly colleges (and universities?) that offer Editing courses in addition to all the other stuff an editor-to-be already would be taking.
- Ahi