S.G. Browne

E is for Editor

I didn’t have any expectations as to what it would be like to work with an editor.  Not to mention a real life New York publishing house editor.  As a writer, you hear horror stories about books being hijacked and turned into something other than what the author intended.  Or even how tedious and tiresome it is to go over copy edits and line edits and re-read your novel half a dozen times during the editing process.
My experience was nothing like that.

My editor at Broadway, Laura Swerdloff, helped to make Breathers a better book.  Period.

She offered up suggestions and recommendations, told me where she thought the story could be improved or fleshed out, and listened to me when I fought for something I believed was inherent or relevant to the story.  I even enjoyed having to read Breathers over and over and over.  Counting the reads I gave the manuscript before I sent it off to my agent and after making edits based on her feedback, I read my novel ten times before the final version went to press.
And no, I never got sick of reading it.  It still made me laugh.  But the thing about a novel is that as the author, you can always find something that needs to be fixed and there comes a point where you just have to stop and let it go.

I can’t imagine having a better experience with an editor as a first-time novelist.  Thanks Laura.

Next entry:  F is for Formaldehyde.

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Filed under: Breathers,The Writing Life — Tags: — S.G. Browne @ 8:23 am

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