[Willit1016]

This is really a vent nothing more but have you ever gotta into a heated debate with your editor over a suggested change. The line in question is fine she just personally don't like it. I would have fired her if she not such a good friend and editor.

This happen last night it was crazy. we must have spent several hours prior going over the book. Just a vent I guess it was she said that one line would make her throw the book out and stop reading if she had bought it!

LOL

[Dawnstorm]

I would have fired her if she not such a good friend and editor.

Hehe.

You know, I think my decision would be determined by two considerations:

1. A good editor is worth a lot.

2. You can always say it differently.

So: re-write and use it against her in the next argument. :D

[James Carmack]

I'm kinda on my own at the moment when it comes to my own work, but I do a lot of editing for other authors, so I'm more likely to look at it from your friend's side of the equation.

I've never encountered any single line (or group of lines for that matter) that would prompt me to pitch (or threaten to pitch) a manuscript if it wasn't changed. Perhaps I simply haven't cast my nets widely enough.

Maybe I'm just lucky in that my charges have all been rather pliable. ^_^

[KatG]

Well, she's wrong and here's why. She's not necessarily wrong about the line per se, since all critiquing and editing is subjective. I'm sure she did have that reaction to it, and clearly feels that it is a problem. She's also perfectly justified to make as persuasive an argument as she can for getting you to change it, since she feels it weakens the book. And as a good friend, she can be a little less kid glove about it as well, even telling you that you're being frustratingly stubborn about it.

But her job as editor is to spot potential problem areas, analyze strengths and weaknesses, and make suggestions for developing and enhancing the work. She's done that. As the author, it is your right and responsibility to then figure out if that's of any use to you or not and what you want to do. If you don't agree with the case she makes for changing it, then it's your choice.

However, since she is a good friend, a good editor and things sound like they got a little heated, you might want to step back from it for a day or two, think about it, and see if you don't change your mind a bit toward her way of thinking. You still may decide that she's wrong, but bear in mind her strong opinion comes from her enthusiasm for the work.

Sometimes an editor who's willing to use a bit of a whip and a chair is what an author needs. But at the end of the day, it's not the freelance editor's job to dictate what the book will be. (It's not really the publisher editor's job either.)

[James Carmack]

Particularly when an editor doubles as an author, he can sometimes lose sight of the fact that it's not his story and that his authority is limited. Sometimes it's hard to go from being God to the guy who berates God for comma splices. ^_^;

[Willit1016]

Hey guys and gals you are all right. Well I swallowed the poison pill and apologized but the line stays lol. I was up all night reading the line and the paragraphs befor eit andd afte rit and then woke up another friend and had her read it and she said it wa sfine. Had my brother who done some writing on the book and have published two books of his own look at it and he remembers the line and it wa sfine so it stays.

Talk to editor/friend she still says the line is crap. So there nah lol.

[Bluestar]

Well look at it this way. A Song of Ice and Fire had many book throwing moments, and I liked it because of that.

[lin]

What's worse is when you can't fire the editor. In fact, they can "fire" you because your work is from outside.

I have been through this SO many times in my career. I have pulled things back from submission and lost the money.

I have had an editor change my comments so that they had a different meaning, causing me to be physically attacked...then refuse to print a retraction. Until I physically attacked.

I've talked them out of it.


Basically to me, the rule is a simple one. My name goes on it, so I don't have to have anything in it that makes me sick.