Why Our Editor Makes Turns Us Writers Into Schizophrenic Maniacs?

Didn’t you know?

The moment you approach an editor, you risk becoming a raving lunatic who alternates between bursts of murderous hatred against your editor and waves of delirious joy at the mere thoughts of the improvements your blasted editor will bring to your manuscript. That is, if you are a normal, balanced individual 🙂

Yes, your sanity is at risk. Especially if you pick up a talented editor.

You’ve just spent months or years honing your manuscript to near perfection and there comes the editor…

What does he or she do? Tear your beloved manuscript to pieces. Points out inconsistencies, heavy turns of phrases, weaknesses of characters, plot arrhythmias, and many more.

You were so sure the only problems left with your manuscript were a few typos, some punctuation issues and some grammatical oversights. Yet, then comes the editor and he actually wants to make your manuscript better.

So, if you picked up a good editor, after the initial bursts of hatred, you will love him or her, as you start revising and see how his or her input actually improves your manuscript.

This, of course, won’t stop you from occasional surges of resentment at the mere fact that the editor is right, which means you actually have to rewrite yet again. Hence the schizophrenia, loving the improvement whilst hating to have to do the work again…

There are actually two ways to dispense from that ordeal. One is to opt for limiting the editor’s job description to proofreading only, and the other one is to self-edit.

Both save time and money, but the cost is having a manuscript that has not reached its full potential.

So, what do you think? Is it better to skimp on the editing at the expenses of the manuscript or to plunge it and lose your sanity with editing pains?