I had the chance to talk to Ashley Thorpe, a senior editor at the book production company, Storymix and author of the upcoming middle grade novel, The Boy to Beat the Gods.
What made you want to become an editor?
In all honesty, I didn't consider publishing until I saw a job advert after graduating. Until that point I thought my future was in journalism. But I realised the skills I'd amassed as a literature student transferred very well, and once I started I really loved it. The first part of my career was in educational and academic publishing, which was more copy editing and proofreading. It was a bit later before I started in trade publishing where a different sort of editorial mind is needed for developmental and structural editing. Thankfully, being an avid reader and a writer helped the transition.
What do you enjoy most about editing?
I enjoy seeing potential in writing and helping writers to achieve it. It's one of the most satisfying feelings bringing out something in a manuscript that was previously missing. I also like creative problem solving. It's often more fun solving problems with other people's stories than your own.
Which do you prefer: writing or editing?
Writing!
What advice do you have for someone editing their own writing or considering editing as a profession?
Self-editing can be difficult, depending on your experience. But the most basic piece of advice I'd give is to be honest with yourself about when something isn't working. You'll most likely know in your gut anyway. Hopefully you'll read widely, and not just in the genre you're writing in - and this goes for being an editor as a profession too. That will help you to understand conventions, pacing, character arcs, story structure, all that good stuff. You also improve by constructively critiquing the work of others, so being part of a writing group for example might help. Then you bring that same energy to critiquing your own work.
When you're editing as a profession, remember to keep yourself out of it. Remember it's the author's work, the author's voice, not yours. Your job is to help them elevate their work and reach their potential, not to put your stamp on it.