{"id":12548,"date":"2024-11-07T16:34:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T16:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=12548"},"modified":"2025-02-27T14:15:51","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T14:15:51","slug":"effective-editing-im-in-service-of-you-the-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2024\/11\/07\/effective-editing-im-in-service-of-you-the-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"Effective editing: ‘I\u2019m in service of you, the writer’"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: For this installment in Storyboard\u2019s occasional series on effective editing<\/a>, we bring readers a conversation with an independent editor who works one-on-one with writers and has built a suite of services on his own.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Glenn Stout was about 14 when he read a poem by Langston Hughes. \u201cThat hit me over the head with a two-by-four, and I decided I wanted to be a writer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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He went on to work for his high school newspaper, then attended Bard College, where he wrote poetry. He eventually took a job at the Boston Public Library, hoping to be surrounded by people interested in words. There, he stumbled upon a story about the Boston Red Sox manager from 1907 who had died by suicide. He pitched a story about it to Boston Magazine, where an editor took a chance on him. \u201cI\u2019ve never been without an assignment since,\u201d Stout<\/a> said.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Now 66, Stout went on to establish himself as an freelance writer and author of nonfiction books, including \u201cThe Young Woman and the Sea<\/a>.\u201d Many in journalism know him for his many years working on an annual collection of the best sports writing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Along the way, Stout also has built skills and a following as a coach, consultant and freelance editor, often working with writers who are developing their own book proposals and manuscripts.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Storyboard spoke with Stout about the nuances of being an independent editor, how he thinks about the psychology of writers and the gap his services fill in a changing literary landscape. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What prompted your shift toward editing?<\/strong>
It was word of mouth through the handful of writers, particularly through selecting stories for \u201cThe Best American Sports Writing<\/a>.\u201d People would ask for my thoughts on their work and it snowballed from there. I was old enough, or far enough along in my career, that I wasn\u2019t concerned about what this business did for me; I took a great deal of satisfaction in seeing what it could do for other people. I got more gratification from somebody else\u2019s story succeeding than from my own. I love helping someone who\u2019s having trouble and doesn\u2019t think they can do something get to a place where they can do it, and do so more on their own the next time \u2014 where they don\u2019t need a person like me.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Where did you learn and who were editors who inspired you early on?<\/strong>
Ken Hartnett,<\/a> who commissioned my first story when he was an editor<\/a> at Boston Magazine, offered a good lesson: He took me seriously. I had no clips. I was nobody. Other than that, I never felt I was edited well. So when I started editing, I didn\u2019t try to do it like anybody else; I tried to do it the way I thought it should have been done for me.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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How should it be done?
<\/strong>One of the most important things for a writer in an editing relationship is to be given confidence and agency over their work. When I first begin a project, I tell writers directly: \u2018This works best when it\u2019s a collaboration. When we work together, the reader does not care how we get to the end. They want a positive reading experience. They want to take something away. \u2026 Everything I tell you is suggestive. At the end of this process, if you cannot stand behind every word on the page, I failed. I\u2019m in service of you, the writer; you\u2019re not in service of me. Don\u2019t try to make me happy. Let\u2019s try to find a place where the story can best be unfurled, in the best possible way.\u2019<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Glenn Stout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
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Many writers are unaccustomed to that kind of agency. Too many writers are beaten down by the editorial process where you write a story, you send it in, no one responds for six weeks, you get an edit back, you send it back in, then another editor responds with a totally contradictory reaction. This goes on and on for months.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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It\u2019s disrespectful when an editor doesn\u2019t get back to someone. They can answer an email in 15 seconds. If an editor says they\u2019re overwhelmed and can\u2019t answer an email, then they are overwhelmed by their job and need to get a different one.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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You said your editing comes out of the vacuum of writers whose editing needs are not being met. Can you elaborate?<\/strong>
I\u2019m filling in gaps. I\u2019ve seen a real shift over the last 10 years, particularly the last five years. I hear over and over that writers are not getting useful feedback from their editors, whether it\u2019s in books or magazines. Everybody has cut back and has a fire hose of work. Editors are overwhelmed. They can\u2019t give feedback the way they want to because they\u2019ve got too much to do.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Twenty years ago, writers got feedback from editors or agents when working on a book proposal. Agents these days rarely put in much time when a writer is creating a book proposal. I tell writers who want to pursue books to pitch their idea. But if an agent likes it, the first question they\u2019ll ask is: \u2018Do you have a proposal?\u2019 If the writer says they\u2019ll have one in three months, by then that agent has forgotten about them. Writers need to have the proposal ready. It\u2019s a real risk: Someone writes a whole proposal and there\u2019s no guarantee an agent will accept it, but the agent isn\u2019t going to help you with it either.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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When I work with writers on proposals, we know the agent is always going to change something. But we\u2019re giving them something to work with. Agents don\u2019t have the time, like I do, to spend with a writer turning an idea into a tangible object.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What makes for strong chemistry between writers and editors?
<\/strong>Being upfront and honest at the beginning. I try to explain how I like to work and how this process should work: I\u2019m there to serve the writer and they don\u2019t have to accept my changes. If I make a suggestion, I might have identified something that needs to be changed, but the writer might have a better idea how to fix it. The worst is when a writer questions themselves every sentence. Let it rip. Get something on the page. We can work with something once it\u2019s on the page, so I don\u2019t want them to worry about being wrong. We\u2019re not going to go over it just once or twice; we might go over it 15 times.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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You talk about confidence and mindset. How do you see coaching versus editing?<\/strong>
It\u2019s pretty much one and the same, whether I call it editing or coaching. Editing is more if someone shows me their copy and asks me to fix it, whereas coaching is when we\u2019re riding along the story at the same time, sharing the saddle. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s easier, but it\u2019s more comfortable if the writer and I are together from story conception to the end, rather than jumping in when there\u2019s already a manuscript. I prefer being together at the beginning because then we can have discussions and pre-revise before having written. We\u2019re agreeing on a set of parameters: where the story\u2019s going, what the writer is focusing on. When I come in later in the process, the writer has already made a lot of decisions. The reporting is done or there\u2019s a deadline.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Often, I work with writers who feel like they\u2019re not getting feedback from the editor they\u2019re working with, so they come to me and say: \u2018Here\u2019s what the editor is telling me. I don\u2019t understand what they mean.\u2019 I don\u2019t get in between the writer and editor they\u2019re working for. But I work with the writer to try to get the work to where they want it, which is maybe closer to what the editor wants.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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How do you establish that rapport with a new writer or a new-to-you writer?<\/strong>
I work with a lot of people over and over again, which is nice because you\u2019ve got the shorthand and trust down. For instance, when I say \u2018This sentence is really chewy,\u2019 they know I mean they\u2019re trying to cram too many ideas into one sentence. Too many phrases. It\u2019s too clunky.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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With somebody I haven\u2019t worked with before, I have to bring them along. I just react to a piece in my first edit. I don\u2019t do a whole lot of line editing, but mostly make comments and questions. \u2018This works.\u2019 \u2018I don\u2019t understand this.\u2019 \u2018Who is this person?\u2019 I take it in stages, and every stage builds more trust. Then I always, always find things I like. That\u2019s hugely important. No one likes to get a manuscript back that is just criticism. And I give them practical solutions \u2014 very simple, practical things they can do.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What are the qualities of your favorite writers to edit?
<\/strong>I really like working with writers who are willing to try things they haven\u2019t done before. I have fun working with people where there\u2019s enough trust that they don\u2019t care what I do and I don\u2019t care what they do: We\u2019re focused on the end. With some writers, I become pretty adept at channeling them. I\u2019ll read something and add a sentence and tell them: \u2018I hear this here. I think this is where you meant to go. You might write this sentence better, but I think you need another beat here.\u2019 At the end of the day, sometimes we can\u2019t tell where the lines were between me and them. When I\u2019m intimately involved in the text, I start to hear words the way the writer hears words.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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How has your editing work affected your writing? Are you typically pursuing book projects and editing simultaneously?
<\/strong>For much of the last 10 or 15 years, I was editing while working on my own book projects. It\u2019s funny \u2014 I really don\u2019t think I knew what I was doing as a writer until I started helping other people write. I had been blindly going forward \u2014 not that I wasn\u2019t thinking about what I was doing, but I wasn\u2019t aware of what I could<\/em> do as a writer. Through working with other people, I gained an awareness of things I could try because I\u2019ve seen other people try them. I\u2019ve also seen how you can tear something up entirely, if you need to, and build it back. That\u2019s not an act of destruction; it\u2019s an act of creation.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Other advice I share with writers: if you see what somebody else is doing, particularly structurally, it\u2019s OK to copy structure.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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How have you seen that play out?
<\/strong>I had an older writer, in his mid-40s, who was transitioning from shorter features to 3,000-word features. For his first big story, I told him to take a story similar in some way to his, not necessarily in subject matter but in format: \u2018Look at it closely paragraph by paragraph, and do exactly what that other writer did,\u2019 like starting with a quote, or following with a scene or expository writing. He did the most extraordinary thing: He sent me back his story, paragraph by paragraph, alternating with the one he was modeling.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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If people have a hard time coming up with a lede, I tell them to read 25 ledes. One will spark the lede they want to do and help crack the story open a bit. W.C. Heinz, the great sportswriter,<\/a> once told me he thought the beginning was the most important part. He was a classical music fan, and he said the beginning of a story was where he set the time signature and key. \u2018Then I know where I can go with the rest,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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It was such a great metaphor. A writer sets up the bounds of the story very early \u2014 the tone, the voice. Every story has a different sound, a different vocabulary. A writer has to find what\u2019s right for that story. There\u2019s an organic nature to this work that comes from within the story itself; it\u2019s not always a top-down process where you have a structure and make the story fit it. If you have to \u2018make\u2019 the story fit something, that\u2019s not following the truth of the story.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What message would you send to folks without formal training, like you all those years ago, who want to sharpen their editing skills?<\/strong>
Once you start to do it, you\u2019ll learn pretty quickly if you can. That\u2019s a very murky response, but you\u2019ll realize pretty quickly that if you don\u2019t have anything to say about a text, then you probably shouldn\u2019t be trying to do this. If you see a text and can see not just what\u2019s on the page, but the possibilities of what\u2019s on the page, then you should be doing this.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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I used to tell writers that my biggest test was when I\u2019d open a piece of writing with my morning cup of coffee. If I drink my coffee and go make a second cup, we\u2019ve got issues. If I only have one cup, we\u2019re getting somewhere. If I don\u2019t finish the coffee, we really have something going. If the coffee turns cold and I don\u2019t touch it, the writer has something really<\/em> good. As an editor, it\u2019s important to know the difference between those things. Never edit just to edit. Some of the best editing jobs I\u2019ve ever done have been the pieces of work that I\u2019ve edited the least.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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* * *<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Carly Stern<\/strong> is an award-winning enterprise journalist based in San Francisco who covers health, housing and economic security.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author Glenn Stout has built a following as a freelance editor, giving writers confidence, solutions and sometimes channeling their voice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"topics":[],"authors":[8],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-12548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-questions","authors-carly-stern"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEffective editing: 'I\u2019m in service of you, the writer' - Nieman Storyboard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2024\/11\/07\/effective-editing-im-in-service-of-you-the-writer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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