Well, I have to admit that my first instinct is to guard each and every syllable of my writing as sacrosanct -- my God, it is PERFECT; how could anyone think of changing it? the Philistines! -- but every single time, once I get over myself, I realize that the changes people suggest make my writing better.
Tep, I have exactly the opposite - I'm all "Dude! Whoo! Here, read this and suggest stuff for me!" - but I think the urge to guard is the more natural one.
Heh. I'm an editor for a living, and we cheerfully loathe authors who cling to every word. As a writer, I *am* my worst nightmare!
msbelle, I like Conrad's Victory a lot, but it's one of his more problematic books; I probably wouldn't recommend it for a book club.
There may have been a time, back in the mists of time, when I believed that every word I wrote was golden. I have written and edited for a living for many years and now I'm happy to get input from anyone and grateful for a good editor. It seems likely that ego drives the lack of editing of some best-selling authors, but I also think that publishing companies have no idea what makes something a bestseller and they're afraid to meddle.
I also think that publishing companies have no idea what makes something a bestseller and they're afraid to meddle.
Probably true, although for people like King, I doubt there's anything an editor could do that would prevent the book from selling. Even bad reviews don't do that.
Yup - I'm with 'suela. Once you're a monolith, you're a monolith. Or in King's case, more like a menhir.
I've read several of the list above and quite liked
A high Wind in Jamaica
by Richard Hughes. Not really one I'd recommend for a 'normal' book club, tho.
'Odd' bookclub? You're in bidness.
doubt there's anything an editor could do that would prevent the book from selling
Makes sense not to edit it, then. Just leave it be and rake in the dough.
I loved
Exodus.
Great book. In the "can't put it down" category. I think my dad read it in a weekend when he was in college (and my dad's not much of a novel reader, much more into periodicals and non-fiction books).
Makes sense not to edit it, then. Just leave it be and rake in the dough.
Especially if, even though you are an editor, your bosses think the most important part of your job is keeping your biggest-selling client happy, rather than putting out the most polished text possible.
So, I think the final Left Behind book is released tomorrow -- where apparently everything is happyshinynice for the people who were smart enough to get on the Jesus Train, and those who didn't will be getting the shit beaten out of them. It has a white cover (versus the black cover of the last 11, because it was all gloom, doom, and gnashing of teeth).
I'm ashamed to admit, I want to read it, because I want to see how it's wrapped up.
Kind of like the way I skipped the last 2 years of Dawson's Creek but watched the finale.
