Working with Subjective Editing

Molly said:
One thing that has puzzled me about having my writing edited is that two different editors provide two very different kinds of feedback/revisions. I understand why this is. However, I wonder if there is a right way. For example, it has been drilled into my head to leave out "that" and "the" whenever possible. Sample sentence: Georgia legislators read minutes aloud at closing exercise. I have had edits come back to me to insert "the" back in. So, it would read: The Georgia legislators read the minutes aloud at the closing exercise. What have you seen most often and is there a more correct way or is it up to individual preference?

I recently interviewed a group of graduate students about their writing experiences during undergrad, particularly in composition courses. When asked what he learned in his freshmen writing courses, one student answered, “I learned that the opinions of what ‘good’ writing is are pretty subjective.” Frustrating as it may be, this statement holds true in professional writing and editing too, at least to some degree.

Black and White
There are certain editorial rules that hold true, no matter what. These include the grammatical rules that most writers know, but may not focus on to the same extent that an editor will. They are black-and-white, right-or-wrong rules that can be easily justified and explained, and are consistent across styles and publishers.

Dark Gray
While there are some rules that you’ll find wherever you go, there are others that will vary from publisher to publisher. These include things like comma usage (e.g., “a, b, and c” versus “a, b and c”), formatting (layout and design rules), and spacing (e.g., single or double space following a period). In addition to the no-matter-what rules, there are also house rules. A publisher will almost always have a “house style,” often built on the major, well-known styles (MLA, Chicago, APA, AP) with some modifications that are specific to that publisher. The rules may vary from publisher to publisher, but you should at least find consistency within a specific publisher.

Gray
Then there are the rules that can’t necessarily be justified by anything other than “because I said so.” At some point in the editing process, you will run into that specific editor’s personal preferences; and chances are extremely good that they’ll differ from your previous editors’ preferences. Some editors will want you to include “the” and “that” at all times, emphasizing clarity; others will want any extraneous words to be cut, focusing more on conciseness; still others will find a middle ground, including words such as “the” and “that” only when absolutely necessary (and of course, “absolutely necessary” will probably be at the editor’s discretion). At the end of the day, there are some decisions the editor will need to make subjectively, because no rule book or guide can possible address every potential scenario in language.

Working the Gray
I wish there was an easy way to say “this editor is right, that one is wrong.” But in many cases, there is no right or wrong, just personal preference. And since the buck has to stop somewhere, it often comes down to the editor’s subjective preference (which is hopefully based on some more clear-cut style or rule). While you might not be able to avoid this, you can definitely learn to work with it. When you’re dealing with new editors and they change something that you thought was correct, ask them about it. If a rule is unclear, the editor owes you an explanation so, at the very least, you know what to expect next time.

Another great way to approach the personal-preference issue is to act early. I’ve had several writers ask me what I’d like to do in certain scenarios before they begin writing, because they know that my answer may differ from the previous editor’s answer. This clears up the decision early in the writing process — avoiding lots of changes and corrections — and also gives us a chance to come to a collaborative decision. Writers often have better content knowledge than editors, and can provide valuable information to help set the style of the document.

You will always encounter varying opinions among editors about the “right” way to do things. And in many cases, the “right” way is just that editor’s way or that publisher’s way. But with some flexibility on both your part and the editor’s, you can work together to avoid the animosity that can develop when an editor is constantly “correcting” what the writer thought was correct.