For example, Carol and I had a conversation regarding
regionalisms. There was something she
said a certain way (sorry Carol, I can’t remember what this one was
specifically) and I was wondering if she was missing a word in the phrasing. Then I discovered it classified as a
regionalism. This spawned an entire conversation
regarding regionalisms and how, when someone asks me if I want a pop, I always
think, “No. I don’t want you to pop
me. What did I do to you?” Around here,
it’s either a soda or a coke.
“Do you want a coke?”
“Sure.”
“What kind?”
“Mountain Dew.”
Once Carol explained the wording, and that it was how she
and others around her always said it, it made sense. I left it in the manuscript because I felt it
added authenticity to the scene and “local flavor”. I’ll even let you get away with using ain’t and git (as in “Git yerself outta here!”) in dialogue, because I’m from
the South. Ain’t is a word
here. However, don’t even think about
using it in narration. Not gonna happen.
For the most part, I work with authors. If they
disagree with me, I expect them to open a dialogue with me and tell me why they
disagree. Sometimes it’s simply
misunderstanding the meaning, and an explanation clarifies it, so we’re good to
go. It stays as is. Sometimes I understand, but it still has to
go, so we have to reach a compromise.
And still sometimes it has to go, no matter what. For example, Carol and I had to reach a
compromise regarding “K” as a word. She
wanted Bert to say “K”. Now, I
completely understood her reasoning, (and yes, I have Carol’s permission to
share this) but our publisher had a House Style Guideline that absolutely
forbade the use of “K” as a word. They
would only allow okay or ’kay (only in dialogue). For the record, a lot of other publishers
have the same guideline. Carol and I finally compromised on ’kay for Bert’s dialogue, but even if we
were in his POV, it had to be okay in
narration.
I try to be friendly with my authors and get to know
them. Some aren’t very reciprocal in
that regard, but most are. There are a
few that have become friends. I’ve only
had one or two that you could probably describe as prickly, but we still worked
together without any major issues. With
other authors, our relationship was strictly limited to edits.
My comments to an author are honest, and I try to use humor,
because I know how hard it is to write and then have someone tell you this
scene isn’t working, this character is coming across as a doormat, or another
character you want readers to like
is actually coming across as a huge jerk.
I’ll also tell you if I don’t like a character, even if it’s not yet
clear whether or not I’m supposed to
dislike them. One character in a
manuscript I’ve recently edited was coming across as a real annoyance. I wanted to smack her. Another character in the manuscript was
accused of poisoning someone (no, they didn’t), and I told the author I
wouldn’t be surprised if the annoying character had actually poisoned the
person. The author got a laugh out of
that.
So, if you disagree with your editor about one point or
another, open a dialogue. Keep in mind
that their hands might be tied by the publisher’s guidelines, because part of
our job is making sure your manuscript adheres to them. And that (along with grammar) is where most
of us will become dictators. Always remember that we, like you, want your
manuscript to be the best it can possibly be, and we want to see it do well.
And for the record, even though Carol said I did, I’ve never told any of my authors they were falling down the stairs like a defunct slinky…at least, not in those exact words. *grin*
