I recently worked with a client on a business case for a government agency. It was a rather big project and I was called in at the last minute – two days before the deadline. I generally decline to edit in emergency situations, because what one can offer in such cases, aside from light copy-editing and proofreading, is relatively little value for the cost. In this case I was able to help improve the document and get it in under the wire. The project set me to thinking about what an editor can do for writers at different stages of their process.
Much depends on the kind of writing we’re considering. In the case of an academic project, an editor can consult with the author quite early on, at the post-idea stage, when the author has an idea, but perhaps isn’t yet able to resolve it into a thesis and a basic argument. At this stage, the editor can serve as a sounding board, assisting the author in clarifying and developing the basic logic, without supplying any essential ideas. Knowing where the line is – the line between on the one hand encouraging the author to develop her own ideas and on the other supplying them for the author – is especially important when the editor is working with students. After years of teaching English and writing I know where this line is. Crossing it would mean plagiarism – passing the editor’s work off as one’s own. I take academic ethics very seriously.
When working with a creative writer, unless I am co-authoring or ghostwriting, I find it is best to begin once there is a manuscript. It is important for the author to freely express as much as possible, in whatever form, her creative genius prior to critique of any kind. Once the ideas and the forms are on the page any number of editing functions can come into play.
In the business world, authorship is less rigorously defined. Most often the work speaks for itself, and the recipients are not so concerned with who the wordsmith was. Most business writing doesn’t involve a conception stage because its content and purpose are already to a large extent defined. This means that an editor can come in right at the beginning to help structure the document – to the extent of functioning as a co-writer if asked.
These observations are, of course, of a general nature. Your project is absolutely unique, and requires the specific approach that best serves your goals.
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