Let me share a story: The heat went out in our office one winter a few years back. While I tried to get my employees to work through it and use the heat from their computer screens to compensate, it became clear we needed to fix the heat. Now, as a man with a lot of pride, I wanted to take care of it myself. I strapped on the work boots I never wear and went to Home Depot to buy supplies. I came back with a new thermostat only to realize all the thermostat does is let you adjust the heat, the heat doesn’t actually come from the little box on the wall. It was a larger issue with the furnace in our building. Two weeks later and after we burned most of our backlog for warmth, I caved and hired an expert. 

I mention this very relatable anecdote to show you that we don’t always require the skills for the jobs we need done.

Editing is crucial to the success of any piece of fiction, whether it’s a young adult fantasy, a neo-noir thriller or interracial gay bondage courtroom erotica. Editing is what gets rid of unnecessary characters, uncharacteristic dialogue and unconcise prose. Editing is what gets you to “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” when you start out with “It was a rather mediocre period of time that couldn’t be solely characterized as being either good or bad.”

But editing, like fixing the heat in your office, isn’t something a writer can do on their own.

And while editors are mostly failures who are only editing because they couldn’t make it as a writer, they are still essential to your success, so it’s probably best not to tell them what I just said. In this article, I’ll first explain why you can’t be your own editor and then give you some tips on how to best work with your editor. We’ll condense our thoughts, work toward being concise, write succinctly and never be redundant on this edition of Stories’ Matter.

Reason 1 – You’re Too Close This Thing

Us writers know that our writing is our children. In fact, they’re more than that. A book won’t write itself, but the seven children of mine that I’m aware of seem to have raised themselves pretty well on their own. And that love is important—it’s that love you’ll need to sell this thing to an agent and convince a publisher to take a chance on it and get in shouting matches with people at book readings to prove their interpretation is wrong.

But we are blind to the things that we love. Just like I was blind to the fact that my first wife was a serial bigamist, a writer might be blind to the fact that the horrible misogyny in their first sentence, even if well-intentioned, might be off-putting to certain readers.

You already know your whole story. It’s probably perfectly clear in your own mind. But a new reader doesn’t have that knowledge. Editors offer a unique perspective. The only way to get around this is to write in a drug-fueled stupor like I talked about in this video, so that you completely forget what you write, but that kind of writing is still going to need an editor anyway and you’ll probably impregnate or get impregnated by someone you don’t even know.

Reason 2 – You’re Brain Plays Tricks on You

Beyond emotional connections, we tend to gloss over things like typos and grammar mistakes. Our brains are wired to fill in the blanks, especially with things we’re familiar with. For example, a few years ago, it took me a month to discover a neighbor had killed himself in his car in my parking garage. My brain was just on autopilot during my morning and afternoon commute I was blind to what was around me. It works the same after your fiftieth read-through of your novel.  

Reason 3 – You’re Too Confident And/Or You’re Too Insecure

As a writer, you probably swing back and forth between these two thoughts: “Everyone who’s not a brilliant creator like me is just a thoughtless animal, content to eat, shit and die” and “I fucking hate writing, I swear I should just quit and finish law school.” Sometimes I might even have those two thoughts within the same hour. It’s why writing really should be considered some kind of mental illness.

Anyway, these thought processes either force us to under or over edit. In the case of the former, I waited until page 47 to introduce the main protagonist, and in the case of the latter, my family drama set during the Russian Revolution was cut to a lean 80 pages.  

Now, let’s see how we can solve these issues by working with an editor.  

Tip 1 – Remember: You’re Editor Is Not Your Enemy

My editor’s name is Thelma Shelby, and she’s shaped and polished the majority of John Lazarus’s works for the past 23 years. It’s a relationship that has lasted more than twice as long any of my other working relationships and more than ten times as long as any of my marriages. Why did I choose Thelma? First, being a woman, I thought she’d see things I would naturally miss. And boy was I right. For example, before I met Thelma, I had no idea women menstruated for five to seven days a month. I always thought it was something closer to 15.

But more importantly, she’s an 87-year-old woman confined to a wheelchair. This means she’s got loads of wisdom and experience, she’s got really nothing else to do with her time and I’ll never act too aggressively toward her because she’s such a sweet and kind person, even if she’s not always sweet and kind to my beautiful words. At the very least, I wouldn’t punch her in the mouth for trying to change my table of contents like the editor I worked with before her.

Tip 2 – Choose Your Battles

You will be amazed with all the feedback an editor will give you. But unlike a session with dominatrix, you don’t have to listen to everything they say. For example, when I wrote Chair, I was unwilling to budge on the title. At the same time, I took Thelma’s advice and got rid of the subplot about Fredrik trying to fake Native American heritage to get money for college. Thelma also convinced me that set the final gun battle at his house instead of chocolate factory, but I was unwilling to try to add more comedy to the scene. Anyway, these are typical conversations you will have your editor.

Tip 3 – Sometimes Your Editor Is Your Enemy

I’m not talking about Thelma, but pretty much every other editor I’ve worked with. Sometimes people just don’t click. They might say things like “I can’t believe you’re actually a writer” or “How have you not gone bankrupt?” that rub you the wrong way. And they might not be completely comfortable about being followed to their home. Some people just have different styles and personalities. Don’t hesitate to fire them. They’ll find work soon enough from the hundreds of thousands of desperate writers out there.