Stet by Me: Thoughts on Editing Fiction · Meanjin · Literacy in Australia · Melbourne University Publishing · Classic English Literature Books · Australian Literary Journals & Magazines

"The role of the editor" is sometimes discussed in a general way, but it is all very anodyne. What about the nuts and bolts of the process? The names, dates and salty anecdotes? That side of things - the side that spotlights the editor as having a viewpoint, a personality and particularly an effect - is not legitimate fodder for the commentariat. It does not inspire panels at writers' festivals or articles in the Saturday papers; you do not get to hear about how Author X's jokes always need to be rewritten or the progress of the War on Adverbs with Author Y or how many words Editor Z had to slash to get Novel Q right for publication. And when we do let slip a few details or a few opinions, as I am doing now, it all feels slightly dangerous, as if we are the bearers of information that could detonate on release and take a good chunk of the northern suburbs with it. You get the impression it is all right to talk about teamwork and so forth as long as the editor does not imply that anything they did had a material impact on the end result.