Booker judges shouldn't blame editors for overlong novels | Books | The Guardian

As an editor, my immediate reaction was to bite back. Yes, I've read a few saggy titles over the past few months. (Two of them crime novels endorsed by none other than Val McDermid.) And when you read a book you think is overlong, it's hard not to wonder why it wasn't cut into shape. But I'd still caution against the reflexive tendency to blame editors. A title belongs to an author, first and last. We at the publishing end are there to make suggestions, not to implement changes with an iron rod. If an author is determined to save a few darlings that we want to slaughter, it's their call. We can't force a writer to do anything. Nor should we try.