Editors Turning Into Novelists Bad Idea

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Why? Because they’ve seen too many bad manuscripts? What is a bad manuscript? It's subjective. It’s what one individual thinks, based on her class and what she has read about people outside that class. That’s why I don’t buy books written by former editors.

Publishers edit books because there are some devious errors that escaped your own editing. Some authors edit on their computers. I still believe in printing manuscripts, in order to catch those errors, red-handed.

Editors should polish the manuscript to make it bright and shiny for the printing process, not to change the author’s intention, which is enshrined in the language.

For example, a wise grandmother who sprinkles water around the house every morning to ward off evil spirits, should not be force-fed dialogue, common to sitcom grandmothers who change hair colour every week as they prepare for the dating game.

This is a possibility because of the incestuous relationship between books and visual media like movies and television. I have stopped reading books that sound like something I’ve seen on the big screen.

Editors should edit definitely, because authors might be great storytellers but lack nuances of the language, English in this case. I’m the perfect example. I’ve given up on prepositions. His son is in school. His son is at school. I was on the bus when it happened. I was in the bus when it happened. I don’t know.

Editors however, must also understand that there are certain things that are not a train smash. Language for example. There is the Prince Charles English. There is the David Bowie English.

What language is the character using? Editors should be aware of that, and not change Bowie to Charles, or vice versa. We won’t even look at American English vs British English, because much has been written about that.

Then comes the great African American oratory tradition of repeating things for emphasis. This is the norm in black churches in the Caribbean, U.S., U.K., South America and Africa. Editors must not tamper with that if the character demands it. When in doubt, they should ask authors.

Editors should edit and not alter the DNA of characters.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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