Editing as friendship

From Bryan Garner’s LawProse Lessons, “Editing Is an Act of Friendship.” An excerpt:

To say that editing is an act of friendship is to recognize how it affirms both the writer’s effort and the reader’s experience. When you involve an editor — whether by choice or assignment — it means your writing is meant for more than just your own eyes. The work is being readied for a broader audience, and the editor’s job is to help you meet that audience with clarity and care. Every suggestion is a vote of confidence that your ideas are worth polishing, that your words deserve to shine. Editing isn’t meddling; it’s collaboration in the service of understanding.

I’ve never forgotten my gratitude to the unknown copyeditor at the British Journal of Aesthetics who changed my da Vinci to Leonardo and made me look a little smarter than I was, or still am.

You can sign up for Garner’s LawProse Lessons and Usage Tip of the Day e-mails here. And, if you dare, you can read the (free) first page of “Limits of Allusion” from the BJA here. (Leonardo doesn’t show up until later.)

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