Editing as a Subjective Art Form
What’s an opinion I held about editing that changed after I took editing classes? Well, before I started pursuing freelance editing, I did not think of editing as subjective. I thought about it like a math problem; your answer, or your edit, was either right or wrong. Now, I’m often amazed by how subjective editing truly is, in all its forms.
Developmental editing is an area that is clearly subjective. Even before I took developmental editing classes (and before I knew what it really was), I would’ve said it is highly subjective if someone had explained it to me. Sure, there are certain things that are clearly right or wrong. A POV error is an error no matter how you look at it. But most aspects of developmental editing are subjective, even instinctive.
That being said, when I first started taking courses for my copyediting certificate, I was shocked to discover that copyediting is also subjective. Do you need a comma here? Well, you don’t need one, but you might want one, and the reader might think it’s a mistake if there isn’t one. Should you use “who” or “that” when referring to a person? i.e. “The person who wrote this blog post” or “The person that wrote this blog post”?
In fiction editing, these topics, along with many others, are highly subjective. Sometimes even matters of correctness are still subjective. For instance, the phrase “I couldn’t care less,” is correct, but so many people use “I could care less” that it is not necessary to implement the “correct” phrase as an editor.
On top of that, the fact that writing is subjective for writers and editing is subjective for editors allows for plenty of room for miscommunication. That’s one reason why it’s so important to make sure you find an editor who is a good fit for you. So many aspects of writing and editing are up to interpretation, and ensuring writers and editors are on the same page is vital to creating a story that maintains the author’s meaning while also polishing the manuscript to make it the best it can be.
