Teen Writing Week: Day Three
Day Three, and Leanne Hall's editor, Alison Arnold from Text Publishing, came to give the participants an insight into the process of acquiring, publishing and editing books. 'Most authors are lovely, but some have big egos,' she said.
Handing out an edited sample of Leanne's own manuscript, she talked about the way an editor apporaches an author's writing. Editing is a mixture of comments, questions to the author and those red strike through lines, which are suggested improvements to the text. Unlike the comments by a teacher on a school assignment, the author does have right of reply.
Alison also discussed what she likes in a book: original stories, beautiful writing and 'dreamy' leading men.
The big question: what do you love about your job? 'I like the creative side of editing, the thought that goes into enhancing a good book to make it an amazing book.'
And what bugs her most in a book? 'lack of continuity. Characters who change their hair colour and length without the benefit of a hairdresser, or magically disappear every second day of the week!'
