Editors and Writers Need a Healthy Relationship

Recently (within the past couple weeks) I noticed someone on Twitter posted their dismay that some writers think of editors as… the enemy, or something like that. This puzzled me, because constructive feedback is invaluable, and the point of editorial feedback is to inspire you to revise your work so it’s the best it can be.

Here are my self-published Rowwanwick Witches books (under Susan E. Wigget)

I could understand that aversion toward editors if a writer ends up with a verbally abusive and/or useless editor. On rare occasions, I’ve received such feedback. But that’s not professional feedback, and if you have an editor who does that, you need to ditch them. Admittedly, maybe this is free editorial feedback from your publisher — I could see enduring abuse long term under those circumstances. But would a professional editor — who works for a publishing company — behave like that? I certainly hope not.

Years ago, a story of mine was accepted by an editor who wrote and would publish science fiction and fantasy. I initially assumed this person was a professional.

I eventually knew this person had never previously worked as an editor — they were a science fiction writer and a teacher. The feedback was brusque and one hundred percent negative. Instead of feeling eager to revise my novel, I felt reluctant and resentful. I became convinced it was charity to publish this story and the only…