“As an editor, I read Charlotte Rogan's amazing debut novel, 'The Lifeboat,' when it was still in manuscript. I read it in one night, and I really wanted my company to publish it, but we lost it to another house. It's such a wonderful combination of beautiful writing and suspenseful storytelling.” WritingStillsWantedBeautifulNightHouseLostCompanyNovelWonderfulStorytellingCombinationEditorsPublishOne NightManuscriptsDebutBeautiful WritingCharlotteLifeboats Author:Karen Thompson Walker
“When I write a novel, every word is mine. I welcome suggestions from my editor, but in the end, I make all the final decisions.” WritingEndsDecisionNovelMinesFinalsWelcomeEditorsSuggestions Author:Louis Sachar
“I think being an editor really helped me take other people's notes on my writing. I'd get a note like 'It's too wet' or 'The first couple chapters are good, but then the rest of the pages were so wet that they were completely illegible' or 'Did you dip this in Sprite? This smells like Sprite. Why would you dip your novel in Sprite?' And instead of pushing back, I'd listen. That's an incredibly important skill for a young writer to have.” PeopleThinkingWritingFirstsImportantYoungNovelCoupleSkillsPagesNotesSmellPushingEditorsWetChaptersDipYoung WritersPushing Back Author:Toni Morrison
“A year after I'd graduated college, I went to a weeklong conference intensive in Boston, and that's when things kicked into high gear. My workshop leader was a Harvard professor and editor. At the end of the week we met one-on-one over breakfast, and she said, in essence, "Look, you're ready to turn pro." She gave me a list of literary agents to query once I had something to show them. I came home and wrote my first real novel, and the agent that sold it to Tor Books was on that list.” YearsFirstsLooksSaidBookRealEndsShowsHomeTurnsLeaderNovelWeekCollegeReadyMetsEssenceListsAgentsBreakfastEditorsProfessorsConferencesBostonHarvardGearsWorkshopsOne On OneQueriesLiterary Agents Author:Brian Hodge
“Having been an editor for more than a decade, I thought I had a good idea of how much work was involved in writing a novel. I was wrong! Writing is a lot harder than I ever imagined - but worth it.” WritingIdeasNovelInvolvedHarderDecadesEditorsGood IdeasWorth It Author:Julie Klassen
“For my second novel, The Apothecary's Daughter, my editor encouraged me to think of another unusual profession for a woman to have. That led to the main character, Lilly Haswell, who finds herself doing the work of an apothecary at a time when it was illegal for women to do so.” ThinkingCharacterNovelDaughterProfessionIllegalEditorsUnusualMain CharactersApothecary Author:Julie Klassen
“I had an idea for a medical conspiracy thriller. Since it was non-horror, I didn't want the publishers and editors bringing a lot of baggage - my history as a genre writer in the SF and horror fields, for instance - to the novel when they read it. I wanted them to consider the book solely on its own merits. So I called myself Colin Andrews. I was tired of seeing my books at floor level. Not that Herman Wouk and Phyllis Whitney and William Wharton are bad company, but I wanted to be up at eye level for a change, where people with bad backs could get a chance to see my books.” PeopleWantBookIdeasEyeWantedChanceLevelsCompanyNovelSeeingFieldsHorrorTiredMedicalInstanceGenreMeritEditorsConspiracyPublishersThrillersBaggageAndrewWhitneyBad Company Author:F. Paul Wilson
“I couldn't decide on a title for my first novel and my editor came up with Everything Good Will Come. After that, I thought I should name my own books.A Bit of Difference seems just right.” ShouldFirstsBookSeemsNamesBitsDifferencesMy OwnNovelTitlesEditorsGood Will Author:Sefi Atta
“I'd written my first novel for adults, which was called Basic Eight and was set in a high school, and we were having a devil of a time selling it. It ended up in the hands of an editor of a children's publishing house, for which it was entirely inappropriate. She said, "Well, we can't publish this, but I think you should write something for children," which I thought was a really terrible idea.” ThinkingShouldWritingFirstsWellsChildrenSaidIdeasHandsSchoolHouseNovelWrittenTerribleHigh SchoolDevilAdultsEightSellingEditorsPublishingPublishInappropriatePublishing House Author:Daniel Handler
“I got a rejection letter from an editor at HarperCollins, who included a report from his professional reader. This report shredded my first-born novel, laughed at my phrasing, twirled my lacy pretensions around and gobbed into the seething mosh pit of my stolen clichés. As I read the report, the world became very quiet and stopped rotating. What poisoned me was the fact that the report's criticisms were all absolutely true. The sound of my landlady digging in the garden got the world moving again. I slipped the letter into the trash... knowing I'd remember every word.” WorldWritingFirstsFactsRememberMovingSoundBornNovelKnowingReaderQuietGardenCriticismLettersRejectionReportsEditorsLaughedStolenTrashPitsDiggingPretensionSeethingRotatingRejection Letters Author:David Mitchell
“I'd been assured, at age 21 or so, by a well-known editor who saw the first part of The Secret History in what was basically its final form, that it would never be published because "no woman has ever written a successful novel from a male point of view."” FirstsWellsAgeFormViewsSecretKnownNovelSuccessfulSawsWrittenMalesFinalsPoint Of ViewEditorsWell KnownAssured Author:Donna Tartt
“I think it's especially important for an editor to say what he's enjoying. For a novelist to be told, midstream, what he's doing right can actually influence the unwritten parts of a novel in a positive way - praise helps a writer know what's good about what he's written, what's interesting and exciting, and what to work for in writing the conclusion.” ThinkingKnowsWayWritingImportantHelpingEnjoyInterestingNovelWrittenInfluenceExcitingPraiseConclusionNovelistsEditorsDoing RightUnwritten Author:Donna Tartt
“There's never any humongous next draft. I know a writer who every time he finished a novel - you would know his name very well - but his editor would come and live with him for a month. And they would go through the manuscript together.” KnowsWellsTogetherNextNamesNovelMonthsFinishedEditorsManuscripts Author:Dean Koontz