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How do you distinguish between personal taste and objective critique while editing a creative process?

How do you, as a developmental editor for creative projects, distinguish between your personal reading/writing tastes and objective critique? Or do you just have to work with an author/writer who you align with creatively?

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Kimberley’s Answer

I’ve worked with more than 240 manuscripts and authors, including content and developmental editing of both fiction and nonfiction. Of course, I have my own taste in writing style. I’ve published a few books of my own. But the art of editing involves figuring out who the author is and knowing what they want to say and what tone they’re trying for. For the most part, these are writers I’ve never met, yet their manuscripts tell me so much. I can recognize which famous authors influenced them and I also get a feel for their personality and spirit by looking at the writing choices they have made (and in fiction, even the choices their characters make.) I want the book to be the best version of what they want it to be. Sometimes that means gently pushing my own preferences aside. An example: I don’t like reading dialects. Mark Twain did them well, but not many writers since him have managed to write altered English that sounds like an authentic accent. But if I get a manuscript full of dialect, I’ll edit it with respect, because that’s clearly a part of that author’s vision. Much of what I do is repairing the pacing of a book. Over a couple of decades, I’ve fine-tuned my “reader’s ear” so I can tell when a paragraph is dragging and exactly where and how much I can cut without changing the meaning. I do this to bring the writing quality up to publishing industry standards—which are not completely objective, but generally favor writing that is concise, non-repetitive, and “bright.” So as I read a manuscript, I’m analyzing each word and sentence trying to understand what the author means to say and what I can do to make it say that in the most lively and readable way possible. I hope this describes the process and answers the question. So much of this is intuitive now, but I know the internal template I use developed from reading thousands of books in my lifetime. The more you read, the better your pattern recognition becomes, and the better editor you will be.

Kimberley recommends the following next steps:

Read everything you can.
Notice plotting, organization, and word choices as you read.
Give authors all possible respect. They have done something many people wish they could do, but few actually accomplish.
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Richard’s Answer

As a developmental editor, the author may ask you to edit a selected passage or chapter. Based on your dev edit response, the author may or may not select you to do the job. I asked five editors to edit a chapter. Some of the responses were so far away from what I wrote, that my writer ‘s voice was unrecognizable. I selected an editor whose edit style closely matched my writing style.
Don’t be afraid to turn down work in genres you don’t like to read. You’re not helping the author editing something you dislike.
Thus you offer to edit work that appeals to you and avoid offering to work on something you dislike. With these simple tenets, you address the personal taste issue and preconceived views on genres that are not your cup of tea.
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Tina’s Answer

When editing a client's book, you must stay true to their voice. To do that, you stick to grammar and punctuation rules and when you see something that could be better, you make the suggestion with an example and let the client decide if they want to take your advice. I usually offer what I think is best for the situation and let the author review and make the change in their own style.
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Thomas’s Answer

Everything is subjective in the end.

To put aside personal biased, you must see the good and bad in everything. Don't be afraid to have a different opinion, even if the whole world disagrees with you. Express your thoughts in a mature, respectful, and experienced way. If you aren't sure of something, avoid the topic. It's also good to hear what others say; perhaps you guys can change each others minds.
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Theodore’s Answer

As a photo editor, I offer this as an example. You submit classic, artistic, B&W, human form study. Nudes. The lightning, posing, treatment can all be wonderful, but in my corporate world, we can't use any of it. So it isn't that that work isn't great, it is it doesn't fit the market. Same could be said if your portfolio was all animals or landscape. It could be great work but I am not seeing you have the talent for what I need.

A side note for other photographers. Look at your portfolio of people and portraits. Do you have a range of subjects or did you find a group of your peers to get a portfolio together. I want to see young, and older, and ordinary, business people. If you people in the trades, get and show them. This is the style of work that I need to see.
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