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Editing For Clear Communication
True communication is the ability to produce and understand sentences so well that the reader is transformed into the reality of the moment. It was Robert Louis Stevenson who said, "The difficulty in literature is not to write, but to write what you mean; not to affect your reader, but to affect him precisely as you wish." A skilled author will look closely at the complexity of the sentence, paragraph and chapter, see if he has done enough build-up of symbolism to support the image, figure out how to trim the representation down to its essentials, or perhaps delete the phrase, paragraph, or chapter. Dynamic writing is summarizing. True communication is summarizing. In short, a sentence, paragraph and chapter should contain no needless, pointless or redundant words. It is for this same reason that a drawing should have no unwarranted lines and a machine no excessive parts. This does not require the writer to make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word puts light in the picture of communication. It is not difficult to understand how the very nature of words makes it almost unavoidable for many of them to be doubtful and uncertain in their significations. The words can be interpreted in so many ways; they can be characterized with different inflections; and they can mean the same to one and the opposite to another. Yet the primary end of the words used is being understood. We as editors must be just as energized, horrified and incensed in the same words chosen by the author. If we are not, we are not on the same wave-length as the author; or the author has truly lost the characterization of the character. It is at this point, and only this point, that we, as editors, must be able to clarify the words to make them clear ideas for the reader to understand. Understanding what the writer has written becomes paramount to the whole of the thought process of the character as well as the storyline and plot. Comprehending the appetites, aversions, and passions of what the author has in mind must be understood whether their use is correct or abused. Putting yourself in the shoes of the character and author makes you a proper and fitting editor. What we as editors see, most of the time, is different than that of the author. If we truly want to conceive what the author has written, we have to throw aside all prejudices and opinion and become the passion of the very character written. When this is accomplished, we can communicate on the author’s level and edit correctly. We must be most careful of the words we choose to replace and correct. Besides the signification of what we see and imagine of the character’s nature, we must have a signification also of the nature, disposition, and interest of the author in mind. What the author calls wisdom we might call fear; and what we call cruelty the author may call justice; what the author calls prodigality we might call magnanimity; and what we call gravity the author may call stupidity. Wars have been fought for this very reason. Because the misunderstanding of words have been interpreted differently. Are not the troubles of the world today caused by grammatical errors of misunderstanding? Do not lawsuits come from the debates over the interpretation of the laws? Why are there so many religions in the world? What has been discussed here is has been the downfall of empires and kingdoms. Finally, the language suggested by the editor may have vacillating thoughts to an author; or even worse, the reader. We, as editors, must be loose enough in our words to leave them play. For no one ever knows whether what we say today will fit the facts tomorrow. And heaven forbid we use abstract terms. An abstract word is like the magician's box with a false bottom: words and ideas are placed inside yet you can take them out again unobserved. The language of the author used in communicating to the reader has a base of broad and conceptual terms wherein the editor must create equality on the same level of understanding. He must use the words of this type detachedly and with the most condensed possible meaning without interfering with the imagery of the author. When this is consummated the editor breaks down the barriers between editor and writer and they become the sole endeavor in producing clear communication where the reader is clearly transformed into the reality of the moment. By Bill Osborne, a senior editor for American Book Publishing. © 2005 American Book Publishing™ *All other trademarks used by permission. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy and Trademark Use Policy.
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