Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

I am most fortunate to have the award-winning writer and editor, Jack Dann, provide an interview for the blog series on editing.

On his website it says:

JACK DANN is a multiple-award winning author who has written or edited over seventy-five books, including the international bestseller The Memory Cathedral, which was #1 on The Age Bestseller list, and The Silent, which Library Journal chose as one of their ‘Hot Picks’ and wrote: “This is narrative storytelling at its best… Most emphatically recommended.” Dann lives in Australia on a farm overlooking the sea and “commutes” back and forth to Los Angeles and New York. His website is here.

Of himself, Jack says: Well, I’m basically an anthologist when I’m not writing. Writing and editing are complimentary for me. One informs the other, and discovering writers who “have the juice” is a special joy. I’ve also worked as a consulting editor for a major New York publisher. I enjoy the interaction with other writers…especially as the time I spend writing is so solitary.

Why did you become an editor?

JD: The first book I ever sold was an anthology called /Wandering Stars/, which to my surprise, went on to be a classic, of sorts. I am primarily a writer, but editing has always /felt/ like writing: there is the enjoyable surprise, the unexpected twists and turns as the collection takes on its own particular shape…its own presence and character. Every story that has to go into a collection effects all the other stories; and, as always happens when I’m writing a novel, the work takes on a life of its own. That joy of writing as if the characters are whispering in my ear never goes away. Neither does that /frisson/ of reading a brilliant story that you know has to be part of the volume because the anthology would be something completely different without it. I guess, in my roundabout way, I’m saying that’s why I continue to edit, just as I continue to write: to discover what strange and beautiful country lies beyond the next hill.

What is the most important aspect of your editing role?

JD: I think it’s difficult to say what the most important role is. First of all, you need to have marketing skills, as you have to sell the anthology to a publisher–well, perhaps that’s old school as all the parameters are shifting with the take-up of e-publishing. I will refer to original anthologies throughout this interview. To compile a reprint anthology, the editor needs to be well read in the genre, have access to the stories, and have a theme for the collection. The stories are already written and published; the anthologist need only choose those stories that are to his taste and meet his requirements; then ascertain whom to send contracts to. But an original anthology involves getting the word out to the writers the editor would like to contribute. He must decide whether he is going to ‘open’ submissions to all and sundry and put himself into that particular Purgatory known as ‘having to get through the slush pile’. I usually commission stories from writers I’d like to see in the book. The word usually gets out in the professional circles, and that’s often the way I discover brilliant new work from new writers. As I’m a hands-on editor, I often work closely with writers on revisions. The idea is to help make the story as strong and focused as possible. But I am always cognizant that it is the writer’s story, not mine. He has to be happy with any revisions I might suggest. Better to sell your story to another market than be unhappy with a story that is published and has your name on it. So, in other words, I don’t believe an editor should ‘piss in the soup’. The editor must add value and always keep in mind that it is the author’s work and not his own. There, that’s about twelve times more than you asked for!

Which areas of editing to you find the most enjoyable?

JD: Working with the authors, seeing the stories that surprise and delight come over the transom, and watching the volume come to life with the addition of every new story.

In your view can editing be taught?

JD: Yes, absolutely, just as I believe writing can be taught. Both writing and editing are crafts. Craft can be taught. What can’t be taught is art. If the writer or editor has the right stuff, he may produce art. But any intelligent person can learn the bones of writing or editing.

How do you define the editing role?

JD: It really depends on the situation–whether an editor just facilitates with creative input or, as in book publishing, also acts like an agent steering the book through the various marketing and editorial departments in the company. I think I’ll leave it at that, and let others speak to the question.

What do you look for when employing an editor or working with an editor?

JD: A writer/editor relationship is very special. I’ve been very lucky in my career as a writer, as I’ve had brilliant editors who have understood what I was trying to achieve. They could see with more objective eyes than I could. But an editor who doesn’t have sympathy for the work can do it great harm.

What areas of editing do you find most challenging?
JD:  When I’ve worked as a book editor, I concentrate on conceptual editing–helping the author (if necessary) with the architecture of the story itself. I don’t do much copy editing, as there are plenty of people who can do expert line-by-line editing.

Do you have any advice to aspiring editors?

JD: Yes, read widely, remember that you’re there to facilitate the writer (and, yes, of course, to reject work that doesn’t make the grade), but you’re not the writer. All decisions must be based on the visceral understanding that it’s his work, not yours.