
Red Pens and Invisible Ink: Editors do their work behind the scenes - samclemens
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2017/05/the_delicate_author_editor_relationship_as_seen_in_the_insect_dialogues.html
======
kqr
Where have I heard a quote along the lines of "a writer is someone who isn't
good enough at writing to become an editor"? I've been looking for the source
without finding it.

~~~
hammock
Not sure. A lot of writers hate editors. But I would say "good editors know
why they are bad writers."

~~~
ska
A lot of writers hate editors, it's true.

But almost all of them desperately need to be edited.

------
rashkov
If you found this interesting, here are some really insightful tributes to and
stories about Bob Silvers of the New York Review of Books -- a world-class
editor who passed away recently:
[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/05/11/robert-silvers-
tr...](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/05/11/robert-silvers-tributes/)

------
woliveirajr
> At time of Browne’s second interment, the vicar recorded the age of the
> deceased as "317 years."

That's the last line from the Cabinet magazine that is mentioned.

------
noobiemcfoob
Much of this relationship exists in one form or another with coding, though
perhaps a little inverted, with writers and architects. When you're writing
alone for yourself, publishing or not, you can with certitude feel 100%
ownership. The second you open the door just a crack to another set of eyes,
that question is less certain. Add in individual egos and you have the
cocktail that endlessly spawns "creative differences"

