Ha, I was just talking about this the other day with an editor friend, weird.
It depends largely on what kind of relationship I have with the author, and whether this is someone coming to me for in depth editing and consult, or someone who states outright all they want is a final line proof.
Most of my clients at the moment, tend to be people who come to me and go “I don’t know what the heck I’m doing please god help me!”, at which point I explain what kind of services I can provide.
For some of them, the idea that you can have an editor go back with you from scratch is a new concept. Developmental editing is not something they are aware of, and for many it comes as a relief to have someone go “actually upon reviewing this, I can see what you are going for, but if you are open to suggestions, I think you could expand upon [AWESOME FEATURE] by pursuing this”
(Which is why charging a reading fee is paramount to understanding what you are getting into before you agree to a project.) (Also shout out to the people who help me do this with Phangs, because yes, this happens to all of us.)
Which means you still get to give your input, but you’re not just taking away the manuscript from the author and fixing it for them like a frustrated parent taking over the diorama because it’s just easier to do it yourself.
That’s not what your job is.
Your job is to help the author be the best they can be, and sometimes that will involve a little hand holding. And occasionally a bout of tough love when you need to convince the author that while this is a scene/moment they are fond of, it’s hindering their dialogue/plot/character development. Some things belong in the character drafts to better help the author get a feel for the character. That doesn’t mean the reader needs to see all of it. Those moments can be hard to realize on your own.
When I want to suggest this type of editing, I am very open and up front about how much it will cost, but stress that I am willing to work with the author over X amount of weeks/offer discounts/payment plans, to achieve this goal, because I want to see them succeed.
Some people think it’s a money grab on my part, but most recognize it for what it is—a professional offering their experienced opinion and skills for a price, which in theory, the author should recoup from the increased sales their work will garner from being an overall better finished piece.
Those who think it’s a money grab, will usually also be offended by the idea that their work as is, is imperfect and needs that kind of attention. They don’t want you for that, you’re just supposed to fix the spelling, how dare you suggest their baby is flawed etc etc etc. Those are people I don’t want to work with anyway, so I wish them well and decline to work with them. I have other clients who need my time and are happy for my attention to detail in their work.
Others will simply say “no thanks but can you still fix the typos?” in which case, yea sure, I’ll do a basic proof. A gig’s a gig.
It might rankle at my personal sensibilities to let something “imperfect” go out into the world, but *shrug* what you think of as bad might be gold to someone else. I sit and correct the grammar of famous published authors in my head while reading sometimes. That doesn’t mean the book is bad, it just means it’s not my style.
And it’s important to realize when something is bad, vs when something is simply not your cup of tea.
I’m fortunate in that I’m a consummate mimic. It’s something I’ve always been somewhat able to do when it comes to writing and was able to hone it over the years. It made me a valuable asset for when it came to ghostwriting. But it also means you’ll rarely see the seams between where the author begins and the editing ends in a book I’ve worked on. (Sometimes it’s obvious and incredibly jarring, and that is bad editing.)
A lot of bad editors don’t or can’t do this. In their head they are right, right, right and if you deviate from what they deem to be a good style, you’re a Bad Writer. Which is just blatantly not true in a lot of cases.
If you can’t style match, or the style is too jarring for you to work with, then this is not a job for you. Be honest and tell them that, and if you can, maybe suggest someone you think will work well for them.
There will also just be instances where something is a minefield of problems, and it’s up to you whether you want to put the time and energy into unraveling it all.
Learning not to take on work is also a vital part of retaining your professional sanity and energy, particularly in freelance where it sometimes feels like you have to take any and all jobs you can get your hands on just to keep afloat. Trust me, I’ve worked on things I hated just to pay the bills, but I did so, hopefully, with detached and inoffensive professionalism. I’m very fortunate to find myself in a position where I can occasionally decline work if it seems like it’s going to be too much of a struggle just to make something legible.
There will be a day when I see this and I will scroll past.
Today is not that day
Plus Ron is casting his curse non-verbally. That’s very difficult and it requires training and practice to successfully cast a nonverbal spell. It’s success is determined by the amount of concentration and mental discipline of the witch or wizard. But this is Ron Weasley he likely didn’t put training and practice into casting non-verbal spells, this advanced magic comes to him naturally. The only other time we see him cast a non-verbal spell is when he accidentally made it snow in the great hall, and that was only because Lavender was glaring him down after he said Hermione’s name while he was unconscious in the hospital wing. He felt crappy and his emotions were so intense he unknowingly made it snow. Here he’s trapped in a muggle cafe, with his best friend and the girl he loves. He’s probably scared, and angry but most of all protective. He wants to defeat these Death Eaters without anything happening to his team. His emotions are intense again and that allows him to cast a powerful non-verbal spell. No, not even a spell, a curse. We’ve seen Hermione cast non-verbal spells loads of times but even here she says the curse to ensure it’s potency. Ron is concentrated and disciplined enough in this moment to curse a Death Eater without any words at all.
and isn’t his “eat slugs” curse also non-verbal? because I doubt that “eat slugs” is the actual incantation for that curse and actually if I recall correctly from the book, he says “eat slugs, Malfoy” in an “eff off” sort of way but his wand isn’t even out. then a minute later when Malfoy calls Hermione a Mudblood, he takes out his wand and it backfires on him. and he’s TWELVE when he does this! it’s another moment where his emotions are running high because his friend has just been called the most awful word he’s ever heard.
Ron is a great wizard, so much of his magic is natural and intuitive and he doesn’t have to think about it the way Harry and even Hermione do. it’s just a part of him.
AND NO ONE GIVES HIM ANY FUCKING CREDIT ITS LIKE “OH LOOK ITS THAT STUPID WEASLEY AGAIN” YOU KNOW WHAT FUCK YOU BITCHES RON FUCKING WEASLEY IS A BOSS ASS BITCH AND YOU CAN JUST NOT! *straightens robes* But us Ravenclaws are still cool right? Sorry for my outburst professor McGonagall.
This is the kind of quality content I crave!
I am down for Ron being a more powerful wizard than anyone, including Molly, ever gave him credit for.
I AM DOWN FOR ALL OF THIS! RON WEASLEY IS SUCH A GOOD WIZARD AND NO-ONE EVER GIVES HIM CREDIT FOR IT!
This actually fits very well into a fan theory that I read once. Basically, the Weasley family are secretly very talented at magic, and very sensitive to it as a result.
That’s why Ginny was so strongly affected by the diary, and why Ron was later so affected by the locket. Even in Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling mentions specifically that Ron has the most trouble shaking off Moody’s imperius curse. He also seems to be particularly susceptible to Fleur’s Veela powers.
This could also explain why Fred and George were able to create a swamp that impressed even Flitwick, before they even finished school, how Percy got top marks in all 12 of his OWLs and why Charlie and Bill do so well with magical creatures.
Arthur Weasley enchanted a flying car, which looks like it would have been very complex, and Molly Weasley regularly performs nonverbal spells— INCLUDING A BLOODY KILLING CURSE. “Not my daughter, you bitch!” is not an incantation.
The whole Weasley clan is actually incredibly in tune with magic and nobody ever notices.
But what this means is that, not only is Ron a very talented wizard, but it also suggests that his abandoning Ron and Hermione in Deathly Hallows (which is the thing that is most often held up as a reason to hate Ron) wasn’t just him being selfish and jealous.
He wasn’t imagining it, he actually was affected more by the horcrux that Harry or Hermione.
American nationalism is weird because people are super aggressively proud to be American but opposed just as aggressively to the thought that they should help other Americans in any way that doesn’t directly benefit themselves
like, I think it’s good to love your country and everything, but it seems WEIRD for that much national pride to coincide with so much distrust and dislike for all Americans worse off than yourself and I see that a lot among the neocon crowd in particular
art activity: design a character based entirely around making them as much your friend’s type as possible, then gift it to them. half gesture of friendship, half call out.
This is an EXCELLENT way to unfunk your art block and also do something nice-but-terrible for/to your friends.
that post going around about “ofc” is distressing me and like 60 million other people so just know that when i say “ofc” i always just mean “of course” and never “of fucking course”
