Editing Quotes

Only God gets it right the first time and only a slob says, "Oh well, let it go, that's what copyeditors are for.

While writing is like a joyful release, editing is a prison where the bars are my former intentions and the abusive warden my own neuroticism.

You can edit what you write. Why not edit what you say? If it hurts somebody, you can still offer an apology or withdraw your statements

What is it about us lady authors and our fascination for the exclamation mark?

There should be no crying in copyediting.

The great correspondent of the seventeenth century Madame de Sevigne counseled, "Take chocolate in order that even the most tireome company seem acceptable to you, " which is also sound advice today!

Put down everything that comes into your head and then you're a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff's worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.", 1964)

Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.

Edit your manuscript until your fingers bleed and you have memorized every last word. Then, when you are certain you are on the verge of insanity...edit one more time!

I edit my own stories to death. They eventually run and hide from me.

I have always believed in the principle that immediate survival is more important than long-term survival.

I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.

Most often when I stammerThat's my brainCorrecting my grammer.

If someone doesn't understand the importance of sensitivity readers, chances are they may need them the most...

In writing, there is art. And in art, there is craft ...

Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the hair of someone you love.

In writing, there is art. And in art there is craft ...

Be a good editor. The Universe needs more good editors, God knows.

A person who wrote badly did better than a person who does not write at all. A bad writing can be corrected. An empty page remains an empty page.

Only the writers can change or fix the past by going back to edit old works

As we change, our writing changes too. You cannot write the same poem twice. And that's a good thing.

There are plenty of bad editors who try to impose their own vision on a book. (…)A good novel editor is invisible.

Further editing deepens a story.

Growing a culture requires a good storyteller. Changing a culture requires a persuasive editor.

One of the hardest things for a writer to do is delete words.

Books in the YA genre, in particular, should use proper grammar because they're more of an example to young people than adults books are.

There is a saying: Genius is perseverance. While genius does not consist entirely of editing, without editing it's pretty useless.

I wish my life were a movie and I could take it into the editing room and totally cut this part out. And some other parts. Some other parts definitely need to be cut.

If I can only write my memoir once, how do I edit it?

No words are too good for the cutting-room floor, no idea so fine that it cannot be phrased more succinctly.

Apparently, my hopes, dreams and aspirations were no match against my poor spelling, punctuation and grammar.

It’s not that I was categorically opposed to the idea of scientists and physicians using gene editing to introduce heritable changes into the human genome.

When I'm writing, I make words my b*tch. But when I'm editing, the words make me their b*tch. It all equals out in the end.

Your first draft is a petulant teenager, sure it knows best, adamant that its Mother is wrong. Your third draft has emerged from puberty, realising that its Mother was right about everything.

Every writer, of course, has very specific ideas about editors. But writers seldom get the last word on anything.

Writing is like riding a bike. Once you gain momentum, the hills are easier. Editing, however, requires a motor and some horsepower.

Remove the comma, replace the comma, remove the comma, replace the comma...

You are an author! You will be a published author. Take pride in that, and present only your best work. Then, continue to improve, so your best gets even better.

I am hard at work on the second draft ... Second draft is really a misnomer as there are a gazillion revisions, large and small, that go into the writing of a book.

Write when drunk. Edit when sober. Market it with the persistence of a drug peddler.

Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, build on to that which is already excellent.

It was a miracle to me, this transformation of my acorns into an oak.

Filmmaking is a very complex form - ya know, acting, lighting, screenwriting, storytelling, music, editing - all these things have to come together.

Editing is a natural extension of the collage making. It's actually one of the few areas that women were able to excel in in the film industry from the beginning.

I can hire out for editing, proofreading, formatting, and cover design, and those are fixed, sunk costs. Once those are paid, I can earn 70% on a self-pubbed ebook.

A lot can change in the editing room.