Advice and insights from notable nonfiction editors?
July 19, 2019 11:08 AM   Subscribe

I recently read an interview with Jill Lepore in which she described how her editor at the New Yorker, Henry Finder, had helped her tremendously with an essay. I'd like to learn more about how editors like Finder think about editing-- how they approach line edits, structural edits, how they work, what they advise. Looking for articles, interviews, or other resources in which editors like Finder share their insights about editing.

I'm coming up short with Googling. Hivemind, please help!
posted by Mystical Listicle to Writing & Language (5 answers total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Go to the Paris Review and do a search for “The Art of Editing” - I haven’t read these ones, but they have a similar series for poets and fiction and nonfiction writers and they’re really wonderful.
posted by sallybrown at 12:07 PM on July 19, 2019 [3 favorites]


As a former (small time, freelance) developmental editor, the two books I found most thorough and practical were Scott Norton's Developmental Editing and, even though it's about fiction, James Wood's How Fiction Works. There are lots of other good books about editing on the University of Chicago Press' site, too.
posted by cocoagirl at 1:37 PM on July 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


Not strictly about editors, but Long Form Podcast interviews writers about craft, and some delve into their relationship with their editors, or are editors themselves.
posted by momochan at 11:19 PM on July 19, 2019


Good Prose by Tracy Kidder and his editor is exactly this.
posted by heavenknows at 11:23 AM on July 20, 2019


the open notebook has a lot of resources about science writing including things relevant to non fiction in general

also i made a thread on the blue

posted by Cozybee at 7:36 AM on July 24, 2019 [1 favorite]


« Older Social Security Survivor’s Benefit Question   |   Naked Sleeper Seeks Sleep Romper Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.