Of Creativity and Technicality


Posted on Sep 14, 2016

I’ve always thought that the books I so love are just products born from the imagination and creativity of fantastic writers. Of course, that is true.

But I can’t deny the fact that behind the finished product that finds its way to my hands—before my eyes, with the words lifted from the page and into the corners of my brain—is a team of people who have made the publication possible, people who made sure that the author’s ideas are comprehensible and that the manuscript as a whole is at its best-possible form.


Writing

I’m a self-professed book lover. With this love for the written word is also a drive to write those words myself and to create worlds built with pillars of my own purpose and resolve—worlds to which I hope to one day whisk my own readers.


I know that I can’t do that alone.


See, though I do believe in my vision and in my ability to make it a reality, I also hold the belief that success is not built by one brick alone. Just as kings, queens, and conquerors had their advisors and counsellors on whom they put their trust to execute a successful maneuver or to arrive at a wise decision, authors should also rely on people who have thorough knowledge of the publishing industry—yes, that industry responsible for ensuring that whatever the authors produce actually make it out there in the world.


Barring the publishers themselves, the editors (and proofreaders!) are the most important of these people. After all, the editors are the ones who make certain that the manuscripts are ready to be submitted to the publishers, who have the power to either grant the manuscripts approval or reject them.


Editors look over the manuscripts and look for imperfections—for yes, whether or not the authors acknowledge it, the fact is that they do make mistakes, and editors seek to correct those mistakes. Even the simplest of them all—the placement of a punctuation so little regarded as a comma, for instance—could prove to be significant in the eyes of publishers, who are very particular with the details as they prove how much care went into the manuscripts and how serious the authors are.


Of course, sometimes the authors have a particular vision for their manuscripts that might get compromised over the rules to which the editors conform. The meanings might get altered and the concepts lost in translation. Therein lies the challenge of conciliation—marrying technicality with creative license.


However, this balance is not so easily achieved.


I, for one, have trouble doing so. There are times when I just let loose phrases and run-on statements that I think very clearly deliver my point, only to later realize that from an editor’s point of view, what ended up on the page was tragically horrible—sometimes even needing complete rewrites.


(Those are the worst times.)


If the editors deem it necessary that something be rewritten, what more could that say about what the publishers would have thought? The possibility that something I spent time to create would just be scrapped is both terrifying and embarrassing—and mostly, it is heartbreaking.


To avoid such misery as much as possible—especially when aiming for something as ambitious as, say, publishing a novel—I need all the help I can get. Having another set of eyes to check over my work, even if it sometimes feels like a kick to my pride, is one effective way of doing so. Editors are trained to look over the details and make sure that authors (such as myself, one day, hopefully) won’t be making utter fools of themselves and would succeed on taking their work out there. It is the goal, after all, and editors help make sure that it is achievable.


The team of editors in 1-Hour Proofreading, an editing and proofreading services provider, has this goal in mind, guaranteeing a quick and efficient service without compromising the quality of the work.


Do you have questions about how editors can improve your manuscripts? Do you feel unsure of your manuscript’s current status and wish to avoid situations in which your manuscript might get critiqued because of simple errors? Worry not! Drop a line at 1hourproofreading.com and the team will be sure to help you out.



Disclaimer: Image is not ours. Credit to the owner.


About 1-Hour Proofreading
1-Hour Proofreading is a growing start-up offering fast and efficient editing services at a reasonable price with the assurance that the document is publication-ready the soonest you need it. Its team of highly competent professional editors is committed to helping those in need of quality editing services while facing tough deadlines.


Visit 1hourproofreading.com for more details.
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