Over-Editing

Yesterday, a friend asked me to go over her statement of purpose for a job application, and like a true journalist, I whipped out my red pen and set on it like a lioness on a gazelle. But, mid-way it occurred to me there is a difference between rewriting and editing, and I should be clear what is expected of me. As a journalist, I was taught that copy editors are ruthless and one should learn to write better rather than be bitter about them mangling your copy. Working for an international newswire, i was fortunate to work with some great copy editors. I would probably have ended up as some sort of an editor if I had stuck around in journalism.

But, it struck me that rewriting too heavily means suppressing the original author's voice and imposing one's own words on the piece. That may be fine in certain situations but not in all. I am a reasonably good editor and writer, so when someone asks me for help I can usually find ways to improve the copy. But, I must fight the temptation to rewrite it completely. One can definitely improve a copy without rewriting it and silencing the original author's voice.