Literary editing is a process that helps convey the thoughts of authors of works to the reader, facilitate understanding of the material and remove unnecessary elements, repetitions from it. All this and many other interesting facts will be discussed in this article.
For clarity
Literary editing can be compared with the action of a microphone used by an artist performing on stage. Such processing of the material is intended to enhance the effect produced on the reader by one or another work placed in the print edition.
A remarkable fact from the history of literary editing of the text is that when preparing the material of the first books for printing, the works did not pass through the hands of specialists with an education in the field of linguistics. Initially, the typographer performed the function of checking the material. A separate position appeared with the advent of the first newspapers and magazines. In those days, the editor often took over the censorship function. The word "editor", which began to be used to denote a new profession, was taken from the Latin language and refers to a person who tidies up written by authors who sometimes do not have a philological education.
Similar concepts
Often editing text is confused with correction, that is, correction of grammatical errors and typos. In reality, this process is the elimination of shortcomings of a different nature.
The literary editor pays attention to such moments as stylistic inaccuracies (incorrect use of phraseological units, individual words and so on), imperfection of the literary form, shortening of the text, removal of repetitions, elimination of logical and semantic errors.
Each of these activities will be considered separately below.
Stylistic Editing
This may include the replacement of words that are uncharacteristic for a given style of speech (literary, journalistic, colloquial), more suitable. Such editing often takes place when publishing various interviews, newspaper articles written by unprofessional journalists. Also, expressions that have a sharp, emotional character are replaced by more neutral ones.
In the Russian language, as in many others, there are many so-called stable expressions, that is, phrases that are usually used not in a direct meaning, but in a figurative one. In literary editing, specialists ensure that all such phrases are entered into the text correctly. Examples of misuse of persistent expressions can occur, for example, in texts written by authors who are not native speakers.
Also, many phenomena have several synonyms for their designation. Although the meanings of such vocabulary units are the same, their connotation is different, that is, they can have different colors. For example, the word “terrible” in the meaning of “very” is usually used in colloquial speech and in some journalistic genres, but it is not suitable for scientific literature. And if it occurs in the manuscript of a scientist, the editor should replace it with a more suitable synonym.
Literary editing
This stage of work is also extremely important, as well-executed division of the text into chapters greatly simplifies its reading, contributes to the rapid assimilation and storage of information. It is known that most people finish reading a book consisting of chapters of a small volume faster than volumes that include larger sections.
Also, literary editing may consist in changing the places of some paragraphs of a work. For example, if the editor is working on an advertising article or other material aimed at producing a strong emotional impact on the reader, it is best to place the brightest parts of the text at the beginning and at the end, since the human psyche has the following feature: it is always remembered best first and last fragment.
Logics
The tasks of literary editing also include control over ensuring that everything written does not go beyond the bounds of common sense and elementary logic. The most common mistakes in this area are: substitution of theses and non-observance of the rules of argumentation.
It will be useful to consider each of these logical flaws in a separate chapter.
Like in a joke
There is such a joke. The old mountaineer is asked: “Why is there such clean air in the Caucasus?” He replies: “One ancient beautiful legend is dedicated to this. Once upon a time, a beautiful woman lived in these places. The most brave and clever dzhigit in the aul fell in love with her. But the girl’s parents decided to pass her off as another. Dzhigit could not endure this grief and rushed from a high cliff into a mountain river. " The old man is asked: “Dear, why is the air clean?” And he says: “Probably because there are few cars.”
So, in the story of this elderly highlander there was a substitution of theses. That is, as evidence of a certain statement, arguments are given that have nothing to do with this phenomenon.
Sometimes this technique is used by writers on purpose, in order to mislead readers. For example, often food manufacturers advertise their product, citing the absence of any harmful substance in it as its advantages. But if you look at the composition of similar products of other brands, you can see that in these products there is no such component.
But as a rule, reputable media do not use such tricks in order not to undermine their authority. It is known that the stricter the editorial board relates to published materials, the higher the quality of the articles, and therefore the prestige of the publication itself.
True proof
Also, in literary editing, specialists usually check fragments, where the author cites a proof of something, for the presence of three components. Any such statement must necessarily contain a thesis, that is, the thought itself, which should be accepted or refuted, as well as arguments, that is, provisions proving the theory presented.
In addition, the course of reasoning must be given. Without it, the thesis cannot be considered proven. First of all, such a requirement must certainly be observed when publishing scientific works, but it is desirable to fulfill it in other literature, then the material will look convincing and all statements will not seem unfounded to readers.
Speaking about scientific publications, it is worth noting that when publishing such works, texts must undergo another type of editing. It is called scientific. Such verification involves specialists from the field to which the work in question is devoted. When publishing literature that is not related to the field of academic science, articles are also checked for data reliability. In such cases, the author must provide sources from where the information was taken (they serve as proof of his words). If the material contains any dates and numbers, then all of them will certainly be verified with those indicated in the source.
Exceptions
Editing literary works often consists only in eliminating grammatical errors and correcting typos. This is especially true for the publication of classic works. Many modern writers make publishers a prerequisite: do not edit their creations. For example, without the intervention of philologists, the publication of the book of memoirs by Maya Plisetskaya was dispensed with.
Most often, this practice occurs in the West, where it is widely believed among writers that their works should be published in their original form.
From the history
Literary text editing as a scientific discipline taught at the faculties of journalism appeared in the second half of the fifties of the twentieth century. Then, due to the constantly increasing volume of printed products, the country needed a large number of highly qualified specialists in this field, which could only provide the introduction of specialized education.
What do literary editors learn?
Before answering this question, it is necessary to clarify again what the essence of the work of these specialists consists in.
Many experts say that the activities of the editor can be divided into two large parts.
Firstly, these publishers are engaged in the elimination of inaccuracies in the presentation of specific dates and numbers. And also, work is underway to adjust the names and analyze the relevance of the topic, its interest and usefulness for modern readers.
Secondly, the editor should be able to assess the degree of political correctness of the author’s statements.
To perform these functions, future specialists, of course, need to study general educational subjects that are among the sciences of man and society, such as economics, political science, psychology, etc.
Special knowledge and skills
The second point of the editors' activity is the philological component of the publishing process itself.
What specialized skills should editors have? First of all, such work is associated with the constant reading of a large amount of textual information. Therefore, employees should have the skills of speed reading and special viewing of articles aimed at identifying and eliminating copyright flaws.
Also, editors need special knowledge on the stylistics of the Russian language and the features of literary composition.
A review of some of the intricacies of such work can be useful not only for editors, but also for journalists, copywriters, and representatives of other professions whose activities involve the constant writing of large-volume text material. All representatives of these professions are involved in self-editing to one degree or another, before submitting written materials to the publishing house.
Concretization of the topic
Both for the literary editing of other people's texts, and for working on your material, you may need certain skills, the main of which will be discussed below.
The first thing that an editor usually does when working on a work is to determine the relevance and the correctness of the choice of a topic, guided in this case, first of all, by the readers' supposed interest in it.
Experts say that the topic should be fully disclosed in the work. Materials that cover a fairly wide range of problems are less popular with readers than those whose theme is formulated very clearly. This is because the reader, as a rule, is looking for some specific information in the literature. Thus, a work with a clearly defined theme is easier to find its reader.
Conciseness or deployment?
Following the choice of topic, the question usually arises of the proper version of the presentation of information. In addition to style, it is worth thinking about how verbose the author should be when writing a work. Two approaches to writing texts are known on this score. The first is called the expressive method. It consists in using a fairly large set of stylistic expressiveness tools, such as epithets, metaphors, and so on. Each thought in such an essay is revealed as fully as possible. The author considers the issue from different points of view, while most often taking the side of one of them.
This approach is suitable for large newspaper articles, fiction and some genres of advertising journalism. That is, it is acceptable in cases where the author and the editors set a goal to influence not only the minds of their audience, but also cause certain emotions in people.
There is also another method of presentation. It is called intensive and consists in a concise, brief presentation of the material. As a rule, insignificant details are omitted in such texts, and the author does not use such a rich set of stylistic means, as it happens when choosing the first version of the presentation.
This method is ideal for scientific and reference literature, as well as for small informational articles.
It is worth saying that the choice of one of these types is not always dictated only by creative considerations and is associated with work on the artistic side of the work.
Often this or that style is chosen depending on the volume of printed characters that stands out for a given material. Although this parameter is usually determined depending on the appropriateness of applying a detailed or short summary of a topic.
Different types
Literary editing, despite the mandatory presence in this work of some common points, is of several types. If you study the services that are offered by various publishers, then, as a rule, you can find about four types of such work in them. Next, we dwell briefly on each of them.
Subtraction
This view is aimed at surface treatment of copyright material. Here we are only talking about the correction of the most gross stylistic errors. Such services are usually provided to authors working in the genres of fiction.
Edit
This type of literary editing consists in the compositional improvement of the text, the elimination of stylistic errors. This type of work of literary editors is the most common and in demand. It is used in various print and electronic media.
Abbreviation
This editing option is appropriate in cases where the text contains a large number of small details, unimportant details that make it difficult to understand the main idea. Also, this type of revision can be applied to the publication of collections consisting of the works of one or more authors, for example, school reading books on literature. In such books, many works are printed in abbreviations, or certain passages are taken.
Alteration
Sometimes the editor has to not only correct individual errors and correct inaccuracies, but also completely rewrite the entire text. This version of the work is extremely rare, but still you need to know about its existence.
In her book Literary Editing, Nakoryakova says that this kind of editing is often used only by inexperienced editors. Instead, the author recommends that only some unsuccessful fragments be redone more often.
In her book Literary Editing, Nakoryakova pays great attention to the ethical side of the relationship between publishers and authors.
She writes that, ideally, each correction should be agreed with the creator of the work. The editor needs to convince the author that the mistakes he points out make it difficult for the reader to read the material. To do this, he needs to be able not only to correct the shortcomings, but also to explain what exactly the error consists in, and why the option that the publisher’s employee offers is more advantageous.
In the manual “Literary editing” KM Nakoryakova says that if a specialist works, taking into account the above requirements, then his work not only does not cause hostile feelings in the author, but also deserves gratitude. The compiler of this textbook claims that the profession of an editor is creative, which means that such specialists can realize their own ideas in their work. But in no case should they contradict the intentions of the author. Nakoryakova warns: the opinion that the more the editor made corrections in the author’s text - the better the result, is erroneous. The main thing in such an occupation is not to succumb to the arising desire to remake some parts of the material, guided only by its own aesthetic taste. In particular, when working on the style of the text, it is necessary to distinguish incorrectly used words and expressions from the original turns specially used by the author.
Also, the compiler of this manual mentions that in practice it is not always possible to coordinate each editing of the editor with the creator of the work. This is due to tight deadlines, in which sometimes it is necessary to write a work. Especially often this happens in the media.Ideally, the author’s activities should be coordinated with the editors at each stage of writing a work: when choosing a topic, determining the style of a future composition, and so on. An example of such cooperation can be found in the generally accepted principle of writing scientific papers, when the leader constantly monitors the process.
Editor’s place in the workflow
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Other literature
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As a result of this activity, a significant amount of specialized literature was published (for example, another manual by I. B. Golub “Literary editing” and other books).