Episode #78: Should I have someone edit with me? - with Erin Geiger Smith

Welcome back to another great episode of Kids Ask Authors! Today we hear authors Grace Lin and Erin Geiger Smith answer the kid question, “Should I have someone edit with me?”

TRANSCRIPTS:

Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel When the Sea Turned to Silver and the picture book A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today I'm here with Erin Geiger Smith, the author of Thank You for Voting, the Young Readers' Edition. Hi, Erin.

Erin Geiger Smith: Hi. Thank you for having me.

Grace Lin: Oh, so thank you for joining us today. Are you ready for today's question?

Erin Geiger Smith: I think so.

Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a young person named Juliana and Juliana asks...

Juliana: Should I have someone edit it with me?

Grace Lin: I am typing a story right now, should I have someone edit it with me?

Erin Geiger Smith: Oh, that's a great question, Juliana. I think there's a saying that everybody needs an editor. And that is true. Everyone needs help shaping and thinking of questions they may not have thought of and even just catching spelling mistakes. I think there are two questions. Does everyone need an editor? Definitely. When do you want to call in your editor, can be sort of a harder question.

Erin Geiger Smith: But one thing that took me a long time to learn as a writer, because you just want everything to be perfect on the page when you write it down and you want to write this beautiful essay or beautiful story right away, but anything that you're reading that's in print, if it's in a book or a newspaper or a magazine or all of those forms online of course, lots and lots of people have looked at it. The writer has edited themselves and then a professional editor has looked at it. In certain cases, a special fact-checker has looked it over. Like with my book, I had a fact-checker go through the whole thing and then my publisher had another one do it again. So knowing that you need an editor is one of the first steps to being a writer I think. And editors can really save you sometimes.

Erin Geiger Smith: One story that comes to mind was when I was writing my book and it was after my editor had already looked at the first draft and we talked about things that needed to be done and I was just stuck on a chapter. I loved the information that I had, but it just wasn't working. Every time I read it, it was too boring. It took too long. And so I sent it to a friend of mine who is also a writer and she saved me. She went through it and she said what was the main idea in every paragraph and pointed out I was just jumping from one idea to another and then back to the first idea. And she really helped me get everything in proper order. And she did such a good job that I sent her the rest of the chapters too. So sometimes your editors may be sad that you give them too much work. But in that case, my friend, Christina, saved me and that's above all the work that the other professional editors had done.

Erin Geiger Smith: So nothing is ever right or exactly right on the first draft. Everything's a first draft. And that's I think important to realize. Writers think so much that other writers must just write everything down beautifully. And that is just not true. Even the absolute best writers in the world, edit and edit and edit and then have someone else help them with it.

Grace Lin: Yeah.

Erin Geiger Smith: But as far as when to ask, cause sometimes I wait way too long to ask, I have a bad habit of that, I think it's a good idea once you, you want to get your own ideas down on the page and kind of have an idea of what you want it to be. But once you're kind of there and are ready for someone else's thoughts, when you feel like you're ready to hear some input, that's a good time to ask. But don't be afraid of what that input is going to be because everybody needs some help. And an editor is really your first reader. And if you're writing for someone to eventually read it, that's what you should think of them as I think. The very first reader who's going to help you make it even better for all your other readers.

Grace Lin: Yeah. Yeah, and I agree with what you said how every writer needs an editor definitely. All writers definitely need an editor, usually more than one editor.

Erin Geiger Smith: Right.

Grace Lin: But I think you do bring up a good point about when because Juliana says, "I am typing a story right now." So my impression is that she is writing her first draft right now. And sometimes maybe you don't need an editor for that first draft if it's going to slow you down. I think that was what you meant.

Erin Geiger Smith: That's true.

Grace Lin: You were saying it's a good idea to know when to ask or when to have someone edit it. And I think in the very beginning if you're going to have an editor write it with you, then they're not really an editor. They're your co-writer.

Erin Geiger Smith: Yes. That's very true. It really is so hard. I do think if she has an idea for a story and she's working on it now, maybe getting through, you know making sure she has the beginning, middle, and end there in some form might be a good idea before she shows it to someone else.

Erin Geiger Smith: And I also think if you're not sure whether you're ready to show it to someone, you might think of specific questions you want a person to answer. And that's sort of helpful to not let an editor step in too much, too early if you have a specific question. If it's a fiction story, does this character make sense? Or do you understand where they're coming from? Or is there anything more you want to learn about them? Or if it's nonfiction, kind of the same questions. Is anything missing? But if you're having someone edit early, I think it's a good idea to know what it is you need. But overall, don't be scared of editors. We all need them. We all need them desperately.

Grace Lin: Yes. And there's nothing wrong with having a co-writer too. It's just...

Erin Geiger Smith: Absolutely.

Grace Lin: ... an editor takes what you already have and helps you make it better. A co-writer is going to write it with you. So since you're typing the story right now, maybe I would suggest finish writing the story, finish typing up all your stories and then after you're all done definitely get an editor then.

Erin Geiger Smith: I think that is great advice. I hope we get to read the story one day.

Grace Lin: I know, I can't wait. Juliana, if you have the story, we'd be happy to see it.

Erin Geiger Smith: Definitely.

Grace Lin: Well, thank you so much Erin for answering today's question. And thank you so much Juliana for sending it in.

Erin Geiger Smith: Thanks, Juliana. Thanks, Grace.

Grace Lin: Bye.

Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Milo! Milo is reviewing, The Rivalry: Mystery at the Army-Navy Game, By John Feinstein

The book I am reviewing today is THE RIVALRY: MYSTERY AT THE ARMY-NAVY GAME by John Feinstein. This book is about two teenage reporters who figure out that something is wrong with the referees at the Army-Navy game in Washington D.C. There is also a threat to President Obama from the father of two players in the game. One of the teen reporters is Stevie or Steve Thomas. Before the game he got to interview President Obama and the Secret Service. Stevie got suspicious when it was nearing the end of the second quarter and it was tied zero to zero. Stevie got suspicious because the referees threw a flag every time each team came close to scoring. What I liked about this book is that it keeps you on your toes.

Thank you Milo!

More about today’s authors:

Erin Geiger Smith grew up in tiny Liberty, Texas and is now a journalist living in New York City. Her coverage has ranged from the Supreme Court to stationery, as well as the silence that results from choosing a bad book for book club, and A-listers selling socks in podcast ads. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other leading publications. Previously, she was a legal reporter at Reuters.
After the 2016 election, she had a lot of questions. Her search for answers eventually became a research project for the author Ann Patchett, and that research became the foundation of her book, Thank You for Voting, and the young readers' edition of the same title.
Erin graduated from the University of Texas, the University of Texas School of Law, and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is married and has a six-year-old son.

Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.

Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.