Editors Are Not Enemies
Segun Iwasanmi@iwasanmisegun212159
17 days ago
© Segun Iwasanmi
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There is one thing I noticed growing up that used to confuse me. Whenever children draw something at home, we'll l proudly run to our parents and say, "See what I drew!" Even if the goat looked like a generator and the sun somehow entered the sitting room, we would still present it with complete confidence. We displayed a pure, unshaken belief in our own work. And honestly, I understand it now more than I used to.
Human beings naturally fall in love with things they create. If you cook soup yourself, somehow it tastes better in your head than it does on anyone else's tongue (Though sometimes nah lie sha 😀). If you write a book yourself, every sentence starts looking like your child and you begin defending lines that should have been removed. Some people reach out to me about their manuscripts and many honestly feel their work is already standing at the finish line, smiling and waiting for applause, meanwhile it has not even heard "On your mark," not to talk of "Get set." And I say this with all the love in the world, because the problem is almost never the writing itself.
Most times, writers just want to protect what they created. They're scared another hand touching it may remove their voice, change their heart, or reduce the beauty they see inside it. That fear makes complete sense because writing is personal. You sat with those thoughts for weeks, months, sometimes years. But when you stare at something that long, your eyes become too familiar with it. Your brain starts completing missing words without permission, skipping repeated ideas, forgiving confusing scenes, covering for the story the same way a mother covers for a child she knows is wrong (see mothers ehn! 🤫), You genuinely cannot see it clearly anymore and that is not a personal failure, it is just how humans work.
That is where editing enters, like that friend who taps your shoulder during a picture and says, "Guy, button your shirt first." It's to embarrass you. No be say he wan take over. Just to make sure what people see outside matches what you actually intended. When I work through a manuscript, I am not looking for what to change. I am listening for what the story is trying to say underneath all the noise, and then clearing the path so it can finally say it properly. The writers who allow that process always come back saying almost the same thing: "I thought I was protecting my work, but letting someone in was one of the best decisions I made." Because they leave with something that still sounds like them, still breathes like them, but now speaks louder than before.
Sometimes I read manuscripts and I can almost hear the story struggling inside, like somebody knocking gently from behind a locked door. All it needs is the right person on the other side who knows how to open it without breaking anything.
© Segun Iwasanmi | ™The Man With The Story.
Book Writer | Screen and Scriptwriter | Creative Fiction Writer | Book Editor.
I help people turn rough ideas into bold stories that work
