Attending the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading annual conference
Blackboard with cursive writing on it. Writing reads: Never stop learning. Image by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay.
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted as I was extra busy at the start of September. I was off for a week and then I went straight into the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), of which I’m a member. It took place in Glasgow this year, but I attended online (it’s a hybrid conference).
This year’s theme was Language matters.
I attended several sessions, including:
A session on writing fiction editorial reports, specifically for developmental edits, given by romance editor Sarah Calfee. One of the things I found useful about this session was realising I wasn't alone in some of the mistakes I've made along my journey as an editor, and hearing about how other editors approach editorial challenges. For example, some manuscripts require more feedback than others, and deciding how to format this feedback as an editor can sometimes be tricky.
I also appreciated the discussion around how authors receive editorial reports (or, as I like to call them, revision letters). Some of the editors in attendance wrote much longer editorial reports than I’ve tended to write, while others took a different approach altogether (for example, completing a book map alongside an editorial report/revision letter, which is something I’ve also done at times). It was a helpful reminder about how important it is for editors and authors to be on the same page about what the edit will look like and what it will help the author achieve.
A wonderful panel session on how editors can make their services more accessible to neurodiverse authors by using different styles of communication, not making assumptions about authors, and implementing varying strategies (for example, giving authors extra time to process feedback from a coaching session, if they need it). This panel was comprised of fiction editors Laura Burge and Katherine Kirk, neurodivergent coach, mentor, and writer AJ Harman, and moderated by coach Anna Knight.
There were too many excellent takeaways to mention here, but I liked the suggestion to ask authors how often they'd like to hear from me during an edit. I've always checked in at set times with authors, but it's a great idea to ask what an author needs before I start.
Practised my developing copyediting skills alongside other editors in a live fiction editing workshop given by fiction editor Andrew Hodges. We also discussed developmental issues and how they crop up at the sentence level. As every editor edits slightly differently, it was interesting to see how other editors approached the texts.
While copyediting and line editing are slightly different skills, I sometimes do selective line edits as part of my developmental edits to help show authors where they could strengthen their prose and how it’s relating to bigger picture story issues.
Watched an inspiring talk by Grace Marshall (author of the book Struggle) titled 'How to be Productive when the shit hits the fan'. She made some great points about how fight or flight manifests at work and can result in poor decision making. Although her talk addressed editors, I think many of her ideas could also be helpful for writers. For example, she talked about how many people either try to push through or procrastinate when they’re struggling. She encouraged the audience to instead be curious about what’s going on, which often results in finding a better way through.
I know many writers talk about writing being hard, and something they really have to push themselves to do. Whereas other writers get stuck and procrastinate. As a story coach, I think that every writer has their own approach to their work, and their own unique ways in which they can struggle with it. Discovering what those are, and finding ways around them, can only be helpful.
I'm looking forward to reading her book when I have a little more space in my reading schedule.
Took part in a meeting about AI Chatbots in Editing, given by communications professional Erin Brenner. It was a very educational session as I know little about AI. I was pleased to learn that when she tested specific chatbots on how well they edited certain pieces of texts that she got very mixed results (and developmental editing was particularly difficult for the chatbots).
I haven’t engaged very much with this subject because it felt a little overwhelming to me—so many strong opinions, and there’s so much we’re still learning about the technology—but I also know there are some writers who look to AI for editing. Erin’s test would seem to confirm what I already suspected—that developmental editing, at least, will likely always require a human being. This is probably because developmental editing looks at the story and characters, first and foremost, and story is something that’s grown out of the human experience. What makes for a strong story isn’t something that can be reduced to a formula, at least not in my opinion. I’m glad about this because developmental editing is my favourite editing service.
Attended a helpful talk about business strategy skills, given by nonfiction developmental editor Claire Beveridge. I loved her focus on being honest about what is and isn't a priority. I also appreciated her points about staying open and curious, and learning to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.
This is important because my goal isn’t to provide specific editing services, but rather to help writers craft strong stories. This sometimes means being flexible about how I can help. Staying curious about the writing process and how it works for others will help me achieve this. Not all writers work in the same way (see session two notes above). This doesn’t mean I’ll always be able to help every writer, but rather that I’ll try to stay open to finding ways to help, even if that means referring onto my trusted editorial colleagues..
Which is, of course, why I also took the opportunity to do lots of networking with my fellow CIEP editors. As part of the conference, I attended several networking sessions, getting to know other fiction editors as well as many other kinds of editors. Editors, like writers, often work on their own, so spending time together discussing what we do was invaluable. I also learned a lot from other more experienced editors who very generously shared their knowledge with me.
I came away from the conference with lots of new ideas, strategies, and learning to implement. I'm looking forward to next year's conference and to putting my learning into practice.
