Editing as Spiritual Practice: 3 Things That Make a Good Editor
How editing is a vocation centered on the writer’s story
What is an editor? The person who holds space for your story and gives you further channels to use your voice.
When I say the word story, I’m not just speaking about fiction editors. I’m saying that all editors are charged with the care of a writer’s story—their experience and research. And, for me, that editing work has been a spiritual vocation, especially as someone who edits at the intersections of spirituality, creativity, and justice.
But what makes this vocation spiritual? What things make a good editor? Here are three musings on that idea:
Good editing preserves the writer’s voice. The editor is there to understand and amplify your voice, so good editing does not make the writer’s voice sound like the editor’s voice. Even when the editing must be heavy, the writer’s voice remains intact.
Good editing finds new or further channels for the writer’s voice. The editor has an important job. They are helping the writer foster conversation with future readers and any relevant publishing parties. The editor is seeking to take the writer’s voice and make sure that it is in conversation with any guidelines that the publisher has set out and any other relevant style conventions. Again, the writer’s voice is preserved…but is also given new ways to express its truth in conversation with any contractual voices, such as publishers or eventual readers who will buy the book. An editor will advocate for and find ways to find the right wording to best amplify the writer’s voice in this ongoing conversation.
Good editing is aware of and may share from other perspectives. Writers share their story in a sea of conversation with other voices. They are part of many ways of being, and by writing, they share their ways of being. Editors often share how other perspectives could help amplify and add nuance and clarity to the writer’s voice.
Editing is a big world, but I promise you that good editors exist who care about you and want your words to succeed—even if your experience/story challenges power structures. And those editors want to walk alongside you. For me, I’m especially looking for projects that allow me to amplify marginalized stories and voices in the spirituality, creativity, and justice spaces.
Simply put, as an editor, I believe all stories are sacred because all experiences are valid…and we’ll get closer to the truth and closer to inclusion when everyone gets an actual voice. In this way, editors are poised to help resist structural injustice, just by holding space for the voices of the writers they work with.
(If all this resonates with you and you’d like to work together, here’s the form to book me for a free sample edit. I’d be honored to walk alongside you in your writing journey, and I’m looking forward to the possibility of working together.)
In Wonder,
Kandi Zeller (she/her)
Instagram: @kandi.zeller
I love your expansive view of spirituality! I bet you make an amazing editor 😊
If every editor had your spirit, words would be liberated for the light on every page!