I sometimes stumble upon manuscripts and books that look like a page in a thesaurus or dictionary—filled with wonderful synonyms and nice expressions but resembling a dish with mismatched ingredients. These books, I believe, suffer from over-editing, an excessive drive for perfection in the editing process. Dean Wesley Smith once said something about “writing by committee,” referring to the use of too many beta readers and editors for a single manuscript. This can result in a monstrous piece of prose that fails to convey the author’s unique voice, reflecting instead that it has been handled by many hands. Of course, no one can criticize the work of a good editor; what I’m referring to is editing a manuscript to death—killing the author’s voice, the authenticity of the expression, and sometimes even the plot itself.
I’ve come across good stories that I truly enjoyed, only to see them spoiled by the heavy hammer of over-editing. This seems to stem from a fear of using too many adverbs, repeating dialogue tags, or using phrasal verbs. But we are human; we are full of flaws, and if something is too perfect, it can feel inauthentic, lacking the emotional connection we crave. It seems like we’re moving towards a kind of perfection driven by visual filters and our desire for instant gratification over sustained engagement. In writing, there is a rusticity that gets lost when a manuscript goes through too many revisions, reaching draft number 100. I remember being that writer who rewrote the same chapter in a dystopian novel countless times over several years, stuck at chapter one, never satisfied. The chapter wasn’t great, but I should have finished the novel and moved on to the next one. After all, early works are the first results of our labor as apprentices. When we start writing, we are apprentices, and the more we write, the more we grow.
You may end up with a manuscript where the authentic author voice is completely lost. Going back to the idea of “writing by committee,” if you don’t draw the line between editing to make the prose grammatically and stylistically correct and altering your voice, there is no point. Remember, not all manuscripts are meant to be published. Writers create many pieces that are not for public consumption; it’s part of the journey of learning and improvement, no matter how experienced you are. Ultimately, you don’t want a manuscript that screams inauthenticity or looks too perfect to be human.