Changing Your Writing

Writers must be willing to change their writing to meet the needs and demands of the publishing world or face not seeing their work in print. This begs the question, though, of just how far a writer should bend to accommodate the requests of an editor. As with most things, it depends. It depends on what the editor is asking, for what reasons, and how far it deviates from the writer's original vision. The irony of being a successful writer is that you must first believe in your own work. You must write as you believe you should write so that your work is a true reflection of you. However, you must also heed the advice of experienced, skilled people in the publishing world and be willing to consider the changes they suggest. How does a writer do both? The answer lies somewhere in the beginning of the writing process, not at the end. If you approach everything you write from your heart, write only what you care deeply about, and write as if it's the most important thing you will ever compose, then you will likely not be asked to change your work. The work will stand on its own and will sell itself. If you are asked, however, to significantly change something that you believe deeply in and feel that the suggested changes will compromise you as a writer, then don't do it. Knowing yourself as a writer is essential in sorting these things out. Changing for improvement is one thing. Changing for a sale is quite another.