How do editors and authors resolve their conflicts?

I am a writer/illustrator adult and children's books. I love working with my children's books editors because she is very talented, but also because picture books are so concise and short, the changes asked of me come easily. With adult books, and with the graphic novel I am working in, it's vastly more complicated. I respect my adult book editor, but what she criticizes, I don't necessarily agree with. It's so easy to criticize, but very hard to follow when the material is comlex and long. When I show the ms. to another reader, that reader points out other problems as he/she sees it. I get so frustrated, I ultimately have to follow my own instincts.

I am an editor (mostly of scientific/technical stuff) and I can say, from experiences with authors who have told me about their other editors, that not all editors are good. A good editor will embrace the author's vision for the book and yet have the perspective of a reader, and will make suggestions to enhance the book in a way that encourages rather than discourages the author. A good editor engages in a discussion with the author so that the author and editor can understand where the other is coming from.

I have also written material that others have edited. I try to understand why the editor is making the suggestions he/she is making but, as you say, ultimately the writer has to decide what makes sense. If you don't agree with what your editor is suggesting (or if the editor hasn't clearly explained why she thinks those suggestions would help your book), you should talk to her about it.

And the same goes for others who read your book. Get them to explain why they think the changes they suggest are a good idea. Then you'll be able to evaluate them better.

Good luck!

Thank you. Your thoughts are helpful. I have an added problem with the graphic novel in that the images are drawn with a brush, not on a computer, so any change involves physical cut-and-paste. I've written the book over the course of 10 years, and now I will transform it into essential words and images. My earlier books were fully finished before they were sold, so I met with minimal editing. I may just complete it without furthur imput so that I don't lose heart, get bogged down. With the adult books, I feel like a dinosaur who is being asked to swing her huge tail around. It's hard to do so without knocking down a few trees in the process.

My children's book editor is such a joy to work with, she makes my life work easy.

I have also edited books by others as well as had my own edited. Possibly the most important thing is to establish that all involved share the same vision of the intended final product. With that shared vision as a foundation, any necessary compromises become easier to make. Flexibility in this regard can assist both the writer and the editor in creating a stronger book.

I recently finished a novel on which I had worked for at least seven years and allowed myself to write freely, ignoring any sense of limitations on length. I nearly threw a fit when an interested publisher said it was 18,000 words more than what they would like to consider. Once I calmed down and chose to experiment with the suggestion of surgically removing 18,000 whole words, I actually ended up creating a better book, which I'm hoping will result in its acceptance.

Aberjhani