How common is it for a published author to have had an editor do a big cutting job? Retired 72-year-old psychotherapist, living in IndiaRichard Beswick, publishing director at Little, BrownNabokov called editors “pompous avuncular brutes”. I say “the story the writer wants to tell” because ultimately it is the writer’s creation. Perkins believed that Wolfe would just be unable to let it go and in the end Wolfe reckoned that Perkins cut half a million words from the published version. If you’ve got a question for Book Clinic, submit it below or email bookclinic@observer.co.uk

Source: The Guardian April 21, 2018 16:52 UTC