Book Discussion: Terri Windling & Editing

[sirens_mods]

For the next two weeks, we're going to take a bit of a detour as we discuss Terri Windling's influence on fantasy and speculative fiction. In the 1980s, Terri was a fantasy editor for Tor and Ace, and created the Fairy Tale and Borderlands series. In addition, Terri has co-edited numerous anthologies of magical fiction such as the Year's Best

Comments

[sartorias]

What a juicy topic!

Your diagram works most of the time, but there is a such thing as over-editing a book, just as some films make no sense because the makers, in an effort to get it lean and mean, have been over it so many times they end up cutting the sense (or the appeal) out of it.

It used to be said that a certain type of fantasy, usually with a Thomas Canty cover, would be a Terri Windling project. The "types" were often fairy tales grafted onto more modern stories, but certain themes would often appear, like broken families and broken people. Magic could be glitzy but didn't keep them safe.

That's about as much generalization as I want to make, and that's iffy--Terri had her favorites to work with, and they all shared beloved themes, so it's not like she edited her authors' works into cookie cutters shapes.

Her contribution to the field is enormous, and continues to be appreciated.

[thistleingrey]

Yes, definitely, re: Canty's cover art. I never did get around to reading Gael Baudino's books, but they're stuck in my mind as "the Canty-cover books I missed."

[sartorias]

They were the same plot (band against the evil Sidhe) but the band was all women, with lesbian relationships, and as such, this story was ahead of most of the pack. (Imo)

[thistleingrey]

Hmm, interesting. They seem to have vanished from most local-to-me libraries--hard-worn mmpb titles are rarely replaced....

[thistleingrey]

I used to be able to pick out the editing work of David Hartwell and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, some of the time, when I was consuming books at a faster clip than I do now.

It's a bit unclear whether you mean copy-editing or the kind of editing that means requests for significant authorial revision, re: "content and style." I would rather have a more finished product, but as sartorias says, there's such a thing as over-editing a story that could stand without further tinkering: it might not be perfect, but messing with it might worsen it overall.

Anyway, I for one appreciate editors as interveners (if not quite arbiters) re: book "taste" because even if one disagrees with the kinds of story or writing being promoted by a particular editor, at least one knows what kinds of things that editor tends to favor. With self-pub, the entire space is rather like a slush pile.

[newsboyhat]

Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding! I meant more structural edits instead of copy-editing.

That's interesting re: David Hartwell and Teresa Nielsen Hayden. What would you say were some of the indicators of their work?

[thistleingrey]

At this point, I don't recall clearly. :) I was able to pull this trick circa 1990-95....

[rosa_g]

I admit to falling in the category of people “who enjoy books but don't notice editors at all!” That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate their work, not at all… in fact, in the case of HP, I did whine at the length and extra (and unnecessary imo) filler in the later, more rushed, books. I suppose you could say that I just don’t pay attention to the editing process enough to be able to discern individual editor’s contributions