Editors are superheroes – at least according to a song by Samsa & Headhaunter. These were not musicians I had heard of until my son, then 18, said: ‘Mom, you’ll love this song.’

To this day, I listen to the music he plays me, and never say things like ‘You call that music? In my day, rock and roll was good enough.’ Keeping the avenues of communication open and all that. I listen even when he plays me math rock, which I find deeply unsettling. (Wikipedia’s description is accurate: ‘It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatures, and extended chords.’)

But he was right. I did like the song he played me – Superlative Heroes by the aforementioned Samsa & Headhaunter. It’s a complex and funny rap song on the joys of editing and writing, using the conceit of not being a conventional superhero, but rather being the kind with powers like ‘laser vision page revision’.

Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy4fxu2CiT0&t=133s

There’s a section of the lyrics (read them here) that spoke to me:

I’m not the type of vigilante who goes off avenging homicides
More the kind to just correct a comma splice
Constructive criticism super villain
Yes, I’m honest when I prompt advice
But even when a novice writes I always leave my comments nice

These lines neatly encapsulate the soft skill that an editor needs: the ability to correct and change and cut someone’s precious work, while still being nice.

In addition to word processing programs and computers and PDF viewers and grammatical knowhow, people skills are paramount. Yes, spelling needs to be correct, but there are ways to achieve that without hauling out a red pen.

What this means in practice

There are different levels of editing in any given text – I will generally change grammar and spelling and formatting and punctuation without a qualm.

But there are occasions where you aren’t sure what the author meant, or when a change you make might change the meaning. Then you are in the territory of the author query. This might be listed in an email, or contained in a comment on a Word or PDF document. And it is the phrasing of that author query that is key. The comment is never ‘What does this mean?’ or ‘Clarify please’.

Rather it will say something like: ‘I’m not sure I understand this correctly. I am wondering if this is clearer …’ – and then insert your suggested rewording. See? Nice.

The way you communicate with an author should come from a genuine sense that you might be wrong, or that the person just needs a little help in expressing what they wanted to say. In other words – a genuine interest, a genuine expression of respect for the other person.

If you have that, you are a long way down the road to being an editing superhero.

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