Don't Kill Your Editor

By Linwood Barclay

Thriller writers spend a lot of time thinking about killing people. But the people we imagine doing away with it are imaginary. So, whack ‘em. No harm done.

There’s one possible exception.

There are times when we think about killing our editors.

They put us through hell. I’ve had calls from editors that made me want to step in front of a bus. They tell us things we do not want to hear. We may know it’s coming. The book is not quite right, but we’re hoping our editor won’t notice. Maybe we’ll get away with it.

Fat chance.

The toughest part of the process for me is not waiting for inspiration, or starting that first sentence, or working through the plot, or dealing with readers who all email thinking they’re the first to notice the typo on page 23, or even reading those first reviews once the book is out.

The toughest part begins once I hit “send” and my manuscript lands in my editors’ inbox. Waiting for the verdict is a killer.

But here’s the thing. Every book I’ve written has been made better – sometimes, a LOT better – because of an editor. Good editors – and I have been lucky to have almost no poor ones – have saved my ass.

We’ve all heard this a thousand times, but it bears repeating. When you’ve spent months and months toiling away on a novel, you lose all perspective. You’re in no position to judge its merits. Not only are you unlikely to be able to see what’s wrong with it, it’s very likely you can’t even see what works.

I know there are novelists out there who believe every sentence they write is sacrosanct. Thou shalt not change a single word, they tell their publishers. If they’ve got more clout than I do, it’s very likely they can get away with this. Good for them. And their book may be pretty damn amazing. But I’ll bet it could have been better, even just a titch, if they’d been willing to take some advice from their editor.

It’s not easy, but you have to get past your ego in this business. I’ve gone into tailspins of depression after hearing from an editor who believes my latest delivery needs to be rewritten. It’s hard not to take personally, even though the editor is being strictly professional. You feel stupid. How did I screw it up so badly?

But the truth is, if you hadn’t created this book in the first place, there’d be nothing for that editor to judge. This was your idea. This was your concept. The editor is going to help you shape your creation into the best book it can be.

Be grateful. (Okay, maybe that’s pushing it).

With each book, I’m getting a little better at sucking it up and getting on with the job. I’ve come to expect it. As the audience for your books grows, you can’t afford to slip up. You can’t coast. Readers notice.  

Everyone, and forgive the pun, is on the same page here. Everyone wants the best book possible. Let an editor help you make that happen.

But, if it makes you feel better, think about killing them. No harm done, really. 

Author Bio:

Linwood Barclay, a former columnist for the Toronto Star, is the author of a dozen novels, including No Time for Goodbye, the soon-to-be-released A Tap on the Window,  and Trust Your Eyes, which is in development for a movie with Warner Bros. He lives near Toronto with his wife Neetha. They have two grown children. Connect with him at his website. 

Latest Book:  

A Tap on the Window, to be published by New American Library Aug. 6, asks the question: What if the hitchhiker you picked up wasn’t the same hitchhiker you dropped off? Private detective Cal Weaver’s decision to give a young girl a ride draws him into a deadly small town conspiracy.

An Interview with Thriller Author Linwood Barclay, by Carla Buckley

Linwood Barclay is the #1 Internationally Bestselling author of nine novels, a novella, and a memoir. His latest release, The Accident, features Glen Garber, a contractor who stumbles upon a terrible car accident late one night, only to recognize his wife's car among the wreckage. Reeling from his wife's death, taking care of their eight-year-old daughter, Kelly, and trying to keep his business afloat, Glen soon realizes that the accident that claimed his wife's life was, in fact, no ordinary accident. Kirkus Reviews calls it a "home run," and Stephen King has it on his summer reading list.

We’re delighted he agreed to be interviewed by Carla Buckley for The Thrill Begins.

CB: Linwood, thank you for stopping by to talk about your writing! I'd like to start off by asking if you could tell us a little about your path to publication. Many debut authors find writing their second novel a struggle, mostly because they're facing now deadlines and answering to an audience. Was that your experience?

LB: Depends what you consider the second novel. The first one that got me any real attention was No Time for Goodbye, so I felt some pressure with the following book, Too Close to Home, particularly in the UK, where none of my earlier books had been published, and No Time had been a monstrous hit. But in fact, Too Close to Home was my sixth novel, so that also eased the pressure. I knew I would be able to write it. It was more a sense of apprehension waiting for it to come out, how it would be judged after No Time for Goodbye. (Thankfully, not too badly.) My real second novel was Bad Guys, the second novel featuring Zack Walker. Considering that the preceding novel, Bad Move, had sold about nine copies (at the time) I didn't feel as though thousands of readers were waiting to judge me.

CB: Would you talk about your writing process--are you a writer who outlines, or who starts with a concept and runs with it?

LB: I need to come up with a great opening hook that I really like, and feel has potential to sustain an entire book. Once I have that, I spend a week or two making notes about what's actually going on and who the main players are. So have a semi-outline, and have a pretty good idea where I am going to end up. But then I reach a point where I just have to start writing, because it's only during the writing that I see the opportunities, the different ways I can go, and the twists I can work in. I usually do a first draft in two to three months. There can be a few more weeks, or a few more months, of work, depending on how good that first draft turns out to be.

CB: Would you say that your journalism background (with the Toronto Star) has influenced or shaped your work? Would you encourage other writers starting out to consider journalism as a career?

LB: Working in newspapers has had a profound effect on how I write novels. First, I appreciate deadlines. They are real and they mean something. So I always deliver books on time, or way ahead of time. And I think I approach writing books in a very professional, realistic, unromantic way. It's a job (a great job), so get it done. People always ask if you get "writer's block" but no one ever asks a plumber if he gets "plumber's block." Writing is a job. When you work in newspapers, no one cares if you just didn't feel creative one day, or the muse wasn't there. You do the work.

Also, working in newspapers teaches you to write clearly. Some critics have complained that my writing is simple, not terribly complex. I can live with that. I want my readers to understand my story, not have them get lost in a lot of flowery description that they're probably going to skip anyway.

CB: You're a master at taking ordinary people and placing them in extraordinary situations. Could you tell us how you came up with the idea for The Accident?

LB: My agent and I had been talking for some time about this huge business in knockoff purses. But to my mind, it was the backdrop for another story. Then I hit upon the idea of a man whose wife dies in a car accident that kills two other people, and police conclude she was at fault, drunk behind the wheel. I saw a way to put all that together. And the other background story, of course, is the disastrous downturn in the US economy, and how some people have decided to deal with it.

CB: One of the qualities I most love about your work is your deft and honest exploration of domestic life. How do you balance that quality with the pulse-pounding thriller heartbeat that runs through your stories?

LB: I don't really think about balancing it. But for years I wrote a humor column for the Toronto Star that was often about the funny side of domestic life. It wasn't difficult to turn things upside down and tackle the same subject matter in a dark, instead of humorous, way.

CB: Your premises are always high concept: a girl returns home from school to find her entire family missing (No Time For Goodbye); a man takes his family to an amusement park only to have his wife disappear (Never Look Away); a car salesman races to find his teenaged daughter who's vanished without a trace (Fear The Worst). May I ask whether Hollywood has noticed?

LB: Eric McCormack, who was Will in Will & Grace, has just renewed an option on No Time for Goodbye and when I last heard from him -- a couple of days ago -- he seems determined to get this film made. Fingers crossed. Fear the Worst has been optioned for film in Spain, and it least one production company has been sniffing around Never Look Away, but nothing definite there yet.

CB: I’ll keep my fingers crossed, too! Thank you, Linwood, for stopping by to speak with the debut authors and congratulations on the UK publication today of The Accident!

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Interviewed by Carla Buckley

Carla Buckley is the debut author of the award-nominated The Things That Keep Us Here (Random House, 2010). Her next novel, Invisible, will be released by Random House in 2012. She chairs the ITW Debut Authors Program, and lives in Ohio with her husband, children, and two bossy little dogs.