A career as an editor is often a solo adventure, especially if you’re a freelancer. So, we thought one way to better connect with fellow editors was to ask them to submit their responses to a set of questions based on the Five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why. Read on for some thought-provoking, enlightening tidbits from those of us who choose to work with words to earn our keep.
Please tell us a little about yourself, the kind of work you do (and where you live), and how long you’ve been an editor.
I’m Tara Avery, and I live in Vancouver, British Columbia. These days, I work primarily with fiction and memoir as a line and developmental editor, although I’ve done a substantial amount of academic and business editing, as well. I also write, ghostwrite, and offer coaching.
Technically, I suppose my first stint as an editor was in the fifth grade, when I started a school newspaper, but my first paying gig was circa 2003. I’m currently in my third year as Editors Canada’s national treasurer; I’m also the chair of Editors BC after serving as both its treasurer and co-chair of communications and social media in previous years. I chaired the national conference in Vancouver in June 2024. I’m also the current president of the Federation of BC Writers, where I continue my one-woman quest to convince authors that editors aren’t as scary as they fear.
Who: If you could edit one famous author, living or dead, who would it be?
This is absolutely the most difficult question of the bunch! Part of me wants to name someone whose skill doesn’t, in my mind, equal the fame they’ve achieved. But the larger part of me wants to name an author I love because, oh, how delightful it would be to get to really delve into their worlds with them! I think the latter wins, so I’ll say Jane Austen. She wrote in a time before modern style guides, so I think it would be fantastically interesting to see what kind of pushback there would be if, for example, we needed to bring her punctuation in line with CMOS. But mostly, I’d just pick her clever brain and admire her wit.
What: What is the one thing that has helped you the most in your career as an editor?
I am a storyteller, and I’ve been a storyteller my whole life. That storytelling, however, has taken many forms. I trained as an actor, which gave me a tremendous amount of insight into character work. I’ve worked on plays and in films, which taught me how collaborative the entire process of creation can be. I’m a writer, so I’ve learned craft from that perspective. I’m a voracious reader. Editing lets me use all my story-related skills to help and encourage others.
Also, and I promise this isn’t a sales pitch (it’s a little bit of a sales pitch), I didn’t feel like I was actually part of a living, breathing, thriving community of editors until I started volunteering with Editors Canada. Membership has a lot of great benefits, sure, but volunteering is how I’ve built friendships and community within the organization and beyond.
Where: If you could work anywhere in the world as an editor, where would that be?
I’ve had the opportunity to edit in some lovely places around the world, including a café in Galway, Ireland; a campground in Iceland; my best friend’s house in Palm Bay, Florida; and my own various and sundry residences from Vancouver to New York City to Abu Dhabi to Boston. Have laptop, will travel. There are pros and cons to all jobs, but the flexibility of being my own boss (and especially of not having to be a functional human before noon most days) is by far the biggest perk.
I did really love Ireland, though. I could live there. Plus, everyone knows how to spell my name!
When: Was there ever a time in your life when you seriously questioned your career choice?
I have late-diagnosed ADHD, so I think it’s safe to say that I have seriously questioned my career choice on a regular basis for about as long as I’ve had a career. That said, part of what makes editing such a great career for me, specifically, is how each new project presents a new set of problems to solve and suggestions to offer. If one part of the process starts to feel heavy or tedious, I can focus on a different area for a while. If the imposter syndrome rears its ugly head, I look back on the kind words my authors have given me over the years.
Why: Why did you choose to become an editor? Or, should we ask: Why did editing choose you?
Editing absolutely chose me. I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I was terrified of editing. Of course, when I look back, I see I was doing a lot of editorial and editorial-adjacent work long before I put the pieces together and recognized that editing was a viable career option.
One very clear, very specific moment does stand out, though. I’d written a manuscript and I’d been tweaking it for ages without making much progress. One day, I decided to go through the entire book chapter by chapter and scene by scene. For each, I wrote down the characters who appeared, the location, and a bullet point or two about the action that took place. At the end of this process (baby’s first developmental edit), I realized a character I thought was tremendously important only appeared in the book . . . twice. I had a literal eureka! moment. Editing, I thought to myself, makes stories better! Editing is about helping authors! It may seem obvious, but that was the first time I really recognized that editing wasn’t just about right and wrong, correct and incorrect. It was a bit magical.
And, of course, we just had to ask the inevitable how: How would you sum up your motto?
I see editing as a helping profession. If the process of publishing – whatever form that takes – is a story in which the author is the protagonist, I strive to be their ally, not their antagonist. Curiosity, compassion, enthusiasm, and the ability to ask good questions are my favourite tools.
This article was copy edited by Ann Kennedy. Ann is a freelance copy editor and proofreader who also works part time at Indigo, where she is thrilled to be around books for hours at a time and get paid for it. She lives in Toronto with her ancient but devoted black lab, Rosa.
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