Even Hemingway had an editor

Some of us were lucky to have great teachers. Others may have had a caring mentor who helped us get started in our career. Dick Elsberry was my manager and mentor in the GE News Bureau (where Kurt Vonnegut got his start). Dick was an irascible character who cared deeply about good writing. When, as a 25-year-old publicist, I turned in my first newsletter copy for his review, it was so bad that he didn’t bother with editing. Rather, he wrote me this pointed letter, pounded out on his manual Remington typewriter, to teach me a lesson about writing which I’ve never forgotten. I am forever grateful to him.

“Joyce -- In future, please submit to me copy as you write it, rather than holding onto it. Thus, if it needs work, you’ll get that direction right away.

On recent copy I detect (no, it is more obvious than that) a very tutorial approach. For example, the energy story starts out by citing the name and title of the energy czar for sector.

The only time you start with someone’s name is if he is (a) the president of the U.S., (2) you are doing a personnel announcement, or (3) it is the Second Coming (i.e. “Jesus Christ, the only son of God, arrived on Earth today and turned the South Bronx into the Garden of Eden.”)

You are not writing term papers anymore but copy to be read by real people, not professors. Thus, we must grab their attention immediately; which sometimes requires a baseball bat. We do not have the luxury of a long, leisurely lead-in. We are writing tight and to the point…there is no room for rambling, or repetition.

So, new rule: as soon as you write it, show it to me. You have a lot to learn about the job you are doing, and you aren’t going to learn living in a vacuum. When you can write copy with proficiency that I believe no longer requires someone else’s review, I’ll be the first to tell you. At that time, you should also realize that you will still benefit from showing someone certain stories … even Hemingway had an editor.”