The ONE Question You Should Ask Your Editor

Christopher: 00:00:00

What's the one question you should ask your editor?

Gena: 00:00:03

I can help with that.

Christopher: 00:00:08

I'm not even sure if I said that right.

Christopher: 00:00:09

I said editor.

Gena: 00:00:12

It'll work.

Gena: 00:00:13

We'll go with it.

Christopher: 00:00:13

What's the one question you should ask your editor?

Christopher: 00:00:16

That's the question.

Gena: 00:00:17

That's the question.

Gena: 00:00:18

That's the question we're going to answer today.

Gena: 00:00:20

I am actually sharing a bit of a shift that I've made recently in my writing.

Gena: 00:00:27

And I just thought I would, uh, share about it on this podcast.

Gena: 00:00:31

This is kind of a personal one for me that, um, that I just wanted to share

Gena: 00:00:36

because it has made such a difference in the way I approach, uh, my editors

Gena: 00:00:44

and my coaches and anyone that I really go to for, feedback on my writing.

Christopher: 00:00:50

Yeah, because usually when you ask for feedback from an editor

Christopher: 00:00:52

or a coach or someone else, you've got, you basically just say, hey,

Christopher: 00:00:56

would you take a look at this, right?

Gena: 00:00:58

Yeah, or I would say, I would often say, um, what do you think of this?

Gena: 00:01:03

I would hand that.

Gena: 00:01:03

What do you think?

Gena: 00:01:04

What do you think?

Gena: 00:01:06

And, um, I would find it that when I would get the feedback and I am talking

Gena: 00:01:11

about, uh, editors, I'm talking about, uh, coaches, I'm talking about critiquers,

Gena: 00:01:18

I'm talking about just anybody that I was looking for feedback with, I would

Gena: 00:01:23

hand it to them and often I would hand it to them and say, so what do you think?

Gena: 00:01:30

And that automatically put me in the place of expecting them

Gena: 00:01:35

to love it as much as I did.

Christopher: 00:01:38

Because you were thinking they don't want to

Christopher: 00:01:40

disappoint you and so they're just...

Gena: 00:01:42

I would, I think I thought, this is really good, I want

Christopher: 00:01:48

Naturally.

Gena: 00:01:49

I just, this is good.

Gena: 00:01:50

I want you to tell me what you think about this.

Gena: 00:01:54

And I have recently changed that question.

Gena: 00:01:58

And by changing the question, it puts me in a completely different place.

Christopher: 00:02:03

So the question is now, how much can I pay you to give me

Christopher: 00:02:08

great feedback about this, right?

Gena: 00:02:09

No, the question is, how can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:02:14

How can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:02:16

So not, what do you think about this?

Christopher: 00:02:20

But how can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:02:22

So that automatically then, instead of just giving them a, yeah,

Christopher: 00:02:26

or having them respond with a, yeah, it's good or no, it's not.

Christopher: 00:02:30

It's actually puts them in a position of almost teaching.

Gena: 00:02:35

Yes.

Gena: 00:02:35

I think it gives the critiquer, the editor, the coach, the permission and the,

Gena: 00:02:41

um, inducement, To give feedback of, well, I really liked this, but I think this part

Gena: 00:02:49

could be stronger, or I really like the way you did this, but, um, I think you

Gena: 00:02:56

could change this up, or maybe I would rearrange these things here, and by doing

Gena: 00:03:01

that, I feel like it also, so it, it, for the editor, or the person answering

Gena: 00:03:06

that question, it puts them in a position to teach, like you say, in a position

Gena: 00:03:10

to really think about the feedback that they're giving, but it also puts me in

Gena: 00:03:15

a place where I am not automatically thinking that a person's going to like

Gena: 00:03:19

it, but it puts me in a position to receive and a position to be ready

Gena: 00:03:27

for the changes that need to be made.

Christopher: 00:03:29

I just realized, I think you used this Jedi mind trick on me.

Gena: 00:03:32

I did.

Christopher: 00:03:34

You just asked me last night to edit a article that you've written.

Gena: 00:03:39

I've written an article.

Christopher: 00:03:40

And you didn't say, um, can you edit this?

Christopher: 00:03:44

Is it good enough?

Christopher: 00:03:46

Anything like that.

Christopher: 00:03:47

You said, how can I make this better?

Gena: 00:03:51

I did.

Christopher: 00:03:52

And what did I do?

Gena: 00:03:53

You came back and you said, these are the things that

Gena: 00:03:56

I thought you did really well.

Gena: 00:03:58

You even said, I think it's better than you think it is.

Gena: 00:04:01

Cause I wasn't sure.

Gena: 00:04:02

It was one of those pieces that was just a very, uh, very big encompassing piece.

Gena: 00:04:08

This was like a 1500 word.

Gena: 00:04:12

really close to 2000 word article.

Gena: 00:04:14

And so I really wanted to make sure that it was, um, as concise as it

Gena: 00:04:18

needed to be and that it really kind of told a story and that it kept

Gena: 00:04:22

within, uh, that client's voice.

Gena: 00:04:27

Um, so it did that, but also, by putting it into the place of asking

Gena: 00:04:32

you, what can I do to make it better?

Gena: 00:04:33

You actually came back and you said, I think it's better than you think it is.

Gena: 00:04:37

Cause I wasn't really sure I'd worked on this thing for so long.

Gena: 00:04:40

And if you all know what I'm talking about, sometimes you can work on a

Gena: 00:04:43

piece so long that you get to the place that you're like, I don't even

Gena: 00:04:45

know if this is good or if I'm just like, spinning my wheels and just

Gena: 00:04:51

changing things and I don't even know.

Gena: 00:04:53

Like I've worked on it so long and made so many changes to it, I wasn't really sure.

Gena: 00:04:58

But then you came back and you said, I think it's actually

Gena: 00:05:00

better than you think it is.

Gena: 00:05:02

But I actually think you need to strengthen this portion of it and

Gena: 00:05:06

make that bigger and make that more, have a bigger piece of it.

Christopher: 00:05:11

Have more impact.

Gena: 00:05:11

To have more impact.

Gena: 00:05:12

Because you know who I'm writing for.

Gena: 00:05:15

Mm-Hmm.

Gena: 00:05:15

. And you know that that particular piece, is very important to them.

Gena: 00:05:19

So you said, I think it needs to be bigger.

Gena: 00:05:21

And I said, okay, I'm going to make those changes.

Gena: 00:05:24

So I went in and I started working on it and I was able to

Gena: 00:05:27

make it finish it, turn it in.

Gena: 00:05:29

Um, and I think the editor is going to really like it, but it just that switch

Gena: 00:05:35

of asking, not what do you think, but changing it to how can I make this better?

Gena: 00:05:42

It, it kind of sets me in a position to receive critique, and it also

Gena: 00:05:49

sets the person reading it in a place to feel freedom to share

Gena: 00:05:53

everything that they would change.

Christopher: 00:05:55

Yeah.

Christopher: 00:05:55

You know, I, now that I have been in editor's shoes a lot, there's

Christopher: 00:05:59

a lot of times I'm editing pieces and often if someone asks me

Christopher: 00:06:03

what I think about something, the question is generally kind of framed

Christopher: 00:06:08

like, is this publishable, right?

Christopher: 00:06:10

Is this something that is good enough to be published?

Christopher: 00:06:13

And.

Christopher: 00:06:14

Often that's what I'm reading for is, is this good enough to be published?

Christopher: 00:06:19

And I, and I look at the piece and often I read something and

Christopher: 00:06:21

I think, yeah, it's pretty good.

Christopher: 00:06:23

I think, I think that's, that'll fit what the magazine is looking for.

Christopher: 00:06:25

It'll be good.

Christopher: 00:06:26

That'll fit.

Christopher: 00:06:27

Send it off.

Christopher: 00:06:27

Right.

Christopher: 00:06:29

But that's different when, if someone were to ask me, how can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:06:33

It does put me more in that mentorship role, right?

Christopher: 00:06:36

Where I'm like, okay, I'm not just saying, yes, it can be published.

Christopher: 00:06:40

But I'm saying, hmm, let's see how this can really shine.

Christopher: 00:06:43

It's an interesting, it's an interesting Change, changing the way you just phrase

Christopher: 00:06:49

something changes the way you think about it and changes the way the person

Christopher: 00:06:53

who's receiving from you thinks about it.

Gena: 00:06:55

It really does and I even, I work with a writing coach who I really

Gena: 00:07:00

respect and who is really talented and so I've started using this question.

Gena: 00:07:06

I don't go into our meetings thinking, do you like this?

Gena: 00:07:11

Am I hitting the mark?

Gena: 00:07:13

I go into it saying, how would you change this?

Gena: 00:07:16

And how can I make this even stronger?

Gena: 00:07:18

To which has been interesting because as I have heard from her, she has said.

Gena: 00:07:25

Just exactly what you said.

Gena: 00:07:26

She has said, you could publish this.

Gena: 00:07:28

This is publishable and it's a new genre for me.

Gena: 00:07:31

And she was saying, this is, you can do it.

Gena: 00:07:34

This is good enough.

Gena: 00:07:35

This meets the standard, um, of getting an editor's attention.

Gena: 00:07:39

But she said, but I want to challenge you to go even farther.

Gena: 00:07:43

I want you to go to another level.

Gena: 00:07:45

Yeah.

Gena: 00:07:45

To which my response was, I want to learn.

Gena: 00:07:48

I want to learn how to take this to the, to the, as good as I can get it.

Gena: 00:07:54

And while still keeping my voice, still keeping my perspective and my tone and

Gena: 00:08:00

all of that, but still, uh, putting me in a place of, I want to learn.

Gena: 00:08:05

And that's really what this is.

Gena: 00:08:07

So, like I said, I'm sharing this with you guys because this is, you

Gena: 00:08:11

know, Chris and I are in the trenches.

Gena: 00:08:13

We are in the trenches here.

Gena: 00:08:14

We, we are, we've been in the writing world for 30 years.

Gena: 00:08:19

We have worked as editors, as writers, as ghostwriters, as marketers, a variety.

Gena: 00:08:24

We've kind of worked in all different areas of this, but, uh, being in

Gena: 00:08:30

this, we are continuing to learn.

Gena: 00:08:32

We, there's never a time where we feel like, We've arrived and

Gena: 00:08:38

we don't have anything to learn.

Gena: 00:08:39

This is still Uh, an area where there's still areas of it that we want to grow in.

Christopher: 00:08:45

Writing is a lifelong pursuit.

Christopher: 00:08:46

And if you've been writing for a while, you know that you're always

Christopher: 00:08:48

growing, always learning, always getting better at what you do.

Christopher: 00:08:52

Yeah, we've been doing it for well over 30 years now.

Christopher: 00:08:55

And now we're, and we're just like, man, there's still so much that we're learning

Christopher: 00:08:58

and becoming better at all the time.

Gena: 00:08:59

Absolutely.

Gena: 00:09:00

And I think if it kind of like, have you ever had a favorite artist

Gena: 00:09:04

who's a musician, a favorite musical artist and they come out with an

Gena: 00:09:08

album that is somehow a little bit different from their last album.

Gena: 00:09:12

Mm-Hmm.

Gena: 00:09:12

. And you realize over time they're trying something new.

Gena: 00:09:15

They're, they're sharpening, they're, they're kind of playing with some

Gena: 00:09:19

new, uh, creative expression in that.

Christopher: 00:09:23

Yes.

Gena: 00:09:24

You know, the genre has changed a little bit.

Gena: 00:09:25

Maybe they're changing some of their, uh, the ways that they do their songwriting.

Gena: 00:09:30

Something like that.

Gena: 00:09:32

And you can still hear them in it, but they're changing, they're playing, and I

Gena: 00:09:35

think that's the same way with writing, that we can play, and we can write in

Gena: 00:09:40

a way, and learn, and grow, and develop as writers, and we may change genres,

Gena: 00:09:46

we may try some different techniques, we may do different things like that.

Gena: 00:09:51

We're all still growing.

Gena: 00:09:53

But, uh, anyway, getting back to this, this attitude of being in

Gena: 00:09:57

this place and asking the question, how can I make this better?

Gena: 00:10:00

It has really made a difference in the way that I approach my

Gena: 00:10:05

editors, my coaches, my, just whoever, how can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:10:11

Gena has said a few things.

Christopher: 00:10:12

I hope you got ahold of this, that, um, She's not writing

Christopher: 00:10:15

her material alone, right?

Christopher: 00:10:17

She's working with other people.

Christopher: 00:10:19

She has a, uh, mentor that's helping her write, right?

Christopher: 00:10:23

The coach that's helping you write what you're writing.

Christopher: 00:10:27

She's asking other people, editors, people like myself and others.

Christopher: 00:10:32

What, how can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:10:34

Right.

Christopher: 00:10:35

And she does that because it makes her writing stronger.

Christopher: 00:10:38

If you don't have someone like that in your life, find some people that

Christopher: 00:10:41

you can share your writing with, that you want them to be supportive.

Christopher: 00:10:44

You want them to be people who know the genre and the business, right?

Christopher: 00:10:49

And so when you do that, it's just going to make your writing stronger.

Christopher: 00:10:52

Part of the reason we, uh, we're thinking about a lot, a lot of this

Christopher: 00:10:54

this week is because in our membership, which you can find at writingmomentum.

Christopher: 00:10:59

com slash membership.

Christopher: 00:11:01

Uh, we have critiques that we're now offering with Henry McLaughlin.

Christopher: 00:11:04

He's been on the podcast the last couple of weeks and he's going to be giving

Christopher: 00:11:08

critiques like this where he, where you can submit your first page of your work to

Christopher: 00:11:12

him and say, how can I make this better?

Christopher: 00:11:14

And he's going to share what he likes.

Christopher: 00:11:16

He's going to share what can improve and hopefully stir up a good discussion.

Christopher: 00:11:20

So if you're not part of a group like that, Hey, come join us.

Gena: 00:11:22

Yeah, definitely.

Christopher: 00:11:23

Um, but anyway, yeah, this is a, that's a really good question.

Christopher: 00:11:25

I, I, uh, I'm going to start asking that myself.

Gena: 00:11:30

I look forward to giving you feedback on that.

Christopher: 00:11:33

Speaking of feedback, hey, go ahead and rate, review,

Christopher: 00:11:35

subscribe, and share this podcast.

Christopher: 00:11:37

Here's how you do that.

Christopher: 00:11:38

On your podcast player, if you're listening on your iPhone, Go into the

Christopher: 00:11:43

podcast player click on leave a review and just leave us a little review if you

Christopher: 00:11:47

do that It helps other people find the podcast and improves their writing too

Christopher: 00:11:51

And it's a way that you can kind of give back to this So we've had people say man,

Christopher: 00:11:55

you give away such good free content.

Christopher: 00:11:57

How can we help support that?

Christopher: 00:12:00

Leave a review that helps so much We'd also love to have you join us in our

Christopher: 00:12:04

membership because we think that's the way that we can really You Um,

Christopher: 00:12:07

sharpen one another the best, uh, but definitely if you can just leave some

Christopher: 00:12:10

feedback that that really is a blessing.

Christopher: 00:12:12

Uh, because you know, we are not in this alone, together,

Gena: 00:12:16

we have writing momentum.

Christopher: 00:12:18

Bye bye.