Best Editing Story Ever
My source says this is from: THE PARIS REVIEW, FALL 1994 ROBERT GOTTLIEB ON THE ART OF EDITING #1 – INTERVIEWED BY LARISSA MACFARQUHAR "For a while I was editing the two best writers of quality who were writing spy novels, John le Carré and Len Deighton, and you couldn’t find a more perfect pair of opposites in the editorial process. Le Carré is unbelievably sensitive to editorial suggestion because his ear is so good and because his imagination is so fertile – he’ll take the slightest hint and come back with thirty extraordinary new pages. Deighton, on the other hand – who is totally willing, couldn’t be more eager for suggestions – is one of those writers for whom, once a sentence is down on paper, it takes on a reality that no amount of good will or effort can change. So you can say to him, Len, this is a terrific story but there is a serious problem. He’ll say, What is it? What is it? And you say, Well, on page thirty-seven this character is killed, but on page a ...
