Structural and Line Edits

A question I get asked many times is how the process of editing works with my UK and US editors: what if I don’t agree with what they say? Isn’t it my book to do with as I like? What about editors in other countries – do they have any input? What if my English-speaking editors don’t agree with each other? Who makes the changes? And then when I answer these, often another question comes: What happens next?

I thought I would start a regular post about how the process has been working for my next book, Hunger and Thirst, due for publication in May 2026. Keep in mind, though that this is me and this book, and my editors. The process won’t be the same for every published author, and isn’t exactly the same for every one of my books.

And also keep in mind that I’m describing the process after I’ve done all the self-editing I think I can do, and after my editors at Fig Tree / Penguin in the UK, and Tin House / Zando in the US have read the book, bought it, and read it with their editing hats on.

What I got from them both were editing notes. The first round came only from my UK editor (as my prime publisher), and later I got notes from them both. They didn’t particularly confer, but as we got further down the line they talked together before they talked to me so they could agree on what changes they were going to suggest, so I didn’t face too much of issue of conflicting opinions. (Although this was a challenge at some points.)

1. I’m emailed editing notes by my UK editor. At this stage they’re very high level, and they’re general questions, things for us to discuss. For example,
   ‘The ending feels a little too rushed’, ‘I would love us to work out how best to weave in both the art and the moments when we zoom out of Ursula’s story and into the narrative about the filming of the documentary’, and, ‘Ursula’s strangeness. Just how weird is she!?’ There were seven pages of notes like this.
2. We meet to talk through them, resolving some of the questions as we talk and agreeing that some might be sorted out on the page. We wonder what will the impact on X be if I change Y. And so on, for a few hours.
3. I spend several weeks working on these suggestions – the written ones and the things we discussed in person. Agreeing with most, disagreeing with some, or realising as I edit that something else now needs to change.
4. I send the revised draft to my UK editor, and there is another round of edits. More in depth than the first.
5. My US editor now sees a draft and is now also involved in making suggestions, and giving me editing notes.
6. I do another draft and receive more notes; another draft, and more notes. Sometimes I make too many changes and have to replace what I took out earlier, sometimes the story is too clear, sometimes too opaque. We all feel we are getting closer to the finish line.
7. The last round are line edits – minor changes to make sure everything links together, the pacing is right, the themes work, and more.
8. This whole process takes about a year.
9. And then the manuscript goes to copyediting.
   
   I’ve just received the manuscript back from my US copyeditor, so watch out for a post next month about how this next stage of the process works.
   
   Any questions? Or anything I’ve missed out? Let me know either in a comment on this post, or send me a message here, and I’ll try and cover them next time.

(The image used at the top of this post was strangely influential in writing this novel. I found it online when I was looking for an old-fashioned medicine bottle. It informed one of the character’s names, the name of some medicine another character takes, and even the year in which most of the book is set.)