Ask the Author: Dene October
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Dene October
I hope I can help you Yateendra but It's an odd one. I don't have a clear reference I can give you. I used to say this kind of thing a lot in Writing Design classes back sometime in the 2000s. Something like, 'there are two types of editor: one steps out in front of you while you are writing carrying a big red stop sign. Push them away, they're blocking your progress, even if they claim to be acting in your interest. The other editor only appears after your first draft. Embrace them, they're freeing up your access to the reader. A good editor is someone who cares a little less about the author's needs than the reader's.' Some of this was up on line for a while, on University blogs and forums, things like Blackboard, etc. This is where it must have got picked up by someone and quoted the first time. I can see the first mention on Goodreads is in 2008 (I didn't join Goodreads until the mid teens when I discovered it). It has subsequently been re-quoted a lot, including self-consciously by me in 2018 when I was thanking the editors of the Marco Polo book! I realise this doesn't help your bibliography question--it seems memes love nothing better than resisting their own origins! All the best, dene
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