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hoping for a major edit? Are they not really looking for editing at all
but for moral support? Make sure you have a sense of what the author
wants and what their mindset is before you start editing and adjust
your approach accordingly.

3. You're not doing anyone favors by being too nice. – Here's
what a writer wants to hear when someone is editing their work:
"OMG it's perfect I love it!!!" Resist the temptation to tell them just

that. Your job is to help them make the work better, not to be a human
rubber stamp. There is a Major Exception to this commandment:
When the writer is looking for reassurance that they should keep
going and is not really looking for editing. In which case the

appropriate reaction is "OMG you're brilliant I love it you should keep
going!!" (If you followed commandment #2 you will have sniffed this
out ahead of time.)

4. You're not doing anyone favors by being a jerk either –
When you are editing someone's work you have their fragile,
mercurial, reptilian writer brain in your hands. Do not crush it. Be

gentle. Be polite. Suggest, don't order. Ask questions, don't assume.
5. Pointing out problem areas is far more helpful than
offering solutions – While editing, it is inevitable that you will be

struck by ideas about how someone else's book could be better: What
if he had feathers instead of hair?! What if this vampire twinkled
rather than sparkled?! No. It's okay to offer up some illustrative
directions the writer could go to fix something that isn't working, but

ultimately the writer is the best equipped to come up with ideas for
new directions. Your job is to spot what's not working, not to rewrite.
6. Try to figure out why something isn't working for you –

There will be times where something about a scene just doesn't seem
right. But rather than thinking about how you would make a weak
stretch better, try to figure out instead why it isn't working for you. Is
it implausible? Are the characters not being true to themselves? Does

the scene lack space monkeys? Identifying the underlying issue can be
invaluable for the author.
7. Just make it work – Throw out everything you learned in

English classes. You're not looking for what the book means, you're
not looking for symbolism, you're not looking for theme. You're
looking for whether it works as a coherent story and whether the

writer achieved what they were striving for. It's about making it a
good story, not about writing a paper on it.