The Editor Who Cuts Everything

Ruth Anand has edited novels, cookbooks and one very long biography of a lighthouse. Writers fear her a little and thank her a lot. We met in her kitchen in Bristol, where the red pencils live in a jam jar by the kettle.

On cutting

“The first thing I do with any manuscript is read it without a pencil,” she says. “I want to know what the writer meant before I see what they wrote. The gap between those two is the whole job.”

Nobody ever finished a book and wished it were longer. They wish it were truer.

On kindness

Ruth insists that a good edit is an act of generosity. “You are telling someone that their work deserves to be read closely. That is a compliment, even when the margin is full of red.”

Ruth’s three questions for any paragraph

• What is this paragraph for?

• Would the reader miss it?

• Is there a simpler way to say exactly this?

Before I leave she reads the opening of this piece and crosses out two sentences. She is right about both of them.