Amanda Lewis

Early in my training as a fiction and non-fiction editor at Penguin Random House, I received a key piece of advice from my publisher and mentor Anne Collins. Anne’s advice changed my editing approach.

I was stuck on a problem with a fiction manuscript.

Anne said, “You’re editing with your head. Edit non-fiction with your head. Edit fiction with your heart and your gut.”

I could suddenly *feel* the whole book, and the solutions presented themselves.

Do you write with your heart and edit with your head? Do you think or feel differently when you write fiction or non-fiction?