Lay down your guns: how authors and editors navigate ego, ownership and the creative process in publishing fiction

I researched authority in the author–editor relationship: who holds it and how it is exercised by both parties.

I found that prevailing perspectives on this have limited understanding of its role and scope, doing both author and editor a disservice, and failing readers.

The dissertation argues that in an ideal, balanced relationship, forged to create the best book possible, the editor and the author will acknowledge the process and engage with it. Asking who wields more power perpetuates an infantilising culture and a unproductive dichotomy. Instead, we could see the editing process as a partnership, a collaborative opportunity to go further.

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