Interesting Revelation Today

For writers who had never been published on paper, I suspect if they feel that's the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and are not completely confident in their writing, they will make any changes suggested by an agent or publisher.

For writers who have been through the tradpub mill and are confident in their writing, is there any reason to accept changes suggested by someone else?

When I was in television, you often find yourself in story meetings.  Seated around a big table, you're surrounded by your fellow writers, the producer of the show, a couple people from the network and possibly some representatives of the advertising company.  There are only a few people who know what they're talking about, the rest are talking through their hats.  But they have the clout.  They can make life difficult for you, they can make you go away.

If some of these people simply accept the good ideas put forth, they don't feel like they've earned their keep.  So they make suggestions.  They're not storytellers, they're not writers, they actually know nothing about the process but they want to be a valuable member of the team.  They need to be or they can be made to go away.

You get input which often makes little sense but your job is to make it make sense.  Except for the money thing, I'm glad I'm out of television.

So this is how I feel about "editors" right now.  I don't think they know as much as I do about the story I've told but they're going to try to inject themselves into my process often without even speaking with me. 

I told my friend today he had no idea what it was like to take the responsibility for someone's crappy ideas.  Whether it's a TV show or a book, someone puts their stamp on it, and you take the fall down the line.  I'm willing to take my own fall.  Okay, I make a mistake, something didn't work, I didn't make it clear enough, you hate my view of the world, you think my morality stinks, all that's fine.  I just don't want to take the rap for someone else.

If I have to prove I'm a good enough writer to be represented or published or aired, how about they prove they're good enough to work with me?

Either Kasachstan Rubin or Moreton Hybrid