Ebonye Gussine Wilkins

Respectful Querying with NUANCE Ebonye Gussine Wilkins

Editors working with writers of color, nonwhite writers, or simply writers hailing from a different cultural background and experience from their own have for too long dictated editorial changes that have silenced the voice of the writers. Respectful Querying with NUANCE presents a blueprint for editors that allows editors to continue to offer the guidance necessary to polish a manuscript, and also helps the editor respect the authorial voice and ensure that the final decisions regarding the manuscript lie with the author.

Each letter in NUANCE is a reminder of what the editor should keep in mind: N - Notice; U - Underscore; A - Accept; N - Narrow; C - Consult; E - Empower.

Editors should be able to use the framework to construct thoughtful queries that allow the editor to assist rather than obstruct. Over time, editing and querying with NUANCE will sharpen an editor's thought processes and become a useful tool for working on fiction and nonfiction manuscripts.

When it comes to comma usage or incorrect tenses, a good editor will notice when something is off. For the mechanics and grammar of Standard American English, a good editor has got it covered. A more experienced editor may see some rules being broken and decide that it is okay because it makes sense for the context. This predictability of what to expect with language is largely a result of what an editor was taught as an editor, a writer, or a reader.

Any editor should ask themselves questions when editing something that is outside of their cultural experiences or just requires knowledge that the editor may not have. They have to be able to identify why something doesn't make sense or seems wrong to them. Without pre-programmed knowledge or specific backgrounds and expertise-an editor may not know what is truly going on in the context and accepting this is crucial to working with diverse writers. Getting clear on what they think needs addressing is the first step toward being able to offer guidance to the author. Then it's time to prepare a query to the author. This book guides this entire process.

The six steps described in this guide for editorial professionals explain to an editor for hire their responsibility to N - Notice; U - Underscore; A - Accept; N - Narrow; C - Consult; E - Empower. Then the editor is instructed to take an action (a reminder of what the editor should be considering), and to take an approach for that action that is tactful and professional.