The very first story I ever had published, when I picked up the physical anthology & flipped through, I noticed one of my characters “tipped his hat.”
Implying he was wearing a hat. Which made no sense for the character & setting. But it’s what I wrote. So there the words were.
I like to remember this if I ever feel tempted to become too precious about protecting MY WORDS while dealing with an editor.
See, I don’t always even remember what MY WORDS are. Sometimes, if the edited version & mine weren’t labeled, I honestly wouldn’t know which was which.
Because the things is, if you write novel after novel, with handfuls or dozens of short stories sprinkled alongside… there’s just no way to remember exactly what every one of your words is. You might even end a sentence on a preposition, because it didn’t seem worth fixing.
So, when it comes to editing… yes, there are battles worth fighting. There are single words that change the tone and meaning of an entire paragraph. But… it’s also worth stepping back and asking: does this change really matter?
Because while a book is made of words and sentences, what they become when put together is something much bigger and more complete. And most individual changes won’t really matter to the experience the reader takes away, the bond your story will form with them.
In conclusion, this all assumes that you’re working with an editor who fundamentally gets your vision. And I am supposed to be working on edits for my novel right now… not posting on Facebook.