wotwiki

Interview #219: Radio Dead Air Interview, Entry #9

Glas Durboraw

What can you tell me, as a husband-and-wife team, what can you tell me about the collaboration between an author and an editor?

Robert Jordan

It’s not really a collaboration, at least not in our case. I write the stuff. She looks it over, and she says to me, “You can do…” She’ll do brackets and say, “You didn’t convince me here. I don’t believe what you say has happened, or what you say this person said, I don’t believe it. Make me believe it.” Or she’ll bracket a section and say, just “You can do better than this.” And there’s not so much of her actually doing cutting or suggesting different wording—that doesn’t happen very often now—but a good bit of, you know, “Do better.” That sort of thing.

Harriet McDougal

And, it isn’t a collaboration, but we do…I think the key is that each of us respects the other’s work.

Robert Jordan

And trusts the other.

Harriet McDougal

Yes. And it’s an older relationship than the romantic relationship. We had been editor and writer working together for two years before we ever went out on a date. So we kind of bonded in that way before we bonded in a romantic way.

Glas Durboraw

That’s great to hear; I think that’s really wonderful.

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