Should fiction editors consider conscious language?

Find out why the concept of conscious language is foundational to professional fiction-editing practice.

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What’s in this post …

• What is ‘conscious language’?
• ‘But I’m not part of the “woke” brigade’
• The foundations of editing
• Are you part of the professional editing brigade?
• Why conscious language is also about successful authoring
• Why conscious language is about consideration rather than prescription
• A case study
• Helping our clients
• Tools that help with conscious language

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What is ‘conscious language’?

Karen Yin, founder of Conscious Style Guide, defines conscious language as ‘language rooted in critical thinking and compassion, used skilfully in a specific context'. Using conscious language involves, she says, asking ourselves the following:

• Who is my audience?
• What tone and level of formality do I want?
• What am I trying to achieve?
• How might history change the impact of my language choices regardless of my intentions?
• Who’s being excluded?

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​‘But I’m not part of the “woke” brigade’

​Conversations about ‘conscious language’ are welcomed by many in the editing community. Now and then, however, these result in references being made to the ‘woke brigade’ from some quarters.
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Oxford Dictonaries defines ‘woke’ as: ​Alert to injustice and discrimination in society, especially racism.

Merriam-Webster suggests: Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).

​Neither mention that the term is sometimes used as a slur against people who are judged to be overly politically correct, over-sensitive, overly concerned with not offending, overly prescriptive.
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So must editors be ‘woke’?  How we answer that will depend on what we think editors are supposed to do.

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The foundations of editing

Editing at its very foundations requires us to actively think about the words on the page and whether they’re doing what the author intends.

Since how we approach language will be influenced by the bubble of our own lived experience, editorial practice requires listening to others who offer alternative insights – ones we were perhaps previously unaware of – into the meaning of words and the consequences of their use.

It means allowing our prior assumptions to be challenged, to consider that what we thought we understood might need revising.

And it means opening our minds to the opportunities that are already alive in the English language – words that explain rather than exclude, and that are rich in both sense and sensibility.

If, like me, you’re not keen on the term ‘woke’ because its negative usage has become a distraction, try an alternative.

​My preference is ‘professional editor’.

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Are you part of the professional editing brigade?

Conscious language serves authors – the people who pay editors – and serves readers – the people who pay authors.

The professional editor who isn’t alert to wording that distracts from the message rather than amplifying that message isn’t doing the job that a professional editor is supposed to do: being paid to help the author prepare their book for readers. 

And so regardless of the editor’s personal opinion on this word or that word, regardless of whether the editor uses the term ‘woke’ to describe their mindset or to cast a slur, there’s a business case for conscious language.

The professional editor can’t sidestep that because it’s not about us, and it’s not our book. It’s about the author, and it’s their book.

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Why conscious language is also about successful authoring

Readers aren’t homogenous – they don’t all live in the same country, speak the same English, or spell with the same letters. They aren’t wrapped in the same skin, don’t share the same sexual orientation, practise the same faith, have identical anatomies or have one set of homogenous secondary sex characteristics.

Most authors want to sell as many books as they can. That means engaging as many readers as they can. Engaged readers focus their attention on story. Novels containing words and phrases that distract from story, rather amplifying it, don’t serve authors.
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Deliberately reviewing novels for words and phrases that might disengage a chunk of the potential readership is therefore nothing more than good commercial practice, and it’s the editor’s job to support the author who’s striving to create something that will give them a return on their investment.

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Why conscious language is about consideration rather than prescription

When we ask our clients to consider the impact of a particular word, we’re not prescribing ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. We’re helping them make informed decisions predicated on an acknowledgement that not all words in the English language have a single, universally accepted meaning. 

The meaning we attach to some words might differ depending on, for example, where we live, how old we are, and how we’re racialised, sexualized and gendered by others. In other words, what I mean when I use a word might not be what you mean when you use that word.

A case study
My author is a white British man. I know very little else about his identity but I’ve line edited two books for him and thoroughly enjoyed every moment. In the second project, a viewpoint character uses the word ‘thug’ to describe an unpleasant minor character.

In Britain, the word ‘thug’ isn’t racialized (at the time of writing and as far as I’m aware) – meaning the term isn’t typically assigned to a particular racial group. That’s not the case in America, where, I’ve learned, the term is heavily racialized.

My author is British. His characters are British. His book’s setting is Britain. The term ‘thug’ in that context therefore doesn’t jar … as long as we view the project within that bubble of author–character–location. 

However, that’s potentially problematic. There’s something missing from that bubble: the people who’ll determine whether my author’s book is a commercial success – readers.

My author’s keen to sell his books all over the world, including into America, and for that reason I suggested some alternatives to the word ‘thug’, and explained why I think he’d do well to choose one of them. 

The choice was his because it’s his book. And he decided to heed the guidance because both books I’ve worked on have explored the impact of predatory behaviour and abuse.

He writes with compassion and mindfulness, and says he doesn’t want to include a word in his book that might distract one of his American readers unless it’s critical to the character’s arc. And in doing so he's considered:

• who his audience is
• what he's trying to achieve
• how history AND geography affect the impact of his language choices regardless of his intentions
• those who might be excluded if he weren't to consider other options.​

Helping our clients
A conscious-language approach to editing therefore helps us to help our clients. We can share the knowledge we’ve acquired from our colleagues in the publishing community, knowledge that our authors might not be aware of. 
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And in doing so, they can publish a book that keeps its audience wanting to turn the pages rather than rip them out. ​

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Summing up

If you think conscious language is a load of old ‘woke’ codswallop, consider whether editing is the right job for you. Editors are required at the very core of their practice to consider the purpose and effectiveness of the words in front of them.
 
That doesn’t mean we have to know it all – we can’t, not least because the language landscape is always in flux. It does mean we have to be ready to listen, learn, and advise so that our clients can make informed – conscious – decisions.
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And we don’t have to do it alone. There’s a large and diverse community of editors and writers who are with us on that journey, and tools to help us improve our practice.

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Tools that help with conscious language

Listen to podcast episodes and download a free booklet with links to useful resources created by people in the publishing community who are passionate about language and alert to its power. 

ACCESS THE RESOURCES

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About Louise Harnby

Louise Harnby is a line editor, copyeditor and proofreader who specializes in working with crime, mystery, suspense and thriller writers.

She is an Advanced Professional Member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and co-hosts The Editing Podcast.

• Get in touch: Louise Harnby | Crime Fiction & Thriller Editor
• Connect: X @LouiseHarnby, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Learn: Books and courses
• Discover: Resources for authors and editors​

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