Bell, Susan 1958–

(Susan P. Bell)

PERSONAL:

Born 1958, in MA; married Mitch Epstein (a visual artist). Education: Columbia University, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Sarah Burnes, Gernet Company Literary Agency, 136 E. 57th St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail—susanbell@artfuledit.com.

CAREER:

Editor and writer. Random House, New York, NY, editor; Conjunctions (magazine), New York, NY, editor; New School University, New York, NY, instructor; Tin House Writers Workshop, instructor.

WRITINGS:

(With Jason West) Dare to Hope: Saving American Democracy (essays), Miramax (New York, NY), 2005.

The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Susan Bell is an editor of both fiction and nonfiction, and formerly served as an editor at Random House. She created a seminar on self-editing for the graduate writing program at New School University in New York City, where she lives, and she continues to teach there. Bell has also condensed her years of experience into a book for writers that tells them what they need to know in order to be their own editors. In The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself, Bell does not suggest that editors are unnecessary, but as she told Marylyn Donahue in a Publishers Weekly interview: "I'm suggesting writers can and should take more responsibility for their own work before they get to an editor."

Bell suggests various ways for the writer to look at his or her work when editing, both macro and micro. The former involves looking at plot and structure, while the latter focuses on eliminating nonessential words, checking grammar and punctuation, and improving dialogue. She suggests that the writer read the work aloud, ask a friend to read it, edit in a different environment, and take a break between the writing and editing processes.

She provides as an example the writer-editor collaboration for The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald but improved throughout the process by his editor, Max Perkins. According to Bell, Perkins's contribution was largely structural; Fitzgerald was his own best microeditor.

"Editing, Bell insists, is the practice of reading well," commented Evan Sparks in the American, the journal of the American Enterprise Institute. "A good editor sees into and through the manuscript, applies a wealth of outside knowledge to it, and has the discretion to know when to tear a passage to shreds and when to leave it largely intact. With practice, a writer can learn to read his own writing well, and The Artful Edit is a lesson in reading well." Sparks emphasized the value of this book for bloggers, online posters, and self publishers whose writing is not reviewed by an editor, and she commented on the large number of people whose work is now in public view, thus creating even more need for attention to editing.

Chuck Leddy reviewed the guide in the Writer, noting that "Bell's book is solidly structured, written in a concise, supportive style and laden with great editing examples…. The Artful Edit is clearly the work of a skilled professional who's spent years thinking about editing, collaborating with top-notch authors, and guiding her writing students through the editorial thicket." "Bell's prose is elegant and wonderfully readable in this artful guide," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Internet Bookwatch, October, 2007, review of The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself.

New York Times, December 2, 2007, William Safire, review of The Artful Edit.

Publishers Weekly, June 18, 2007, review of The Artful Edit, p. 45; June 25, 2007, Marylyn Donahue, "PW Talks with Susan Bell: Writer, Edit Thyself," interview, p. 43.

Writer, September, 2007, Chuck Leddy, review of The Artful Edit, p. 40.

ONLINE

American: A Magazine of Ideas,http://www.american.com/ (August 30, 2007), Evan Sparks, review of The Artful Edit.

Susan Bell Home Page,http://www.artfuledit.com (March 16, 2008).