These interviews were done while I was an editor at Harcourt Inc.  As a  freelancer,  I help writers perfect their manuscript or proposal to meet the exacting standards of the sort of in-house editor I was for so many years. 

Chronogram March 2005

The New York Observer November 2002

The grub street
Free press
FALL 2008

INTERVIEW
A talk with Harcourt editor Ann Patty
BY MICHELLE HOOVER

How do you approach a new manuscript? 

I usually print out submission in ten-page increments.  Once I know I’m not going to publish
a manuscript, I stop reading it -- and I often know in the first pages.  At first I approach the work as a reader to see whether it excites me, moves me, engages me.  If I take it on to publish, I go through it again as a critic.  Recently a writer got a 13 page letter from me and was surprised: “Oh my god, what happened?  I thought she loved this novel.”  I did love it, but I saw it could be improved.

I’ve heard it’s unusual today for editors to go through manuscripts line by line 

Some of us still do.  I have a big ego, but not when I’m editing a book.  Then I turn into the book.  I can almost automatic edit.  I can hear it, so I know what’s essential and what’s not. 
I think when you work with words as closely and as long as I have, you develop a sixth sense for rhythm, sound and nuance.  I love line editing.
……
Do you think your background gives you insight into a wider reading public? 

Absolutely.  I didn’t go to a fancy prep school.  I wasn’t brought up by rich, educated parents.  My parents were mid-westerners.  At some level, rather than trying to figure out what those people want, I am one of those people.  Even though I educated myself and was really much more interested in reading literary books, when I got a commercial book I recognized it because I have that mid-western, television, soap opera girl in my heart. 

Is there advice you return to often when editing a book? 

Don’t let anyone hurry you.  A book takes as long as it takes.  There are few serious novelists who can turn out a good novel more often that every four or five years.  For people who are not good writers, my advice is to get hold of Strunk and White: The Elements of Style, and to take a remedial grammar class.  Know the elements of your craft.  Know the difference between “lay” and “lie”, “less” and “few”.  If you’re a painter and don’t know the difference between oils and watercolors, how can anyone take your art seriously?