My boss once said that editors don’t have a very good job because all we do is bring bad news to people we work with pretty much all the time. If you interact with me on a professional level, you’d be loathed to receive emails from me. I know I would. Hee.
What do I mean? Well, let me explain.
– An email to my authors usually means I need them to make some correction/revision in the manuscripts they’ve turned in. Or even worse, asking them to write extra material. Something which might make some go ballistic.
– Emails to my designer usually dictates having to make changes to the layout and design of the book. God knows how many such emails have been flying between us requiring such changes. Otherwise it would be me rejecting their design and asking for new ones to be submitted. Of course it’s all in my capacity to do so as a client, but I sometimes feel really bad. But it’s just too bad if what they’re turning in is crap.
It’s terrible having to break bad news to people. I hate having to be the one to do so, but that’s my job. It’s probably come to a point where any email from me to them is a harbinger of bad news (at least to them).
But hey, I do bring good news too. For example, I can tell authors that the money has been remitted to their account! That usually cheers them up.
In any case, bringing forth bad news requires a certain play of words. I’ve found myself using a lot of modals ever since I started this job (FYI, modals in English grammar are words like “should, could, would, might, may”). They serve to soften the impact of the demand (‘cos that’s really what it is!). So the emails and comments I send at work are peppered with phrases like:
“perhaps you might want to think about this…”
“do you think you could do….”
“could you possibly…”
“probably you could do this…” [probably usually translates into “you have to!”]
“maybe this might be better…”
“I was thinking perhaps this might be a better method….”
It’s like a word game. Twist your words and you can twist people’s arms. But note, authors are good at this too. Many times, I get arm-twisted and backed into a corner as well!