An editor should be a writer’s biggest fan, but not in an undiscerning way

The legendary William Maxwell ‘Max’ Evarts Perkins was editor for literary greats such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe. – Filepic

Our columnist replies to a reader who had a bad editing experience and explains why editors are necessary.

A reader – I shall call him Wimsey – responded to my last column in which I wrote about how some Malaysian writers resist being edited, and I thought that I would respond to his concerns.