--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Editing fiction is like using your…" description: "\"“Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the hair of someone you love.”\" — Stephanie Roberts" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/stephanie-roberts-49267_editing_editing-fiction-is-like-using-your-finge_2147789.jpg" --- # Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the… ![“Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the hair of someone you love.” quote by Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/stephanie-roberts-49267_editing_editing-fiction-is-like-using-your-finge_2147789.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/stephanie-roberts-49267_editing_editing-fiction-is-like-using-your-finge_2147789.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/df6/stephanie-roberts-49267_editing_editing-fiction-is-like-using-your-finge_2147789.jpg) > ““Editing fiction is like using your fingers to untangle the hair of someone you love.”” [Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Editing fiction requires delicate, caring effort to resolve complex narrative issues. **In simple terms:** Editing fiction is a careful, caring process. Key Takeaway Approach revisions with patience and empathy. Themes writing editing relationships Mood thoughtful creative Type advice inspirational When to use this quote - novel drafting - manuscript revision - author‑reader collaboration Key Concepts narrative structure empathy Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance love for a story with the need to edit it? - What techniques help untangle plot threads? A Different Perspective Complex stories may resist simple fixes, demanding deeper revision. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Editing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/editing/) [Editing Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/editing-fiction-4502572/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Fiction writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction-writing/) [Fingers Untangle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fingers-untangle-4502573/) [Untangle Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/untangle-hair-4502574/) ## Related quotes > [Metafiction says something. 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There weren't any more hitches now.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornell-woolrich/that-was-enough-dialogue-for-a-few-pages-he-had-to-get-into-some-fast/) [Cornell Woolrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornell-woolrich/) > [Once you're imagining being the main character, and you're having the conversations and actually being there, the magic in fiction writing takes over.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-hobbs/once-you-re-imagining-being-the-main-character-and-you-re-having-the/) [Will Hobbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-hobbs/) > [“She smiled sinisterly. Light mist started to slowly swirl around us. All I could see was her, the tall rocks and the white wall.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-sehyun-song/she-smiled-sinisterly-light-mist-started-to-slowly-swirl-around-us/) [Erica Sehyun Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-sehyun-song/) > [“Grayson: Fiction is just a lie anyway. Brianna: But it's not - it's a different kind of truth - it would be your truth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/grayson-fiction-is-just-a-lie-anyway-brianna-but-it-s-not-it-s-a/) [Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/) > [“Personally I like the English style better. It is not quite so brittle, and the people as a rule, just wear clothes and drink…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/personally-i-like-the-english-style-better-it-is-not-quite-so-brittle/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Fiction writing and journalism, in my experience, are really excellent training grounds for each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/monica-hesse/fiction-writing-and-journalism-in-my-experience-are-really-excellent/) [Monica Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/monica-hesse/) > [“Reading is fuel for the brain. Writing is fuel for the spirit...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-s-johnston/reading-is-fuel-for-the-brain-writing-is-fuel-for-the-spirit/) [Megan S. Johnston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-s-johnston/) > [“He was always crazy about her. If he was a king then she was his crest– the emblem of his kingdom. Without her, his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atri-cruizer/he-was-always-crazy-about-her-if-he-was-a-king-then-she-was-his-crest/) [Atri Cruizer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atri-cruizer/) > [Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil-but there is no way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/rejection-slips-or-form-letters-however-tactfully-phrased-are/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [“In everything that can be called art there is a quality of redemption. It may be pure tragedy, if it is high tragedy, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/in-everything-that-can-be-called-art-there-is-a-quality-of-redemption/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) ## More by Stephanie Roberts > [“I am protective of the gentle slope of stomach bulging like an early pregnancy, at my waist. I've earned its existence with everything I've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-roberts/i-am-protective-of-the-gentle-slope-of-stomach-bulging-like-an-early/) [Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) > [“Baby, don't build a monument for me of your sadness. You wouldn't have wasted your tears when I was alive. Why make an ocean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-roberts/baby-don-t-build-a-monument-for-me-of-your-sadness-you-wouldn-t-have/) [Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) > [“Why not laugh again, and let your joy be my monument?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-roberts/why-not-laugh-again-and-let-your-joy-be-my-monument/) [Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) > [“i’m going to love again so quietly no one will know i’m home.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-roberts/i-m-going-to-love-again-so-quietly-no-one-will-know-i-m-home/) [stephanie roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) > [“You fill a hungry place shaped like your darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-roberts/you-fill-a-hungry-place-shaped-like-your-darkness/) [Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) > [“Nostalgia is best cured via horse whipping.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-roberts/nostalgia-is-best-cured-via-horse-whipping/) [Stephanie Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) [Explore all 7 Stephanie Roberts quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-roberts/) ## More Editing quotes > [Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/forcing-modern-speakers-of-english-to-not-whoops-not-to-split-an/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. 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And the major lifting in terms of editing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kaufman/and-then-to-see-the-whole-movie-you-re-pretty-much-waiting-until-the/) [Charlie Kaufman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kaufman/) > [I believe there's a platonic ideal for every book that is written, like there's the perfect version of the book somewhere in the ether,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/i-believe-there-s-a-platonic-ideal-for-every-book-that-is-written/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) > [“It’s easy to see what to do once it’s already been done. 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