Editorial involvement

       How big a role do editors play in 'shaping' books for publication ? Author Ben Okri insists not as much as some -- well, his one-time editor -- claim, as he takes issue with Robin Robertson's claim to have fixed up Okri's Stars of the New Curfew; see Richard Alleyne's report, Ben Okri 'disappointment' at editor he claims re-wrote his work in The Telegraph.
       Okri says:

"He certainly did not and could not "redo" my dialogue. A simple comparison with the Nigerian dialogue in "Incidents at the Shrine", an earlier volume of stories, will make that evident.

       Whatever the case there -- and a simple comparison should make the case, either way -- the article does offer one other amusing example, quoting Jeffrey Archer's "principal editor", Richard Cohen:

I don't know if Jeffrey had a writing disability, but his actual handwriting had a childish quality, and his spelling was deeply erratic.

       I think we can all agree that Jeffrey Archer has a serious writing disability -- and it has nothing to do with his penmanship.