As an editor, I sometimes feel like a real-life magician

For a nerd with a love of language like myself, perhaps this is the next best thing to being Hermione Granger, writes Harriet Williamson

Transforming copy that arrives in need of a bit of TLC into something that flows and really engages readers feels like alchemy (Alamy)

As a Voices editor, one of the most important parts of my job is to take the copy of writers – freelance and in-house – and ensure that their words are polished until they sparkle.

Largely, we are not good editors of our own work, and even the best writers benefit from an editor’s eagle eye. We’re often too close to something we’ve written, and therefore more unlikely to spot whether a slight restructure would improve the effectiveness of the piece, or if different word choices could add impact. It takes a fresh perspective to assess an article as a whole, and decide where fat could be trimmed and the most pertinent points expanded upon.

I take immense pride in editing, whether it’s copy from veterans like our chief political commentator John Rentoul – which is always meticulously clean – or more rough and ready submissions from people who aren’t, first and foremost, writers, but have unique perspectives on current affairs and salient talking points.