What strategies do you use to maintain the author's voice and style while making necessary edits to the manuscript?

When I start working on a manuscript where the author prefers their voice to remain intact, I focus primarily on basic spelling, grammar, and punctuation corrections. This approach ensures that about 99.9% of my authors are satisfied with the results. If, after reviewing the manuscript, the author requests a more in-depth edit, I proceed with caution to avoid altering the style and tone. Any significant edits that could impact the author’s voice are only made with their explicit consent.

I don't make assumptions. The first thing I ask for - especially if an author states that they've used AI - is a single paragraph in their authentic voice. This can be written or recorded by the client. What I'm looking for is the rhythm of how they speak. How do they string sentences together? How do they communicate their point?

More often than not, authors are sold on the dream that AI can write their books for them with just a few prompts (thanks to clever advertising), but when they start reading it, the first thing they'll say is, "It's missing something." Soul. It's missing that soulful feeling. It's missing their voice.

So, when we're editing, we want to make sure that we're aligning the edits to their voice and not the patches of AI content that may be peppered throughout. 

With my style of editing, I make suggestions - I won't actually change anything on the client's manuscript myself.  My service is more of a critique style, developmental edit - I'll point out where something isn't working and do my best to explain why that is.  If the story is in rhyme, I will rewrite sections of their verse to show the client how to make it read smoothly, highlighting the syllables and where they are stressed etc to help them understand what I've been explaining.  I leave any actual changes to the manuscript for the author themselves to make - feedback can sometimes be subjective so this allows them space to decide if my advice feels true to them.  My suggestions will be tailored to what the client is trying to achieve with their story and hopefully align with their voice and style. 

As a copyeditor, one of my top priorities is to maintain the author’s voice while tightening the text where needed. The last thing I want is to strip away what makes the author's writing unique.

Before making any edits, I always start with a quick read-through to understand the author’s voice, tone, rhythm, and flow. This helps me clean up the grammar or awkward phrasing without inputting my own voice into their work. I’m always conscious of not overediting or imposing my own voice onto theirs.

When something catches my eye, for example a sentence that’s a bit unclear, I often query the author directly in the manuscript or reach out for clarification. This way, they have the final say on whether something stays or changes. My role as the editor is to make the text more readable while staying true to the author's original style.

Throughout the process, I keep things transparent by using Tracked Changes in Word so the author can see every tweak I’ve made. This approach lets them review, accept, or adjust edits as they see fit, creating a true collaboration where their voice remains front and center. I aim to keep the manuscript authentically theirs while simply polishing it up a bit to make the reading experience smoother and more enjoyable for the author's audience.