How to make an editor's head explode

Five things writers say that make their editors' heads explode, plus assessing backstory, preparing for developmental editing, and one author's traditional publishing timeline.

I've developed a sixth sense for detecting when a client conversation is about to go sideways. It usually starts with an innocent-sounding email that makes my tea go cold before I've finished reading: "I ran your changes by my sister-in-law, and she thinks ..." Or "My critique partner says publishers never ..." Or my personal favorite, "I finished all y…