Copyedit Slogging
Normally, I’m all about digital. Hitting “send” on a manuscript is a hell of a lot better than printing it out and slogging it to the post awful, hoping against hope that nothing eats it en route to NYC. But when it comes to copyedits, I admit, I miss the days of paper edits, post-its, and red pen STETs.
Digital queries are just, somehow, more annoying.
And of all the elements of making a book, there is nothing glamorous about a writer going through a copyedit.
You start with a fresh cup of coffee and maybe something healthy to munch on, and by the end of the first day you’re surrounded by two empty coffee mugs, a half-full mug of tea, a water glass, a wine glass, the remains of your re-heated dinner shoved to one side, and increasingly snarky retorts in the margins, feeling like someone ran over your brain with a snowplow, and wishing dreadful fates on the copyeditor* who wants you to adhere strictly to Strunk & White, even in dialogue…
And there’s still another 240 pages to go.
Rinse and repeat, tomorrow.
*not all copyeditors, obviously. But enough of the breed prize conformity and rules over creativity and voice to make conflict inevitable.
Digital queries are just, somehow, more annoying.
And of all the elements of making a book, there is nothing glamorous about a writer going through a copyedit.
You start with a fresh cup of coffee and maybe something healthy to munch on, and by the end of the first day you’re surrounded by two empty coffee mugs, a half-full mug of tea, a water glass, a wine glass, the remains of your re-heated dinner shoved to one side, and increasingly snarky retorts in the margins, feeling like someone ran over your brain with a snowplow, and wishing dreadful fates on the copyeditor* who wants you to adhere strictly to Strunk & White, even in dialogue…
And there’s still another 240 pages to go.
Rinse and repeat, tomorrow.
*not all copyeditors, obviously. But enough of the breed prize conformity and rules over creativity and voice to make conflict inevitable.
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message 1:
by
Lindsey
(new)
Mar 18, 2016 09:40AM
Thank you for sharing this post! I always appreciate the perspective of the editing side of writing... Who has final say on things like punctuation? The Editor, the Author, or someone else?
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The author generally has the final say on whatever goes out under their byline, but since we're not the last ones to see the page proofs before printing....(I tend to give way on punctuation details, saving my arguments for the actual words. Mostly. :-) )
