Tag Archives: fiction

Copy Editing – Part I: What Is Copy Editing?

Posted on by
Comment

Copy editing — an important part of the publishing process.

Prepare yourself for the usual author rant — but with a difference. This one is coming from an author who just completed her 69th book. An author who has worked with about eight different publishers and dozens of copy editors over the course of 15 years.

So no, this isn’t a newbie writer griping about a heavy-handed editor on her first or second book. It’s coming from someone who has been doing this for a long time and feels as if she’s “seen it all.”

I’ve taken this topic and split it into three parts. In this part, I’ll start off with an introduction to the topic of copy editing and tell you what I believe it should be.

Stet!What is Copy Editing?

The purpose of copy editing should be to ensure that the original text is:

  • Free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Note the use of the word “error” here; that’ll be important later in this discussion.
  • Consistent with a publisher style guide. A style guide, in the world of publishing, is a document that sets forth usage in those gray areas. I’m talking about capitalization issues such as web vs. Web, hyphenation issues such as email vs. e-mail, and design issues such as boldfacing figure references.
  • Clear and easy to understand. This usually involves breaking up long or complex sentences or possibly rearranging sentence components.
  • Unlikely to be misinterpreted. For example, when you say the “Color in pop-up menu,” do you mean a pop-up menu named “Color in” or are you talking about color in a pop-up menu?
  • Consistent with the writing style of the established book or series. This only comes into play when you’re writing for a series that has a predefined format and style. For example, Visual QuickStart Guides (VQSes) tend to be short and to the point, so I don’t have room for personal stories, as I do in other books. VQSes also have level 2 headings that begin with the word “To” and are followed by numbered steps, each of which presents a single task. (I could list about a dozen style issues specific to a VQS, but you get the idea.)

Flowers for AlgernonOf course, what you’re writing should determine how much of the above is required. If you’re writing a novel much of this may not apply at all. Consider the book, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. The book’s first person narrator is a retarded man. The book is in journal format and the first few chapters are so full of spelling and punctuation errors (or omissions) that the book is difficult to read. But that’s because of the author’s choices and the method he uses to communicate. Would you expect a retarded man to have perfect spelling, grammar, and punctuation? Of course not. The author is using the character’s shortcomings as a writer to make his character more real — as well a to drive home the changes in the character as the story progresses. This technique was used again more recently in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which featured an autistic first-person narrator. If a copy editor had done a thorough job on the grammar or punctuation in either of these two books, he would have altered the characters. The same can be said for dialog in most novels, since few people speak using perfect grammar.

So copy editing of fiction is a different subject — one I’m not addressing here. I’m discussing copy editing of non-fiction, primarily technical or how-to books, since that’s where my experience is.

More to Come…

This is the first part of my discussion of copy editing. There are at least two more parts to go. In the next part, I’ll rant a bit about my experiences with one particular book over the ten-year course of its life (so far). You’d think that after 10 years, the process would be trouble-free…

Why not take a moment to tell us what you think copy editing should be. How do you expect it to change or improve your writing? Use the comments link or form to share your thoughts.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Posted on by
1

In the movies.

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the latest Harry Potter movie on a full-sized screen at Wickenburg’s historic Saguaro Theater.

Our Saguaro Theater

First, a few words about the theater. It was originally built in the 1920s (I believe) and, like all theaters from that era, only has one big screen. The theater was never cut into pieces by greedy theater owners, anxious to max out their profits on available real estate. (Unlike the old Closter and Tenafly theaters I went to in New Jersey as a child.) The seats, which are replaced every 10 or so years, are always replaced with another theater’s cast-offs, so they’re never quite new. But they’re comfortable and the current seats not only recline but have cup holders. The place is clean, too.

The theater owner, Brian, owns two theaters in Arizona. The other one is in Payson, where I believe he lives. He’s a great guy. Although he could stick us with older movies that have been around for weeks or months, he manages to get us a good bunch of first run movies every year. When we get a first run — like Harry Potter this week — we keep it for two weeks.

The theater is open every night for one showing and has three showings on Saturdays and Sundays. There’s a refreshment stand with the usual popcorn and candy. Everyone who works there is extremely friendly and pleasant. I get a discount because I run advertising slides in the theater and they actually recognize me when I come in and give me my discount without asking. Regular ticket prices are $8 per adult and $5 per child or senior. (I pay the child/senior price.)

The Saguaro theater is the only theater in Wickenburg. In fact, it’s the only theater within about 40 miles. So if you want to watch a movie and you don’t want to spend a lot of time driving, this is is.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)Now I know a lot of people don’t like the Harry Potter phenomena, but I’m not one of them. Sure, I think there’s entirely too much hype about it — but isn’t there too much hype about everything these days? (Think iPhone and Paris Hilton.) The truth — at least the way I see it — is that the books are pretty well written and tell great stories that appeal to young people and adults looking for a fantasy escape. While the hype has pushed book sales far beyond what’s normal for books of this genre, I think most readers come away satisfied, if not pleased, about their reading experience.

The movies are well done. They’re true to the books, while cutting out a lot of the extra stuff that J.K. Rowling seems to have added to the later titles in the series. It’s a real pleasure to see the scenes from the books come to life on the screen. Casting is very good, special effects are incredible. What else could a reader want in a movie based on a book?

What I’m also enjoying as I watch each movie seeing the young cast members grow up. They were kids at the beginning of all this; now they’re becoming young men and women. The current movie features many flashbacks of Harry’s life and the footage is there to show him at every age. The characters are supposed to be 15 in this story and although they’re older in real life, they can pass as 15-year-olds. (The character that plays Malfoy does look considerably older than the others, though.) I’m hoping the production folks can keep up the pace and deliver the last two movies with the same actors.

As you might imagine, I highly recommend the movie to anyone who has been reading the Harry Potter books. It’s meant to be seen on a big screen (or as big a screen as is available to you) rather than on a television screen. We’ll probably see it again before it leaves town, perhaps from a seat near the back of the theater for a different view.

Did you see the movie? What did you think? Use the Comments link or form for this post to share your thoughts with the rest of us.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)And in case you’re wondering, I do have the last Harry Potter book on order at Amazon.com. I didn’t spring for the overnight shipping — I’m not a complete fangirl! — but I do look forward to reading it when it arives sometime next week.

Death of a Manuscript

Posted on by
1

Dealing with the loss of my own unpublished words.

Last week, I discovered that a file containing the manuscript for a novel I was working on was gone.

The file lived in my laptop, which is what I was using to write it. It was backed up on my main computer’s hard disk. I had decided two or three months ago to keep working copies of all my fiction on my iDisk space. (iDisk is part of the .Mac services available for Macintosh users. It gives you 1 GB of storage space on an Apple server that can be shared among all of your computers.) The idea was that by keeping the files there, I could work on them from any computer and always have the most recent version.

Somewhere along the line, while copying the folder containing this file to my iDisk space, the file was lost. I’m not sure how it happened, but I do recall getting an error message when I made the copy. I should have investigated more closely, but I didn’t. The file was gone and because I didn’t work on it for months, I didn’t realize it was gone.

The backup copy, of course, was lost in my February hard disk crash.

I spent most of a day playing with file recovery software to get the file back. I managed to retrieve about 2 of the 97 pages I’d written.

Obviously, I’m not very happy about this. I’d been working on this project on and off for about four years. There was a lot of me in it. I’d written a lot of good dialog and some pretty strong scenes. It wasn’t perfect — the characterization on a few of the characters was just not good enough — but what was good was very good. A lot of “keeper” stuff in there.

And now its gone.

I find the task of recreating this work daunting. Lately, I just don’t feel that I have the writing skills I need to write fiction. I have my outline, my index cards for scenes, my character notes. I can clearly remember lots of the scenes and even some of the dialog. But I don’t feel confident that I can rewrite what I lost. I know that when it comes time to sit down and type it all back into my word processor, there will be something lacking. It just won’t be as good or as complete.

Fortunately, this was the only manuscript I lost (other than the partially completed Chapter 6 of my Excel for Windows book, which was easy, if not tedious, to recreate). My other fiction manuscripts remain safe, now backed up to three places. But although I’ve been toying with them for far longer — one of them originates back in my teenage years when I wrote longhand in spiral bound, college ruled notebooks — the loss of this one seems to hurt more. It was a more mature work, a more marketable work. It, unlike my other fiction scribbling, had a future, possibly in print.

Time is now my main obstacle to picking up this work and recreating it. I’m juggling two jobs: as a technical writer and a helicopter pilot. I’m having a hard enough time getting both of those jobs done. At the end of a working day, I’m mentally exhausted and not prepared to tackle a recreational writing assignment. (That’s one of the reasons I do 90% of my blogging first thing in the morning.) So who knows when this work might be resurrected?

Perhaps it’s something to look forward to in my retirement years.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Posted on by
Comment

An interesting — if not extremely weird — read.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyI’d read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy some time ago and probably even read a few of its sequels. But when The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was released, I added it to my Amazon.com wish list. Within two weeks, I had it in my hot little hands.

Douglas Adams has a great sense of humor and a wonderful way with words. There’s a joke in every paragraph, if not every line, of the book. The story is a mish-mash of science fiction/time-travel adventures that are beyond far-fetched. The result: a fun read that’ll entertain, enlighten, and confuse you.

The Art of Fiction

Posted on by
Comment

A Guide for Writers and Readers.

The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and ReadersI’m a pretty big fan of Ayn Rand, having read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged at least two times each. (I’m due for another round.) So when I found The Art of Fiction, a book edited by Tore Boeckmann from audiotapes of Rand’s 1958 lectures to about 20 friends and acquaintances, I grabbed it. I’m now making my way through it, page by page.

The book covers Rand’s ideas about writing and reading fiction. I’ve just finished the first two chapters, and so far, it’s mostly from the writer’s point of view. And I have to admit that it’s taught me a whole different way of thinking about writing fiction.

In Chapter 1: Writing and the Subconscious, she discusses how writers draw upon information stored in their subconscious for descriptions and mood-setting words. A writer who can write well without struggling for the words knows what he’s trying to say and has mastered his subconscious.

In Chapter 2: Literature as an Art Form, she pretty much bashes writers who break the rules and attempt to write “nonobjectively,” resulting in text that’s impossible (or nearly so) to understand. She cites Gertrude Stein and James Joyce as examples. She asserts that a writer should choose every word carefully to convey the writer’s exact meaning. She also approaches the topic of “show, don’t tell” by discussing concretes (descriptions) and abstractions (the message the author is trying to communicate).

The next chapter is on Theme, which I’ve always struggled with. It’ll be interesting to see how she tackles the topic.

When I’m finished reading, I may update this entry or compose a new one with my final verdict. It’s not a quick read — Ayn Rand never is. But I am enjoying it. And learning.