Monday, February 02, 2009

Two Headed Edits


2head
Originally uploaded by Arthur Slade
Ah, I just finished the last revision for The Hunchback Assignments. It was a curious process this time because I was working on the copy edits from both my American and Canadian publishers. I placed them side by side and went through them page by page. It made me feel a little two headed.

I discovered that if both copy editors saw a sentence or a situation as confusing, I knew that I should change it. But if one copy editor pointed some change out that I didn't agree with I'd check the other copy editor's notes. I felt like I had someone on my side. Then again, at other times I felt like they were ganging up on me (can two copy editors be a gang?). One used a green pencil, the other a red pencil, so I made my marks in a purple pencil. The book looked like a Christmas tree! One liked using Post it notes. There's nothing more exciting than a manuscript decorated with Post it Notes! Whew, at least most of the questions were easy to answer. And none of the notes said, "nice try, but why don't you just start the novel over again?"

Did I mention whew!? It's out of my hands now. Until the galleys come back that is....

Art

No comments: