The business of writing: copy edits
Last night the UPS man returned my manuscript to me. It had obviously been vandalized–it was covered in red marks.
Take a deep breath, start the copy edits.
As you can guess, there are a ridiculous number of steps between writing a novel and actually seeing it in the stores. I’ve gotten over some of the biggest hurdles–writing and finishing the novel in the first place, finding an agent for it, attracting the attention of some publishers, deciding on which publisher to go with. Next, it was more revisions. My editor at Knopf, Michelle Frey, suggested some changes that I think transformed the novel from appetizer into steak (tofu burger, if you prefer).
And now we’re at the copy edit stage. The copy editor (someone different from the main editor) goes through a manuscript and marks every questionable comma, capitalization, word usage, and spelling.
I pride myself on being a grammar and punctuation geek, so I wasn’t expecting to see as much red as I did. Michelle says it’s a “light copy edit,” which makes me wonder what the heavy ones look like.
But even though it can be a little overwhelming to fan through the pages and think, “I have to fix all this?” it’s still fun and exciting to know that other people–real, live, professional publishing people who live in New York City, no less–are reading my stories word for word and trying to help me make them better. How can I complain about that?
This isn’t the glamorous side of writing, but it’s writing. And a day spent as a writer is better than any other kind of day I can think of. As we’ve already discussed, it’s like being on an eternal vacation. I don’t have to wear panty hose, don’t even have to wear shoes. It’s like being a life guard without having to yell, “No running!” all day.
Now back to the manuscript. Should “bean bag” be one word or two?
Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Editing
July 13th, 2006 at 10:10 am
“It had obviously been vandalized–it was covered in red marks.”
Lol. That’s priceless.
July 21st, 2006 at 3:24 pm
I appreciate this bitter sweet truth because like you I pride myself in being able to use grammar effectively yet when I get back my assignments from my instructor there is so much red and sometimes green that I wonder if the day will ever come that I will publish my first novel. I appreciate your honesty and your encouragement in the form of teaching. Part of healing is pain and part of becoming perfect means seeing ourselves in our imperfection. I can embrace the writer in progress in me with a bit more ease.
Thank you
July 21st, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Rosa, thanks for writing in! It’s been said so often it’s become cliche, but it’s been said so often because it’s the truth: the secret to success as a writer really is persistence. That means practicing your writing even when you’re writing just for yourself. It means throwing off distractions (including the distraction of wondering when it’s ever going to happen for you) and just doing your work day after day. It also means being brave enough to do what you’re doing–showing your work to others and letting them help you improve it.
Remember, a hundred percent of the people who succeed as writers are the ones who kept going. So stay in that group and keep working at your craft and your bravery.
Good luck!!