Things I learned from copyedits
Another production task is checked off my list! Slowly, like a turtle grazing, so slowly, I am
getting closer to the publication date of Diamonds in Auschwitz and a completed book! Most
recently, I finished copyediting the entire manuscript.
Here are a few things I learned:
1. When you read something 1700 times, you’ll second guess yourself. Of maybe it’s 1700 th
guess yourself? Have you ever repeated a word over and over and after saying it too
many times, it doesn’t make sense anymore? I feel a little like that with my own words.
I’m, by nature, not a terribly confident writer, so every time I read my book, I like it a
little less. Imagine after 1700 times. Obviously, that’s an exaggerated number. But let
me try to actually count it out… 1 – I read the whole thing as I was writing it. That
counts, right? 2 – I read parts of it over and over while still in the composing stage. This
is impossible to count, so I’m just chocking it up to one full read. 3 – I read it for the first
proofread before sending queries to literary agents. 4 – I read it for a proofread before
sending to publishers. Enter Greenleaf Book Group. (Thank you, guys!) 5 – I read it with
my lovely developmental editor when we made big changes. 6 – I read it out loud, line
by line, while going over the copyedits recently. Ok. So 6 times cover to cover. I may
know these characters better than I know some of my family members!
2. There are developmental edits. And copy edits. AND… proofreading edits. And they are
all different. Along with that, there are different editors for each edit AND a head (lead?
queen?) editor. I’m a little exhausted just thinking about it. I thought my book would be
edited. One and done. On to the next step. Ohhh, sweet, naïve Meg. Developmental
edits were big, plot changes – I added characters, scenes, dialogue, took out all of the
above, changed the ending. Then, the whole manuscript went to the copy editor. She
looked specifically for grammar, continuity, and some accuracy. She wasn’t worried
about point of view or character development – just the words. One of the last edits
Diamonds in Auschwitz will undertake is proofreading. That will be even less changes
than copy edits. I hope (all fingers and toes crossed) that not much will be found or
changed at that point.
3. Oxford comma for the win. All you non-journalism people can celebrate. The very first
thing I noticed when I looked at the copy editor’s changes was the death of my AP
comma. For those of you who are not grammar nerds (no judgement) – the Oxford
comma is used to separate all items in a list. With the AP comma, we are fast and loose
with our commas and think the last one is unnecessary. An example: I think the Oxford
comma is too much work, too many keystrokes and redundant. See what I did there? No
comma after “keystrokes”? That’s AP style. Surprisingly, though I am wordy (see lesson
#4), I’m all about brevity when it comes to punctuation. My copy editor disagreed. And
the Oxford comma lives on.
4. I’m entirely too wordy. I blame this on my early Tolstoy and Dostoevsky influences
(extremely wordy Russian writers). You’ve heard people joke about the length of
Tolstoy’s War and Peace? Yeah… Not to brag, but I’ve read it twice and love it. So, I like
using lots of words. Lots and lots of words. During the copyediting phase, my editor
removed words, but just one or two here and there. The biggest change I saw her make
was deleting one sentence. I wouldn’t think one or two words at a time would add up,
but my “finished” (air quotes because it’s not finished yet) manuscript is shy 7,000
words. That’s a lot. That’s probably more words than some of my husband’s college
essays. (I just threw him under the bus because I for sure wrote essays longer than
7,000 words. Wordy, remember?)
Like everything else in this publishing journey, copy editing was a wonderful learning
experience. I’m trying to take what was learned (even, begrudgingly, the comma thingy) and
apply it to my next manuscript. Maybe then publishing round number two (again, all fingers and
toes are crossed for wishful thinking) will be a faster process.
