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My Copy Editor, Kristy Stewart of Looseleaf Tea returned my manuscript this past Wednesday!
As long-term readers and friends may suspect, I’ve been too keyed up to do much new writing (blogging/creative/ect). But, I committed to post once a week on each of my blogs so let me offer some editing observations.
1. I am over the moon with excitement. Didn’t know it was humanly possible to be so energetically happy so long, figured it would burn something in my system out.
2. It’s taking longer to approve/reject changes than I expected. Mark up on a word document can be difficult to see if it’s a single comma (and I’m missing a lot of those). It’s also tedious any time my editor makes a period a comma or a comma a period because I have to approve 3 changes individually (agree to delete the original punctuation, agree to accept the new punctuation and agree to capitalization or lower case of the following word).
3. There're fewer edits than I expected. Not a knock on Kristy, her work is thorough. I just mentally set my mind back into English paper mode. I never scored well on those in school.
4. The recommended edits are a continuation of work I’ve already done. She suggests a lot of verbs tense change, and I’ve changed a million verb tenses a million times already. I still missed some or changed them incorrectly. I would never get these tense right without outside eyes, so that alone is worth my money.
5. There are open-ended comments. Like “this is confusing for X reason. Consider clarifying.”
6. I don’t know how/when to hyphen words together. When I’m done with these edits, I’m rereading those rules.
7. Even though she was copy editing, there are little gems that show what a strong grasp of character and plot Kristy has. So far, she’s made two suggestions to add a line of dialogue here or there that should have been obvious fixes for me, but I needed someone to suggest.
8. She’s suggestion : and ; but I’m rejecting them still. I’m aware of what grammar says about these things, but I have an ever expanding list of why these two kinds of punctuation do not belong in fictional prose (funny coming from someone who is using a colon in their book’s title).
9. She’s adding some “that” back into my writing and she’s starting some of my sentences with And or But. Both elements I culled due to massive overuse. It’s nice when someone else sprinkles them in.
10. In a few notable places where my writer’s group asked me to change something, and I held onto it for detailed reason X, Kristy asked for the same changes. My writers’ group will be happy to know I capitulated.
11. Even though I use breath and breathe all the time in my stories, I don’t know when to use which. 🙄
12. Toward vs Towards also comes up a lot. Maybe reread rules with when to use an s?
Talk to me. Where are you in your writing process? What kind of feedback do you get from beta readers or writing groups? What kind of feedback do you get from your copy editor? What’s your best experience with an editor? What was your worst experience with an editor?
Looking for more posts about the writing and publishing process? Check out more posts on my novel publication process: Going Through Copy Edits, 1st Daft vs 2nd Draft, Goal Planning: Getting Through the First Draft, My Character Looks Nothing Like My MC, Cover Art: Truth in Advertising, and Post Book Launch: Reflections.
Want to know more about my novel? Check out my childhood stories recapping themes in my life I hope prepared me to write this book: Remember the Magic of Santa?, Closet Monsters: Gone too Far?, and Garden Gnomes and other Evils.
OR check out my series where I find similarities between my novel and other popular media. Hopefully it gives you a better idea whether there are elements in my book you may enjoy. Lost Girl Comparison, American Gods Comparison, and The O.A. Comparison.
MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON!!! Please go look at "Follow Me: Tattered Veils" and see if it might be a story that interests you.
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