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March 11, 2005

Friday Writer’s Corner

Alesia, from copyedits central...

I’m in the middle of that very exciting period of every writer’s life known as COPYEDIT HELL. Yes, even I, an admittedly anal former lawyer, get pages back from my publisher all marked up with RED PENCIL. This, in addition to causing near-fatal hyperventilation, makes me feel like I’m reliving my worst nightmares of 8th grade . . .

Copyedits. First thing to remember, is that it’s never as bad as it looks. The majority of all that red pencil is directions to the production staff. Put this line in a separate font. Scene break here. End chapter, begin next. That sort of thing.

Then there are the great and happy reasons we have and love copyeditors. The place where you wrote that Brianna’s eyes were blue in chapter 22, when they were clearly brown in chapter 8. The comma that never, ever should have come between “monkey” and “chandelier.” The place where your keyboard must have hiccupped, because you wrote “thank you you you.”

BUT then there are the dark places. The paths to DOOM AND DESTRUCTION. When your C.E. goes into a frenzy of red-pencil bliss. And tries to edit out your voice. Or your humor. Or CHANGES A WORD IN YOUR DEDICATION. We veteran writers have a response to this:

Just say STET.

Hugs and happy weekend,
Alesia, who is so jazzed to even HAVE a backlist :)

Posted by Alesia at 1:56 PM | Comments (1)

Comments

Posted by: Alesia at March 11, 2005 2:02 PM