Culler Copy

Secret editing

Leah — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:21:26 +0000

The best compliment an editor can get from a writer: “I can’t tell that you changed anything!”

That’s the point of editing, really. You’re making the writer look better by making those words flow more smoothly (and sometimes by making those words make sense). You are there to make the writer look good, but you really don’t want to leave any evidence that you even touched the story (or book or article).

If you have ever written anything professionally, you have probably dealt with an editor who insisted on touching every single sentence, rearranging and tweaking and toying with your copy until it was no longer yours. And you were probably full of resentment and may have even wanted to remove your name as the author of the mangled former masterpiece. I’ve been there. And even if the finished product was “better” in some sense, I was not happy or proud or grateful to that editor.

I’ve also been the heavy-handed editor. Particularly as a rookie editor, I thought I had to prove my worth by scattering my red marks throughout every document that came into my possession. The Subversive Copy Editor addresses this in her post titled “Trigger Happy.”

I still follow the “rules” of the English language and make suggestions when I think something really doesn’t work the way it is. And I do plenty of tightening and revising to make things more clear. But those are the changes writers don’t notice. A writer doesn’t realize that you just said in seven words what he used 15 words to say. A writer will read his piece and know it’s well-written and he will probably assume that he wrote it that way. It’s what he meant to say, after all. (And the humble, grateful writers know what you did and thank you for it.)

Another Subversive Copy Editor tip, which to me should be the first rule of all editing: Do no harm. It goes hand in hand with the subtle style of editing I’m talking about. If it ain’t broke, well, don’t rewrite it! You may not have written it that way, but the writer did, and it’s HIS writing.

Tread lightly. Leave no trace. And, if it works the way it is, just let it be.

A portfolio of people

Leah — Thu, 26 May 2011 21:48:30 +0000

In the dreary winter months that began 2009, I was frantically hunting for jobs. I had been laid off from The Seattle Times in December. There were a lot of us looking, and few jobs for us to find. I realized quickly that it was almost impossible to show potential employers a “portfolio” of my work as an editor. Sure, they could see a story I edited on the front page of the newspaper and note how well it flowed or how few mistakes it contained, but they had no way of knowing how much of that was my doing. I saw a few job ads that asked for “before and after” work samples, but the deadline-oriented newsroom environment didn’t allow for editors to print copies of everything we edited to save for future reference. At least I never thought to do so.

When I did finally find jobs to apply for, I found that my best bet for snagging any gig would have to be my references. I had done great work for every employer, and I was hoping they would vouch for me. It turns out that they were all happy to do so.

As I have ventured into the world of freelancing, these references have become invaluable. A small business that wants to hire an editor for a short-term gig is not going to have a copy-editing test to make sure I am what I say I am. But a potential client can call any number of people who will not hesitate to say that I’m really good at what I do and that they have firsthand knowledge of that fact. Here are a few of those testimonials.

When you impress a client, they’ll talk about you. To their friends and family, to their colleagues. Even if a job seems small or insignificant, it could be the one that scores you an amazing opportunity down the road.

There’s no shame in looking it up

Leah — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:27:42 +0000

As a self-proclaimed grammarian, I regularly have friends or colleagues ask me questions about spelling, grammar and AP style. Sometimes, I can give them an answer. But, sometimes, I have to consult my Associated Press Stylebook or a dictionary. The inquiring friend will exclaim, “You don’t know?!” And, well, sometimes I don’t. Or maybe I’m pretty sure, but I need confirmation. And that’s OK.

The best editors are not necessarily those who have memorized every grammar rule or know how to spell every difficult word by heart. Knowledge of those tricky spelling words was most helpful back before the eighth-grade cutoff for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. In the real world, it’s much better to be able to recognize when a word might be spelled wrong or know that a grammar rule is tricky — and that you should look it up.

You can’t waste half of every editing hour looking things up, of course. Coming from the newspaper environment, I recognize that there is often barely enough time to thoroughly read a story, much less double-check the use of further/farther and the proper placement of semicolons. You have to know the rules of whichever style you are using, but memorizing the AP Stylebook (or Chicago Manual of Style) isn’t realistic. Focus on memorizing those things you are most likely to encounter on a regular basis, but don’t be afraid to double-check if you’re not sure. Saving a minute or two is not worth it if it means you let something slip by.