At her excellent blog, Love, Your Copyeditor, Ray Gunn recently wrote about the cons and pros (in that order) of having writer friends who need copyediting. Feeling the same way she does, I have made fun of this predicament. But Ms. Gunn’s more serious treatment reminded me of a related issue, which is that because I do what I do, I have a lot of writer friends. And they often ask me to read their work without my copyeditor’s hat on.
I’ve read drafts of a play, a screenplay, novels, children’s books, blog posts, short stories—all with pleasure and admiration. Typically, there are at least a few ways in which I can query or nudge or misunderstand enough to provoke some rethinking. The challenge of approaching a work at a level that copyediting discourages, the big-picture level, is fun for a change.
And what a luxury, to sail past inconsistent spellings, iffy punctuation, and inattention to Chicago style. Unlike many copyeditors, I can take off that hat and it pretty much stays off. (You won’t hear me brag that I can’t read past a typo. I’m more likely to be flummoxed when a friend writes me to correct her previous e-mail, not having noticed the typo in the first place.)
So, friends, please don’t ask me to copyedit your work.* The answer will always be no. But keep your stories coming.
______
*You understand that this has nothing to do with your lifelong right to e-mail me for copyediting advice in exchange for your own expertise—be it legal, medical, culinary, computer tech, home repair. . . . In that regard, I’m pretty sure I’ll always be in your debt.
I finally had to declare "No free editing" to friends for anything more than about 500 words. I enjoy editing and love when people come to me for help. Now I politely say, "I have to give my paying clients priority." Can you do a post on why unsolicited attachments are such a faux pas?
Posted by: Originalprint | 12/29/2010 at 08:03 AM
That's impressive that you can take off the copyeditor's hat. I'm working on being able to do that as it takes away some of the pleasure of the text to stop at every potential typo when I'm not copyediting.
Posted by: Emilee Bowles | 12/29/2010 at 09:04 AM
Wow. Thanks for the shout-out! It made my day while sitting here stranded at O'Hare.
I love all things Chicago, but I would like to go home now.
Posted by: Loveyourcopyeditor.blogspot.com | 12/29/2010 at 09:58 AM
Ray, I'm so sorry! (If you need a place to stay, let me know--seriously.)
Posted by: Carol Saller | 12/29/2010 at 10:10 AM
While it is extremely unlikely that I will ever hand you a book and ask you to read it (although I will certainly send you one if you have nothing better to do with your time :) ), one thing you said does niggle a bit with me.
Should you ever misunderstand something you read in a book by someone you know, misunderstand it "enough to provoke some rethinking," I certainly hope you would mention that, regardless of what hat you're wearing.
While I hate having certain of my friends read my books, because they cling so dearly to certain old chestnuts about infinitives and prepositions and whether "than" is a conjunction or a preposition, nonetheless, when something doesn't seem to make sense, I want them to say so.
Levi
Posted by: LeviMontgomery | 12/29/2010 at 03:01 PM
Levi, exactly--the whole point of my reading is to provide feedback on anything I don't understand or dislike. I'm reading drafts, not finished work. It's for editing purposes; just not copyediting purposes.
Posted by: Carol Saller | 12/29/2010 at 03:09 PM