Dear Carol:How Do I Know When to Meddle?

                                                                                    Photo courtesy Peter Werkman

Hello, Carol,

I have been enjoying your blog on editing for quite some time. In particular, I appreciated your tips for newbie copy editors. I have been working freelance as a copy editor for a couple years with scientific and technical documents. I have recently expanded to copy editing and proofreading novels, which is a bit of a change. In general, would you agree that a copy editor should avoid making changes to the text unless a documentable style change and/or grammatical error has occurred? What are your thoughts on using queries (in the comments) to attract the author’s attention to my suggestions?

Thanks,

Dawn Pearson

 

Hi, Dawn—

Your first question is the fundamental question of copyediting: when to step in and when to resist. Having this kind of judgment is what separates a beginner from an experienced editor.

On the surface, it seems like a good idea to avoid making changes to the text unless a documentable style change or grammatical error has occurred, and for someone with very little editing experience, it’s the right approach. However, there are two big problems with this approach:

—There are often excellent reasons to do otherwise.

—Rigidity rarely serves the reader or the writer.

I’m sure you can already think of examples in your own editing where you felt that it would be counterproductive or even ruinous to follow the style guide, or where the writer wanted to break a rule for a reason, and you got the point and agreed that it would be best. This is the foundation of “subversive” copyediting: we aren’t robots who mechanically apply a style guide, and we aren’t there to slap the wrist of the writer for breaking rules. Instead, we use the style manual as a guide for working with a writer and the text; we use a style sheet to keep track of departures from style; and over time we learn from mistakes and successes what works best. We use common sense and judgment.

As for question 2, the comments feature in Microsoft Word is a tool many editors use for querying writers, and it seems to work well. The main danger is not with the technology, but that an editor will abuse it in order to bombard the writer with unnecessary communication. I once vetted a manuscript where the copyeditor had mechanically inserted the same comment every time she encountered a particular difficulty, dozens of times: “AU: Did you intend to hyphenate here? Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate hyphenates this compound.”

Here are a few guidelines for using comments:

—If you find yourself writing the same comment more than a couple of times, consider writing a blanket query in your cover letter and flagging each instance in a more economical way.

—Resist writing justifications for editing that is self-explanatory.

—Resist citing chapter and verse of your style manual. (Save that for negotiating differences of opinion.)

—Phrase questions in a way that prevents going another round. If you write, “Inconsistency intended?” the author can reply with an unhelpful “Yes.” A more explicit query will get you what you want: “Change to 1932, as above?”

—Remember that reading a comment takes the writer out of the text and costs time. Make it worth the trip.

Good luck,

Carol

 

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Comments

[Ebrenner]

Excellent guidelines, Carol. I've been trying to say just that with some of my copyediting students. Now I'll just send them here!

[Patricia Boyd]

I have been guilty of TMAQs (too many author queries). Not that long ago, I thought I was being preemptive by citing a CMOS rule for a change that I was making repeatedly in a manuscript. I got a note back from the author saying something like "Fine with the changes, but spare me the lecture." I still cringe when I think about it. Live and learn.

On the other hand, some authors (often first-timers) seem thrilled to see lots of comments on their manuscript, equating comments with attention. These authors are the exception, though.

I agree on avoiding the repetitive comments, which are so easy with today's technology. One query at first occurrence, and then do the global search and replace later. And let the author know that you'll fix globally. If it's not a specific, easily searchable term in question, I might highlight the various phrases or underline them for ease in finding later.

[Carol Saller]

Ouch, Patricia--but I guess that's one of the ways we learn . . .

Thanks, Erin--but I seriously doubt that you need my help. I'm sure I could learn a lot in one of your classes!