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You might be a copy editor if . . .

Our upcoming Beginning Copyediting for Fiction class will educate anyone wanting to fix the errors seen on a daily basis in the real world!

Over the past week or so, I’ve caught the following typos and grammatical awkwardness in major news media:

USA Today: “publically released”

USA Today: “could cause driver’s to crash”

USA Today: “exasperating the problem” (should be “exacerbating the problem”)

Yahoo Entertainment: “Affleck has three children with whom Lopez has become the stepmother to.”

People: “A college student is dead after falling to his death.”

CNN: “Crossed first paths”

ABC News: “preventing recruiters from meting with students”

If you, like me, have a tendency to spot errors like this, then you, too, are either a copy editor or could be one.

beginning copyediting for fiction

Tips for Editors & Writers

  • The Fine Art of Copyediting Fiction

    When copyediting fiction, it’s common to run up against issues that pit author preference against standard editing approaches. For example, in a story I wrote some years ago, the main character’s neighbor is referred to as “3-B” as that is her apartment number and the MC doesn’t know her name. Fine. She can be referred…

    Read more…

  • Let the manuscript teach you how to edit it

    One of the lessons I’ve learned over many years of editing is that you have to let the manuscript teach you how to edit it. Every manuscript is different and every manuscript needs a different touch. Even when an author does something I’ve seen many times before, I have to edit for that particular manuscript,…

    Read more…

  • Helping Authors Strengthen Story Settings

    The setting of a novel consists of multiple elements, big and small, that nest inside each other like those little Russian dolls. We might show this hierarchy of settings like so: If you think about it, the micro setting of “the living room of 601 San Mateo Road Apartment 16” implies the existence of all…

    Read more…

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how to become an editor

New to story editing? Begin at the beginning.

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