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.
Tips for Editors & Writers
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Exploring versus Judging Character
One of the curious conundrums I’ve experienced as a book editor is encountering characters that the author clearly has contempt for but expects readers to be interested in engaging with. Contempt is as poisonous in writing as it is in relationships. The goal of the author should not be to judge character but to explore
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Coaching Opportunities with Potential Clients
I think of coaching as anything that helps a writer write their book, improve their book, sell their book, or otherwise advance their writing career but which isn’t a straightforward edit on a complete manuscript. In other words, if I help an author write a query letter, or brainstorm solutions to plot problems, or review
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Coaching and Editing Discovery Drafts
Discovery drafts are typically the first draft of a novel that an author uses to explore the story they’re writing, whether the story has been prompted by a situation, a setting, a character, or a theme. The discovery draft typically includes stops and starts, directions the story could take but doesn’t, characters that fade in
