Copy-edit

[desperance]

Fifteen hours over four days in the library, and I have been all the way through the copy-edit of 'River of the World'. And changed very little: a couple of minor inconsistencies (the best one being the stepping-stones that turned into a bridge: the sad news is that it was the stepping-stones - a much more interesting paragraph - that had to go, because the bridge was much more useful plotwise) and otherwise little more than punctuation. People always want me to use more commas than I like, and wherever two or three English-speaking people are gathered together, they will disagree about hyphenation. That's about it.

Now I have to go through the whole thing at the desk here, to record all the changes in my master-files. Just in case we ever sell a UK edition: it'd be good to start out with equivalent texts.

Comments

[martyn44.livejournal.com]

Wherever one English-speaking person is gathered there will be disagreements about punctuation. I was taught the old-fashioned way, at a grammar school and I have the O level to prove I did not sleep through English language lessons (oh, the age and, oh oh, the outrage, because I'm convinced that what I know about English language - apart from the obvious - can be written in very large capitals on a first class stamp, and still leave room for the collected works of Shakespeare!)

When in doubt, I read aloud and punctuate to sense. And I probably use more commas than any sensible man.

[costumeimp.livejournal.com]

Congratulations Chaz. You made great time on the copy edit. (Inside, I'm leaping up and down shouting "Kick-ASS!") I'm very much looking forward to reading "River of the World" in the spring.