Copy Edits and the Women Who Love Them

I know it doesn't sound like something to love, but copy edits on your manuscript are, in fact, a huge blessing. As an English teacher, I like to think I know a lot about grammar and punctuation. As a YA writer, however, I can see that I don't know diddly. Well, maybe not diddly. Maybe I just don't know squat.

Regardless, getting copy edits back is not something to fear or dread. They are the greatest gift. First of all, they are corrections MADE FOR YOU. You don't have to go through your MS for the thousandth time and find the things you missed the first 999 times. For example, you know what I spelled wrong about a dozen times in my MS -- interview. I left out the second "i." I never caught it. My editor never caught it. Can you imagine the embarassment we'd have felt if a copy editor hadn't seen it?

I've taken some pictures below so that you can see what copy edits look like. My pictures aren't too specific because I don't want to violate any agreement I have with my publisher. I took some close-up shots of different things so you can get an idea of what they look like.

1. The Edited Manuscript

This is what you can expect to receive when you get your MS back -- the MS, obviously, and a letter of some sort explaining the expectations for you, the author. In my case, I needed to go through all changes and either check them off (approve them) or write STET. STET is editor's speak for "keep as is." Authors should never write on the copy edited MS in pen -- this version will go back to the editor for the typesetting and final changes.

2. Editorial Marks

In my case, there were two different copy editors going over the MS -- they used red and green pens so I could tell them apart. My editor also went back through with a couple of comments/requests -- she wrote in pencil.

3. Copy Editor's marks/Author's Response

This is a pretty basic example of how the copy editor will "code" questions to the author -- with an "AU." In this case, it was a suggested word change, which I agreed with.

To be honest, I pretty much agreed with all the changes the copy editors and my editor made. When they asked for options, I put on large, lined sticky notes and listed some different alternatives. I never wrote STET. I didn't need to.

For the most part, I am comfortable knowing that my work is now better for having been edited. I know that isn't everyone's experience. What about you? 

SCBWI MD/DE/WV Conference: An Overview

I spent the day today at the SCBWI MD/DE/WV regional conference. It's actually a two-day event, but I was only able to go to one day. That being said, though, I think I picked the right day to attend. I heard some amazing presentations by some kick-ass authors/agents/editors.

The conference theme was "Kindling the Imagination" and began with a presentation by author, Bobbie Pyron entitled "My Life as a Dog: A Year of Magical Thinking." Bobbie discussed writing her book, A Dog's Way Home, and talked about living as dogs do -- in the moment and through the senses. I think this is excellent advice -- especially for writers like me who sometimes get bogged down with logistics. Your reader does care about accuracy, but they also want to see an immediacy. As Bobbie read excerpts from her book, I really felt the voice of the dog, even though the dog never actually talked. Very cool

I attended three break-out sessions. The first was with Molly Jaffa from Folio Literary Management -- her presentation was about opening pages. More specifically, Molly focused on establishing stakes. You need to be invested in your characters. So do your readers. High Stakes + Caring about Characters = Higher Stakes, according to Molly. She mentioned a few books that she felt exhibited these kind of high stakes - The Fault of Our Stars by John Green, Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, and AS King's Ask the Passengers. She also warned against beginning with a prologue that "fakes out" the audience and begins them with a scene that doesn't appear until later in the book.

My second session was with Stacey Barney, Editor at Penguin/Putnam . Stacey's session was called "How to Get an Editor to Fall in Love with Your Manuscript." She focused on a variety of different devices writers can employ to make their writing lovable. The biggest/longest discussion seemed to be about voice. She emphasized that a first person narrator needed to be authentic, while a third person narrator required intimacy without intrusion.

The last session was the editor's panel discussion -- the editors included Stacy Barney (above), Mary Kate Castellani (my editor!!!) from Walker/Bloomsbury USA, Rotem Moscovich from Disney/Hyperion, and Christine Peterson from Capstone, a non-fiction publisher. I have to be honest -- the questions that were asked weren't particularly helpful. I mean, we had four successful editors in front of us and people were asking if they should personalize query letters. I just felt that the time could have been better spent -- that kind of question can easily be answered through a google search.

Regardless, though, I am glad I went -- not only was I able to reconnect with some friends from last year, but I learned a great deal from the presenters. It reminded me that, no matter where you are in the publishing process, you can always use some extra tips to polish up that manuscript.

The Importance of Craft (and I'm not talkin' cheese food!)

I mentioned craft in yesterday's post and it looks like I'm not alone in my belief and expectations when craft is concerned. Not that I thought I would be. But I think there is a common misconception about YA and MG - a misconception that all books in those genres are formulaic or cookie-cutter. In fact, I can say with complete honesty that I have read far more YA books that are innovative than not. Just like the generation they are about, YA books are cutting edge in all the best ways.

Which brings me to craft. I'm one of those authors with an MFA. I had the good fortune to study with some of the best living American poets. My MFA is actually in poetry and I didn't write a lick of fiction until years after I got my degree.

Why does this matter? Well, we all have our own influences - our personal graduate programs, college-affiliated or not. Some people had an amazing creative writing teacher in high school who encouraged them to contribute to the literary magazine or to try NaNoWriMo. Some people came into writing through the amazing books they read. Maybe they tried writing fan fiction first as a tribute to these books. There are so many avenues that bring us to the place where we pick up the pen/open up MS Word.

But having an MFA in Poetry has influenced me to believe four things about crafting a good book.

1. Every word in every sentence matters.

This one is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because, well, every word matters. I read and re-read what I write. I labor over sentences and word choice. I can not tell you the number of times I spent hours, if not days, thinking about one sentence. That's why it's a curse. Getting bogged down with something that small can prevent you from writing, from moving forward. However, don't confuse small with insignificant. Some of my favorite lines from books are perfect because of one or two specific words that make them so memorable and make them resonate.

"I on my part give up the uncertainty of eternal rest and go out into the dark where may be the blackest things that the world or the nether world holds!" Bram Stoker's Dracula

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilised by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones." Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

"The world of adults feels like a universe that has reached the end of its expansion and is inexorably collapsing back in on itself.” R.A. Nelson, Teach Me

2. The way you use your words to write and communicate creatively are not necessarily the way you use them to write and communicate normally.

This one's interesting. I consider it a rule because, as a teacher, I am forever re-teaching students about what the rules are about writing. Yes, you can use "and" or "but" to begin a sentence. In fact, sometimes you can use a fragment or a run-on to prove your point. But how one communicates creatively is not always appropriate for professional or scholarly writing. I don't just mean this in a "text-speak" way, but also in a diction way.

The word "tongueing" is a really good example. Chuck Palahniuk used this as a verb in Fight Club - something along the lines of "a sore in your mouth that would heal, if only you would stop tongueing it." I butchered that, I'm sure, but I don't have the book with me. Anyway, tongueing is not a word I'd put in a grammar exercise for many reasons - but I'd LOVE to have a reason to write it.

The point -- sometimes you make words do what you want when you're using them creatively.

3. Novels don't have a form. They have a case, the cover, that holds the pages inside. Other than that, the format is fair game.
When I first started my MFA, I believed in the narrative poem and I tolerated the lyric. I was definitely a follower of Whitman, not Dickinson. However, fellow writers and an excellent poet, Mary Ann Samyn, opened my eyes to the use and exploration of white space. What the heck is it there for if not to write in? Some great examples of using the white-space or playing with genre and fictional expectations are:

- Amy Reed's Clean, where she switches in and out of various formats, including a confessional, stream-of-conciousness type of list that splays the whole page

- Ellen Hopkin's books, which use verse of course, but also use different types of verse, different rhyming techniques, and lovely sounds

- Bram Stoker's Dracula yet again, because he so deftly introduces multi-genre writing to the gothic prose era. There are journal entries, medical reports, articles, letters. It's a masterpiece.

- Justine Larbalestier's Liar, which slips in and out of the past and present in a way that makes everything seem relevant and full of momentum.

4. Your craft takes time and time doesn't really end.

It doesn't take thousands of dollars of student loans to figure this one out, but it did for me -- you are only as good as you are. Maya Angelou (and Oprah) say, "When you know better, you do better." I love what my forthcoming book has become -- the influence of my agent and editor have been instrumental in creating a lovely, fun, mysterious, romantic, spicy story. :) However, when I first wrote it -- the first draft and the subsequent drafts -- well, they weren't great. Since then, it's been a couple of years. I've read a lot. I've written more. And my writing is getting better. I hope that kind of improvement never stops.

It's been eight years since I graduated from my MFA program, but it's taken those eight years out of school to turn me into a YA writer. You develop craft over time and through influences. It's not self-made. It doesn't grow on trees. It doesn't strike you, like lightning. Those are inventions or ideas. But, it's those ideas that you flesh out, that you worry at, that you meddle with, that you continue tongueing (YES!) again and again until you've managed to spit them out and turn them into something that matters.

It's not the wheel we're creating here. It's the vehicle.

How about you? Anyone else have craft-related insight or something to add? Comment! :)