How to Handle Line Edits
So, last week, I received my line edited manuscript, for GIRL'S GUIDE. The manuscript was printed out on paper (I had submitted it electronically). It had a number of typesetting marks in the body (indicating that my dashes were m-dashes, correcting a handful of typos (grrrr - there shouldn't have been *any*), adjusting to house style (e.g., "gray" instead of "grey), etc.
There were notes in the margin, where my editor liked specific language (including one wistful sigh over a hamburger joint that really, truly exists here in DC.)
And there were queries. Was it really Monday, or did I mean Tuesday? Hadn't she already told him this story when they went out to dinner? Did these characters know what that one was doing during her twenty-five year absence? Etc.
I took the manuscript, and I looked at every single page. I shrugged at the typesetting marks (there were none I disagreed with, and most were for cosmetic reasons.) I smiled at the compliments. And I placed a Post-It note on each page with a query.
I didn't let myself react. I didn't let myself say, "Yeah, but..." I didn't let myself rant and rave and defend the glorious purity of my prose. I just marked the page.
Then, nearly a week later (due to the intervention of Life), I sat down with the Post-It fringed manuscript. I turned to the first note, and I read my editor's query. I answered it, adding a line of text. For the second one, I added a short paragraph. For the third one, I deleted a word. For the fourth, I hopped onto the Internet, confirmed a fact, and changed a word. Etc. (I left the Post-It notes on the page while I was doing this phase.)
When I had answered all the queries, I went back through the manuscript, pulling out all the pages with Post-It notes, removing the Post-Its, and placing the edited pages into a pile. I double-checked my "clean" pile (the stack of pages where I had marked no queries and made no changes) - sure enough, I found one page, where I had inadvertently returned a formerly Post-It-noted page to the wrong stack.
Today, I'll photocopy my edited pages and put them in an envelope, jetting them up to New York. (Yes, I keep a photocopy of the edits, even if it's an entire ms. Yes, I've needed my photocopy, once, when the USPS let me down.)
And now, I wait for the next stage....
Mindy, quite pleased to have completed her line edits (and well in advance of her March 3 deadline.)
There were notes in the margin, where my editor liked specific language (including one wistful sigh over a hamburger joint that really, truly exists here in DC.)
And there were queries. Was it really Monday, or did I mean Tuesday? Hadn't she already told him this story when they went out to dinner? Did these characters know what that one was doing during her twenty-five year absence? Etc.
I took the manuscript, and I looked at every single page. I shrugged at the typesetting marks (there were none I disagreed with, and most were for cosmetic reasons.) I smiled at the compliments. And I placed a Post-It note on each page with a query.
I didn't let myself react. I didn't let myself say, "Yeah, but..." I didn't let myself rant and rave and defend the glorious purity of my prose. I just marked the page.
Then, nearly a week later (due to the intervention of Life), I sat down with the Post-It fringed manuscript. I turned to the first note, and I read my editor's query. I answered it, adding a line of text. For the second one, I added a short paragraph. For the third one, I deleted a word. For the fourth, I hopped onto the Internet, confirmed a fact, and changed a word. Etc. (I left the Post-It notes on the page while I was doing this phase.)
When I had answered all the queries, I went back through the manuscript, pulling out all the pages with Post-It notes, removing the Post-Its, and placing the edited pages into a pile. I double-checked my "clean" pile (the stack of pages where I had marked no queries and made no changes) - sure enough, I found one page, where I had inadvertently returned a formerly Post-It-noted page to the wrong stack.
Today, I'll photocopy my edited pages and put them in an envelope, jetting them up to New York. (Yes, I keep a photocopy of the edits, even if it's an entire ms. Yes, I've needed my photocopy, once, when the USPS let me down.)
And now, I wait for the next stage....
Mindy, quite pleased to have completed her line edits (and well in advance of her March 3 deadline.)
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