Author: Catherine

Categories
Artwork Copyediting Writing

The story via the style sheet

Pen and coloured pencil abstract circular drawing
Space

I’ve often looked at the style sheet I’ve created for a book I’m working on and thought that the words listed could be used as writing prompts. ‘Pick any three consecutive words and write 1,000 words based on them’, sort of thing. I even tweeted about making the executive decision that ‘asshat’ is one word but ‘fuck-head’ takes a hyphen. I think you can guess the tone of the book just from that! Shortly afterwards, I saw a discussion on Twitter about how a style sheet is a microcosm of the book as a whole. ‘How true!’ I thought.

So here you go. Some selections from recent pieces of work. I think these all give a good flavour of the piece without giving away any spoilers – and if you want to use them as writing prompts, that’s even better!

Horror:

  • shape-shifter
  • side-step
  • son of a bitch
  • soulmate
  • spread-eagled
  • street lamp
  • strigoi

Fantasy:

  • camp site
  • cannons
  • chain mail
  • crewmen

Mystery:

  • sidetracked
  • skullcap
  • smarty-pants
  • socioeconomic
  • store owner

Erotic romance/fantasy:

  • artifact
  • baobh
  • Black Fire
  • bloodcurdling
  • breadcrumbs
  • breastplate

Science fiction:

  • hide and seek
  • hlyk
  • ice cubes
  • ice-field
  • image-thought

The featured image is my latest artwork, just because I didn’t have anything else to illustrate this with and I’m trying not to use stock images. You can see more of my artwork here.

Categories
Authors Copyediting Proofreading

Vampires, history, swords

brown bat flying

Sometimes even when I think the pieces I’m working on have no connection, I realise that they actually do. These three topics are a case in point. Vampires, history, swords – what could go together better?

I’m excited to be working on the next book by R. H. Hale. Her first title, Church Mouse: Memoir of a vampire’s servant, is one of the best contemporary vampire stories I’ve read. I like the way it follows in the gothic tradition and the author doesn’t run scared of long sentences and semicolons. Without giving too much away, the sequel is just as good!

brown bat flying

I’m also working on an edited collection of essays about teaching Shakespeare, and it’s never too late to learn. After all those years covering Shakespeare plays in GCSE and A-level English, I still didn’t know about some of the subtleties of how cue-scripts work.

And finally I’ve recently proofread an article about historical bladed weapons. I suppose you could say I’m finding my niche.

My artwork has been following a similar kind of theme, as I’m working on skulls at the moment – update coming soon!

Categories
Writing

How to improve your writing by avoiding things that I don’t like

snowdrops growing in a garden
Snowdrops, just because they're seasonal and they were conveniently there.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence. You don’t see a particular mistake for years and then several examples turn up at once and you find yourself asking, ‘Is this a thing now? Why are people doing this?’ So here we go. How to improve your writing by avoiding things that I don’t like. Will it actually improve your writing? Maybe. No guarantees. Depends on context, etc. etc. etc. Try it and see!

There seems to be a trend for writers to use ‘inside’ or ‘within’ where the little word ‘in’ – or ‘into’ – would work just as well. Hence we have ‘The hero strode inside the room’ or ‘She reached within the cupboard’ or ‘He put it inside his pocket’. Try substituting ‘into’ (first two examples) or ‘in’ (last example). Doesn’t it sound cleaner and crisper? See also: ‘placed’ instead of ‘put’: for example, ‘Maria placed it inside the box’ vs ‘Maria put it into the box’. People are always placing things inside things instead of simply putting them in. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for these usages, just that it would probably improve your writing if you stopped and thought about it first to make sure that’s really the best way of saying what you want to say.

There’s another construction that’s been bugging me lately. Again, it’s not ‘an error’ per se, but it’s something you might like to think about to make sure you’re using it consciously and to maximum effect. Technically I’d call it ‘gerund vs infinitive’ – here’s an example:

‘She started walking along the path.’ Compare and contrast with: ‘She started to walk along the path.’ (walking – gerund; to walk – infinitive)

I’ve been seeing a lot of gerunds lately – the ‘ing’ form of the verb – especially in action sequences. ‘Dave started shooting …’ ‘Emma started running …’ and so on. I can totally see why people do it – it has a certain flow, and it tends to be how people talk, as well. But it can actually serve to slow down the ‘feel’ of the action where the infinitive would keep it moving along. This is the case especially where the action is interrupted or moves rapidly on. Neither construction is right or wrong, but if you keep it in mind while you’re reading through your own work, you can make an informed decision about which one you want.

Those are the most obvious things I’ve seen recently that give me an impression of laziness rather than bad grammar or mistakes. When one construction is used a lot at the expense of another which works just as well or better, it just makes me think that the author has got into a comfortable groove and hasn’t really ‘seen’ their own writing. It doesn’t make it bad writing, but if you take a look through fresh eyes and try mixing things up a little, it might give your work that extra pop and sparkle that elevates it from ‘competent’ to ‘good’ or from ‘good’ to ‘great’.

Final note: a character telling another character something is still ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’. I find ‘show, don’t tell’ rather a simplistic instruction – there’s a place for both – but don’t think you can stick something into dialogue and it suddenly becomes better. It’s particularly annoying when a character has spent a couple of paragraphs thinking about, for example, how Mr X can’t possibly be a plausible suspect because of Y and Z, and then feels compelled to repeat their thought process word-for-word to their colleague in the next chapter.

snowdrops growing in a garden
Snowdrops, just because they’re seasonal and they were conveniently there.
Categories
Artwork

Valentine’s Day shopping

On rare occasions someone pays me money for something that isn’t editing. No, not that, you dirty-minded people! If you’ve been reading my ‘About me’ section with the thoroughness that I’d expect, you’d have found that tiny one-word link to my art gallery. In my precious spare moments, I often put pen to paper. As Valentine’s Day is coming up, I decided to do something a little more commercially friendly for a change! So, still shopping for a card or gift? Here are a few designs you might consider:

This is slightly larger than A4 size, completed and ready for shipping – a one-off!

Roughly card-sized … individual variations available. I can do you something like this from scratch.

Again, pretty small, about the size of a rather small card, and I can produce these on demand or something similar with lyrics and customisation of your choice.

So there you have it! If you like my style and are short of inspiration, or want something for your partner that is a bit different but not ‘too much’/over the top, look no further. Drop me a line and I’ll be happy to work to your requirements.

Categories
Personal

The post I really wanted to make

It’s about time I came clean. I hate writing blog posts.

There. I said it. I thought long and hard and I … oh, who am I kidding. I didn’t have to think hard at all to figure out that honesty is the best policy. And it doesn’t take a genius to work out that if I feel like that, there must be a whole load more people out there who feel the same. Can I come and join your tribe?

Writing blog posts is something ‘they’ say you must do in order to help your site’s SEO, boost your visibility, and attract lots of new potential customers to your site. By ‘they’, I mean marketing how-to guides and other successful editors. And they have a point. If no one knows my site is here, how are they going to find my awesome skills?

So I want writers to come to my site. Writers who need an editor and proofreader. Obviously. And what do writers want to read about? Well, how to be a better/quicker/more productive/published/successful writer, of course. So I try and write posts with that in mind. Posts that will help writers.

There’s one important flaw in this approach. Writing isn’t my best skill. I’m an editor. Now, that’s not to say that my writing is bad or that I’ve got no useful advice to offer – but it does mean that I often feel as though I’m winging it or cribbing information from elsewhere. And, while I know the world is big enough to take more than one ‘how to beat writer’s block’ article and more than one piece on ‘how to write dialogue’ … I don’t just want to rehash the same old things.

So I’ve decided to take a new approach. An honest approach. I’ve touched on this before with posts about my searches and my SfEP professional membership status, but now I want to grasp it with both hands and own it. I don’t mean posting about my personal life, soap opera style … but I’m going to be myself, and that might mean writing about things that aren’t writing, and maybe even things that aren’t editing. In this way I hope to post more often, and give you stuff to read that comes from the heart, rather than from a marketing expert’s idea of what will help my site rankings.

So here we have an irrelevant but sexy picture of a Triumph motorbike. Not connected with writing, but hey, your main character has got to have some mode of transport, right? How about it?

Triumph Tiger motorbike
An irrelevant Triumph.
Categories
SfEP

Professional SfEP membership!

my actual desk with books and cup of tea
My actual desk

I’m excited today because I’ve been accepted by the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) as a Professional Member! Their standards are high, so I feel honoured to have achieved this. Who knows, one day maybe I’ll attain the lofty heights of Advanced Professional Member!

So, in the unlikely event that you had any lingering doubts about my ability to do a great job, I hope this will inspire you with confidence in my mighty copy-editing and proofreading skills. (On the other hand, you might just prefer to check out my testimonials …)

I’d better get back to work, but before I go, here’s a gratuitous shot of my desk with my congratulatory cup of tea:

my actual desk with books and cup of tea
My actual desk.

Categories
Copyediting Uncategorized

A dispatch from the editing coalface

a breakwater stretching out into the sea at sunset
I went away to the Norfolk coast for a few days. I set a tea-towel on fire and my mum got bitten by a dog. A good time was had by all.

 

I admit, I struggle to find a balance between working and blogging about work. The more work I do, the less time I have to blog! It’s time for me to redress that balance.

I haven’t posted news about myself for a while. You’ve had advice on getting your ebook ready for self-publishing, choosing an editor, working with an editor … you’ve even heard about what searches I’ve been doing. I’m currently working on a mammoth post, complete with screenshots, on how to use Word’s ‘styles’ function. But in the meantime, I’ve been up to a lot of other things …

Editing and proofreading, of course! Over the last few months I’ve been busy working on some history and sociology non-fiction titles, a dissertation, and a couple of charming novels – a comedy and a children’s fantasy book.

Training and continuing professional development. The Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) ‘Introduction to Fiction Editing’ course is incredibly wide-ranging and useful. I’m seriously considering branching out into developmental editing. As this would be a new venture for me, I’d offer a good discount for my first couple of clients, so if you’re interested in ‘big picture’ structural/developmental editing for your novel, now would be a great time to get in touch with me! 

Feeling like a schoolgirl again. I took the SfEP’s Basic Editorial Test, and the pressure was on, because despite the ‘Basic’ designation it was reputed to be pretty stringent, not to mention the fact that it was timed and you can make a maximum of two attempts to pass. If you fail on the second try, you’re doomed! After a couple of weeks of intense revision, I was relieved and delighted to get a mark of 95%.

Attending writerly things. Events, groups, call them what you will. The Leicester Writers Meet-Up is always friendly and welcoming, and on Tuesday I was at the Leicester Book Prize announcement where Rod Duncan’s The Queen of All Crows was revealed as the winner. I’ve also been to the SfEP East Midlands meet-up for the first time, connecting with editorial colleagues from all over the region.

Doing other writerly-worky stuff. Updating the Help For Writers website and blog. Delivering ebooks to online stores. Entering book metadata here, there and everywhere. Updating my directory entries. Creating a new Facebook page. Blowing my own trumpet.

Having a personal life. I moved house. My car passed its MOT. My child learned to jump. I went to the coast for a few days. I dusted off my bike after six years and attached a sprog-trailer to it. I had a good long sleep … no, wait. That didn’t happen. I have, however, eaten cake and drunk coffee. Sometimes even while working.

Because it’s not said often enough – and for many people it’s not true, anyway – I feel the need to shout from the rooftops … I love my job! I get to read lots of interesting things, both fact and fiction; I get to liaise with nice people who appreciate what I do; I learn a lot from the books I work on and the courses I take; even the aspects of the job I enjoy less, like marketing and promotion, provide variety and challenges which encourage me to develop in new and unexpected ways. I can’t wait to find out what the future will bring!

Categories
Copyediting

11 searches made by an editor

raccoon

I’ve done a post a bit like this before, but as an editor I like to stop every now and then, take stock and be grateful for all the new things I’ve learned recently as a result of online searches. This time everything is fairly innocuous and unlikely to bring an ominous knock at the door! These 11 searches were all undertaken as part of my work on two books; one fiction, one non-fiction.

  1. Ladyboys — one word or two? (It’s one.)
  2. Did Samuel Romilly oppose the slave trade? (He did indeed!)
  3. Did Jaguar make a Roadster model of their E-Type in 1974? (Yes.)
  4. Is it Wi-Fi, wi-fi, wifi or WiFi? (Wi-Fi — which is actually a trademark. Although in a work of fiction no one will probably care as long as you’re consistent.)
  5. Does Colman’s mustard take an apostrophe? (Yes.)
  6. Raccoon — one ‘c’ or two? (Usually two, but one can be acceptable in some contexts.)
  7. Does Zeinabu irene Davis really use a lower case ‘i’ for ‘irene’? (Yes.)
  8. Is ‘chile limón’ a legit potato chip flavour over in the good old US of A? (It sure is!)
  9. What are the lyrics of ‘The H1N1 Rap’ by Dr Clarke? (Enjoy …)
  10. How did Yul Brynner die? (Lung cancer.)
  11. Where were Harper & Row located back in 1964? (New York.)

Please rest assured that I do look at more than one source when fact-checking, but I’m not going to bore you with all of them!

That, dear reader, is why my head is full of bits of information that probably wouldn’t even be useful in a pub quiz, but I forget to take my vitamin D and put the bins out. Prize if you can guess which searches were for the fiction book and which for the non-fiction.

Writers, what have you been researching recently? And fellow editors, what strange facts have you learned in the course of your work?

Categories
Events

International Women’s Day 2018

It’s International Women’s Day and I feel oddly pressured to jump onto the bandwagon and write something topical. After all, I’m a woman, so it feels as though I’d be letting the side down if I didn’t at least mention it!

I don’t want to go down the boring route of ‘X female authors you should read’, though. I did that a couple of years ago for Help For Writers, if you’re interested. Other female authors I enjoy are Jan Mark, Diana Wynne Jones, Agatha Christie, J. K. Rowling, Jane Austen, Annie Proulx, Virginia Woolf and S. E. Hinton. I’m sure there are many more but you know how it is when you come to write something — my mind’s a blank!

So … being a woman. I’ve had an easy time of it so far. I’m white, I’m healthy, I’m cis, I’m (arguably) middle-class (I didn’t start out that way, but I have a desk job and a mortgage now so …). I live in the UK, where, while there is plenty to complain about, the standard of living for people in my position is actually pretty damn good. I’m middle-aged, so for the moment I escape most of the stereotypes about the old and the young. In many respects I lead a charmed life. I recognise why we still need an International Women’s Day, but really, who am I to talk about prejudice or sexism?

During my time in the non-profit sector, women outnumbered men in my workplaces and were just as respected by their peers. Then I moved into the publishing industry where, again, women are known to outnumber men, although not necessarily in the most senior roles. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been on the receiving end of sexist behaviour. (Disclaimer: it is quite possible that there were incidents that I simply didn’t notice, because I’m unobservant and socially inept and these things tend to go over my head.)

However, not being totally stupid I can see that not all women have it as easy as this privileged white woman, and in some countries women have few rights and are treated appallingly. There are more ‘issues’ than you can shake a stick at, but ‘honour’-based violence is particularly concerning — and does happen in the UK, too — so a few years ago I made a piece of artwork on that theme.

woman writing names, painted backwards so it is as though the surface of the painting is the glass she's writing on artwork

It’s acrylic paint on top of a photograph, and the writing is the names of all the women killed in ‘honour’-based crimes in the UK that I could find at the time. 

My motivation for doing the painting was to help raise awareness (although my little exhibition probably didn’t get more than a handful of visitors!), but that’s not much concrete help. If you want to help in some way, Karma Nirvana is a great charity that is always looking for donations and volunteers (trustees and community champions). To help women in the UK more generally, please consider supporting Women’s Aid.

If you’re a writer and a woman and you’re facing prejudice or disadvantage, I can only say: don’t give up! If you want any help with your manuscript please feel free to get in touch. I’m afraid I don’t have any magical contacts in the publishing world, but if you’re interested in self-publishing to get your work out there, I can certainly point you in the right direction and I’d be happy to have a (no-obligation!) chat about your options.

Categories
Copyediting

Working with an editor: getting the most out of the editing process

Man and woman talking over laptop, notebook and drink

You’ve finished your draft, done a spot of proofreading of your work and followed last week’s advice on how to choose an editor. You’ve found someone you like and you’re about to embark on that scary journey: getting your book edited. You’re probably wondering how you can get the most out of working with an editor, so that’s what I’m about to tell you!

I’ll start by saying that, if you’re like most writers, the thing uppermost in your mind at this point might be how you can avoid falling out with your editor. Perhaps you’re simultaneously scared of getting your work pulled apart and nervous in case you ‘push back’ and rile your editor, ending in a big, messy fall-out over a serial comma. You’ve picked someone you like and you seem to have a good rapport with them so far, but you’re afraid that will all come crashing down when you see what they’ve done to your manuscript.

I’ve got news for you. We don’t want to fall out with you, either.

Sometimes a grammar or punctuation rule or a particular spelling is right or wrong. Sometimes it’s a matter of opinion or personal preference. If it’s the latter, we won’t make it a hill to die on. If you want ‘spelled’ instead of ‘spelt’, or ‘well-being’ with a hyphen, guess what? It’s up to you! We aren’t scary grammar nazis; we want to be nice, and we want to help you and make your book as good as it can be.

With that in mind, here are some things you can do to make the editing process easier for both of us.

1. Know what kind of editing you’re getting

By the time you’ve got to the point of engaging an editor they should have gone through this with you, but to be on the safe side, make sure you know what kind of editing you’re getting – and that it matches up with what you need. As a copy-editor, I can’t do my best job if major structural reorganisation is needed, and if you want me to re-edit your work after you’ve rewritten and added parts, I’ll have to charge you extra – and most editors will do the same (it’s in my Ts and Cs, so make sure you read the small print!).

2. Be willing to consider changes

I was going to phrase this ‘Don’t be a dick’, but on reflection that seemed a bit harsh. I can honestly say that I’ve never had an editing client who has been rude about my suggestions, comments or queries. But I’m sure they exist, and you don’t want to be That Person. It’s natural to feel a little bit defensive about your work, but try to bear in mind that your editor wants your work to read as well as possible. If something is unclear to them, it may well be unclear to your target audience too. Remember that it’s up to you whether you accept all their suggestions, so try to not feel too dismayed, but also remember that they’re professionals and have made those suggestions for a reason. If it feels as though they simply haven’t ‘got’ your tone or what you’re trying to do in your book, have a chat with them about it. They should be on your side helping you achieve your vision!

3. Brace yourself

When you first open your edited manuscript file, there will be Track Changes – or the equivalent of red pen – all over it. And I mean all over. It’ll look shocking. I might as well get that out of the way. That doesn’t mean your writing is bad. Brace yourself and grit your teeth. I can pretty much guarantee that a lot of the ‘corrections’ will be things like changing a comma into a full stop or adding a space on either side of an ellipsis. 

4. Turn ‘Simple Markup’ on

In Word, under the ‘Review’ section of the toolbar, you have the option to view ‘All Markup’ or ‘Simple Markup’. Start by viewing the document with simple markup turned on. This means that you’ll only see the editor’s comments – queries or suggestions – rather than every single edit, deletion, insertion, etc. It makes the text look a lot less scary and will help you concentrate on the important stuff. Later, if you do want to go through every tiny change, when you get to a bit that looks confusing or that you have strong feelings about, turn simple markup back on and read through the passage ‘clean’, as though you’d already accepted the editor’s suggestions. Sound alright to you now? You might be pleasantly surprised!

5. Use the opportunity to improve your writing

Look at what the editor has changed and how those changes affect the flow of the text as a whole. This may help you improve your writing for the next book – if you have one planned! 

6. Don’t be afraid to ask questions

You are perfectly within your rights to ask the editor to explain their rationale for certain decisions. It doesn’t mean you’re arguing with them; it just means you’re curious. Any editor worth their salt will be happy to tell you why they’ve done what they’ve done. If they’ve changed something wholesale without consulting you, there’s a good chance it’s straight-up wrong rather than just a matter of stylistic preference. Ask and you’ll learn! 

7. Don’t ask too many questions

This sounds counterintuitive, but it’s just a shorter way of saying don’t bog the process down by questioning absolutely everything. The more you ask, the longer it will take, and you may end up getting charged extra. Got a question? Ask away! Want to go through the edit line by line with your editor? You’ve probably got too many questions. Be brave and make your own decisions about which changes you want to accept and reject. Remember: you don’t have to agree with everything your editor has suggested.

8. Use the appropriate technology

I usually work on manuscripts in Word, so I’ll refer to Track Changes here, but if you and your editor are working on a pdf document my advice applies equally to pdf markup. Use the technology available to you. Use Track Changes and Comments. Please don’t send your edits, comments or responses by email or as a separate document. You might think you’re referring to page 114, but by the time your comment gets back to the editor, they’ve continued to make changes and page 114 is now page 113 or 115, line references make no sense at all, and it takes them precious extra minutes to find the bits you’re talking about. They should have told you at the beginning of the process how they were going to present their feedback (Track Changes, Comments, pdf markup, etc.) and at this point you can ask how they’d like you to communicate yours in return.

9. Don’t be afraid to use the phone

It’s quicker than email and you might be able to get an instant answer. You can both ask lots of questions one after the other without any awkward written to-ing and fro-ing. Check first with your editor when they’re available to talk on the phone so that you don’t worry about interrupting them. And, of course, check that they’re comfortable with it – not everyone is, but if they are, you can both save yourselves time and energy!

10. Keep in touch

Let your editor know if you’re going away, have had a crisis or are going to be incommunicado for a while. That way they’re not left hanging and they can plan in order to either meet the deadline or extend it if necessary. Also, they won’t expect you to respond while you’re away or otherwise occupied. They should, of course, return the favour!

11. Write a testimonial

If you think your editor did a good job, say thank you – it’s always nice to be thanked. But you can go one better. Write a testimonial that they can use on their website or a review on their Facebook page if they have one. Ask them where they prefer to have their reviews (some people use Trustpilot or similar sites) and show your appreciation by writing one. Asking clients for testimonials can sometimes feel a bit awkward, especially if a bit of time has passed since the job was done, so we really appreciate it when you take the initiative – believe me! 

If you’re feeling particularly generous you could even credit your editor in the book. The first time an author wrote something really nice about me in the acknowledgements I actually bought the book, despite it being an academic work on a topic totally unrelated to my interests! So you never know, you might even bag yourself an extra sale.

Go for it!

Hopefully I haven’t made you overthink the whole thing. Perhaps I should come back to the one bit of advice I almost didn’t say: don’t be a dick. Most people aren’t. You probably aren’t. In which case you’ll get on with your editor and both of you will enjoy the process of getting your book into great shape!