Q&A On Figuring Out What Editors Do and How to Hire One

I love the regular "Q & A a la Ann Landers" features I use in my #SharingwithWriters newsletter because I make it time-effective for me to spend time with authors who send me questions by recycling their questions and my answers as part of the monthly letter. I try to include something on editing in every issue and you can get the letter and a free e-book (editing! of course!) at http://howtodoitfrugally.com.  The subscribe window is in the upper right corner of most every page and you can read some back issues , too!

This question came from a reader who finds that editors often don't clearly define exactly what what their editing process includes and how they work.

QUESTION:

I just finished my first novel, historical fiction, and I’m finding different editors’ sites don’t give me much information and that no one seems to be speaking the same language in terms of definition when they toss around the editing terms. Copy editor? Proofreader? Etc.

ANSWER

If this is a first novel, I believe you need a full edit. Sometimes first novelists—even ones who have taken lots of classes—still don't have things like structure, motivation, setting, characterization down. It's not just our own punctuation or homonym errors we don't see! It would also be helpful if you tried to find an editor experienced specifically in historical novels—especially the specific period you are writing in. Your editor may even spot a historical inaccuracy or two.

You also might want to read the multi award-winning The Frugal Editor (http://bit.ly/FrugalEditor). It includes a battery of questions to ask editors to get what you need.

I know a full edit like this is expensive, but one of the things I say in my The Frugal Editor: Think of the money spend as the equivalent of three university classes at a top writing school in addition to the editing. If you get an editor who explains why she does things and what the alternative is, you'll come away from the editing process a much better writer—even if you are already a great writer. (-:

PS: The Frugal Editor also defines the terms of editing—at least for purposes of the book—so we’re all talking the same language. I sympathize with the confusion you expressed.

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 Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults, and speaks on issues of writing and publishing. Find her at http://howtodoitfrugally.com. Find the second edition of her multi award-winning The Frugal Editor: Do-it-yourself editing secrets for authors: From your query letter to final manuscript to the marketing of your bestseller. (HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for Writers). Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/writers_books.htm , where writers find lists and other helps including , Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her SharingingwithWriters blog. She tweets writers' resources at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo . Please tweet this post to your followers. We all need a little help with editing. (-:

Working with an Editor: So What Is a Caret?

Many readers of this blog know that I often run editing tips in my SharingwithWriters newsletter and occasionally include them in this blog with a reminder than anyone who doesn't want to miss a single one should subscribe by sending an e-mail with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line to HoJoNews (at) AOL (dot) com. I'll subscribe you myself.

 

 

When you begin the editing process with the editor assigned to your book by your big New York publisher, you may need to know what a caret is. (Or for that matter, when you hire a great editor to edit your self-published book!) When he or she uses the word caret (or actually uses the little symbol in her edited copy), you don’t want to have to ask what it is. A caret is a little pointy thing that looks something like this ^. It directs you to an insert the editor is asking you to make. Note I said “asking.” A great editor doesn’t demand changes. She suggests them. You pay attention certainly. Ask if you disagree or don’t understand. But the final decision is up to you.

 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults. and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (How To Do It Frugally series of book for writers). Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/writers_books.htm , where writers will find lists and other helps including Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog. She tweets writers' resources at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo . Please tweet this post to your followers. We all need a little help with editing. (-:

Part II Carolyn and Yvonne Perry Talk Editing Books

This is the second part the details from a podcast Yvonne Perry and I made a few months ago. It is part of my effort to actively blog, even while I am on vacation. To see the first part, please scroll down to the November 22 post.

Ff you'd rather hear the podcast in its entirety, find it at: http://yvonneperry.blogspot.com/2007/07/tgif-july-13th-2007.html. Because of the length, you will find this in two blog posts.

The post from November 22 covered:

Titles and headers
Entitlement
Titles
Using all caps
Is this okay or OK?
Number Number
Use of percent symbol
Spaces between sentences
Serial Commas or killers?
Writing for Decades
Hyphenating

This blog will cover

Internet and Web site
To Dash or not to Dash
Away a way
A lot or alot
That that that
Writing Dialog
Writing Numbers
Questions from our Readers
Information on Yvonne's Editing Service

Keep in mind that editing for books tends to be more stringent (and different) than editing other material, like news copy, blogs, etc. These answers are in agreement with The Chicago Manual of Style


Internet and Web site

Internet is a proper noun and the first letter should be capitalized. The debate on whether or not Web should be capitalized is still ongoing. CMOS says it should be written in proper case. It is another name for World Wide Web, which is a proper noun. RE: Web site. When a word is used a lot, its spelling becomes commonly accepted even if it is incorrect. The most common spelling and use of this word is website. However, according to CMOS, it is two words: Web site. As long as you are consistent throughout your book or document, I doubt most people will question either spelling.

Style Sheets

This is not information on grammar. It is a reminder because I know you will save yourself tons of time if you keep a style sheet as you write. Any time you make a choice between two possibilities, both of which are right (like web site or website), make a note and alphabetize it. You'll also end up with a much more professional book to say nothing of ending up with a manuscript that is easier for your editor to tweak.

Oh, yes! Be sure to give you editor the style sheet. It will help her, too. Always a good idea, especially if you're paying her by the hour. Ha!

To Dash or not to Dash

The em dash [—] is defined as one em (letter “m”) in width. The double hyphen will convert to an em dash—if you type two dashes (hyphens) ‐‐ and do not put a space before or after. Or, you may create an em dash in Windows‐based programs by pressing and holding Caps Lock and Alt while typing 0151 on your number key pad. Similar to a parenthetical phrase, the em dash sets apart clauses in a sentence. In other words, if you would normally put something in parenthesis, it could lend itself to em dashes.

The en dash [–] is one en (letter “n”) in width: half the width of an em dash. The en dash is used to indicate a closed range, or a connection between two things of almost any kind: numbers, people, places, etc. For example: June–July 2008. Create an en dash in Windows‐based programs by pressing and holding Caps Lock and Alt while typing 0150 on your number key pad. There should be no space before or after an en dash.

Away/a way

a way: noun
away: adverb

A lot or alot

Allot, a lot, or one word: alot

That that that

Overusing “that” is another area where writers tend to go overboard. If a sentence makes sense without using the word “that, ” by all means, leave it out.

Writing Dialog

When writing dialog, all punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. When a word or phrase is used to set apart text in scare quotes, the first example below is correct; the second is incorrect: Every day we hear that the price of gas has hit an “all time high.” Every day we hear that the price of gas has hit an “all time high."

Writing Numbers

Numbers less than ten should always be spelled out. Some style guides will disagree about higher numbers. Chicago advocates that all numbers under 100 should be spelled out. If in question, always consult a style guide. Be consistent and use the same style guide throughout the document or manuscript.

Carolyn, I would like for you to tell our listeners about your book on editing and where they can get a copy. Also, introduce them to your wonderful newsletter, blog, and Web site.

In this next part of our conversation, Carolyn and I will give answers to the questions sent in by the readers of our blogs where the announcement for this event was posted.

Questions from our Readers

QUESTION FROM MOLLI NICKELL: I'd be interested in opinions on how and when "traditional" publishers will be including digital publishing in their plans, and, how will they promote this low-cost method of making books available in the electronic format.

MOLLI: Also (and yes, this is a second question), I feel writers will want to know more about how traditional publishing houses are opening their own self-publishing divisions, utilizing their editors and designers, but bringing the author aboard to share in some of the pre-publication work?

QUESTION FROM HEATHER SUMMERHAYES CARIOU, Author of Sixtyfive Roses: A Sister's Memoir left a new comment on your post "Opportunity to Get Your Title Mentioned on Podcast...":

I went over my manuscript with a fine tooth comb, then had an English teacher friend check it for grammar, punctuation and typos, then my agent and publisher/Editor went through it, then my copy editor, then I did one more sweep and there were STILL a handful of errors that one reviewer found it necessary to point out. What can be done to avoid this with my next book?

This is especially for Heather, but it may help others as well. I ghostwrote a book for a client last year. After writing it, I edited it twice: once to reduce the 700-page count, and again to get the gremlins out. Then, I had my mom proofread it. The author and another editor proofread it. The author's publicist proofread it. The publisher proofread it, and everyone who gave endorsements proofread it. You would think that the book would be error free, right? Nope. A typo reared its head in the final PDF today! Fortunately, we still have time to fix it before it goes to print, but I wouldn't be surprised if another boo-boo doesn't manifest after we get a copy of the printed book in hand.

As Carolyn said, even professionals make mistakes, and I've seen typos in textbooks produced by the most reputable companies. Most readers won't notice a tiny error, and those who do, may not mention it. It's the big, ugly errors (like dialog punctuated incorrectly) that are repeated over and over in a book that really throw it out of the running as an enjoyable read. I see that a lot with POD and self-published books.


AN ANONYMOUS GUEST on Carolyn’s blog wants to know if we will touch on securing an agent.

Carolyn's Answer: Getting a good agent and/or publisher is very important. One of the big reasons writers must learn to edit well is to secure a publisher or to secure a well-connected agent who will secure a publisher for her! Even if an author prefers to self-publish or use a POD service, doing a great job of producing one's own book goes a long way toward generating sales. A poorly written book is not one that people are going to promote by word-of-mouth to their friends. A reader may not even finish reading the book—let alone recommend that someone else read it. For that very reason, WITS Podcast has criterion that a book must meet before we have the author on our show.


QUESTION FROM BARBARA TECHEL, author of Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog, www.joyfulpaws.com is in the process of writing her second children's book. Her first children's book had a critique group helping with the editing until Barbara felt her manuscript was "good enough" to give to an editor. She no longer has a critique group to run her manuscript by. The book is about half complete now.
Barbara’s question: Is there a good point to bring on an editor? Should I bring one on now for advice or wait till I have the manuscript completed? Or, should I work with an editor during the entire process?

Yvonne’s answer: The more the author can do beforehand, the less it will cost to get the book edited. Therefore, I suggest an author get her book as ready as she can before approaching an editor.

I’m not sure about all editors, but the editors on my teams are all able to help an author with her book at any stage of the manuscript process. We offer different levels of editing depending upon what the book needs when it comes to us. If an author is on a budget and can’t afford the level of editing the book truly needs, we may give suggestions for improvement and have the author do more work before bringing the manuscript back to us. I recently had an author re-write his script into third person rather than first person . It probably took him ten or more hours to do this, but it saved him at least $500, and the book is much improved as he employed the tips I gave him for writing dialog.

We offer developmental, medium, and light editing as well as proofreading of the final manuscript. These services are described in detail at http://writersinthesky.com/editing-services.html, but here are the basics:

Developmental or Substantial Editing is used when an author needs a writing coach to guide her work to the next level. We not only mark errors in the text, we offer specific suggestions for improvement as we assist the author with making changes to strengthen her writing and develop her story to its best potential. A developmental editor may help with all elements of the book including front and back matter, and making sure the text adheres to Chicago Manual of Style guidelines. Additionally, we may instruct the writer on working with styles, and formatting text, margins, headers, footers, and placing graphics or end notes. Since this is all part of the writing process, a fully developed book will still need to be copy edited and proofread before going to a publisher.

Medium Copyediting includes having our editor go through the manuscript and complete the needed changes to include:

• Correcting mechanical, grammar, and usage errors.
• Correcting spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
• Check for proper alignment and spacing of text.
• Consistently format dates, headlines, numbers, and alphabetized, bulleted, and numbered lists.
• Note any biased language or stereotyping. Note awkward transitions, redundancies, and hyperbole (the author may fix this or we can rewrite sections for her if needed).

In a Light Copy Edit, we will mark or note the same things as outlined in the medium copy edit; however, the author is responsible for making all changes.
Book Evaluation $250

One of our editors will read your book or manuscript (up to 70,000 words) and give a written assessment of its commercial potential. A kind but honest opinion of the author's strengths and weaknesses will be given along with tips for improving the overall quality of writing. The evaluation includes an assessment of the manuscript's publishing condition and what it would take to get it ready to submit to an agent or publisher.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Part I: Yvonne Perry of Podcast Fame Shares on Editing Books

While I am on vacation, I asked several of my most brilliant and giving friends in the pubishing industry to share articles with you. This is one from Yvonne Perry of Writers in the Sky Fame. She kindly abridged some our podcast which is still available if you'd rather hear the whole thing. Find it at: http://yvonneperry.blogspot.com/2007/07/tgif-july-13th-2007.html. Because of the length, you will find this in two blog posts. See November 24 for the last portion.

Welcome to Conversation with Editors with Yvonne Perry and Carolyn Howard-Johnson.

I’m Yvonne Perry, the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services. Carolyn is an editor and author of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward To Avoid Humiliation And Ensure Success (How to Do It Frugally).
This audio is for anyone who needs a little help with editing. We’ll take about an hour and discuss some of the more common mistakes we see writers make and tell you how to correct them. Below you will find a list of the topics we cover and you should know the answers are based on Manual of Style (CMOS) published by the University of Chicago Press. It is one of the most respected and trustworthy guidelines for literary works. I will pose a question and have Carolyn comment on each one.

Titles and headers 2
Entitlement 2
Titles 2
Using all caps 2
Is this okay or OK? 2
Number Number 2
Use of percent symbol 2
Spaces between sentences 2
Serial Commas or killers? 2
Writing for Decades 2
Hyphenating 3

Coming on this blog Nov 24

Internet and Web site
To Dash or not to Dash
Away a way 3
A lot or alot 3
That that that 3
Writing Dialog 4
Writing Numbers 4
Questions from our Readers 4

Titles and headers

A very common error in many of the books I edit or proofread occurs in the title, headers, and subheaders. The Chicago Manual of Style 7.127 states: In regular title capitalization, also known as headline style, the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that, etc.) are capitalized. Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor), and prepositions, regardless of length, are lowercase unless they are the first or last word of the title or subtitle.

Entitlement/titled/entitled

A book is not entitled (meaning deserving, allowed, permitted); it is titled (meaning to have a title, label, or name).

Titles

The titles of books, record albums, movies, TV shows, and screenplays should be in italic type. Do not use “quotation” marks. Do not underline these titles unless you are formatting them for a bibliography. However, article titles and poem and song titles do go inside quotation marks.

Using all caps

Unless a word is an acronym, it should not be in ALL CAPS. Use italics for emphasis.
Is this okay?
OK should be spelled out: okay.

Number Number

ISBN is the acronym for International Standard Book Number. To write “ISBN number” is the same as stating International Standard Book Number number. It is redundant to use the word “number” or the pound symbol (#) after ISBN.

Use of percent symbol

Percent symbols (%) should be spelled out “percent” unless used in a chart or table. Numbers followed by a percent should be in numeric form. Example: 91 percent. However, if a percentage is the first word of a sentence in a literary work, it should be spelled out. Example: Ninety‐one percent of the students passed the test.

Spaces between sentences

Use one space (not two) after a period, question mark, colon, or semi‐colon. This is quite the opposite of what we were taught in typing class way back when! It can be a hard habit to break.

Serial Commas or killers?

CMOS 5.57 states, “In a series listing three or more items, the elements are separated by a comma.” For example: The dog, cat, hippo, and cow jumped over the moon.

Writing for Decades

When writing years, do not use an apostrophe. Example: 1960s, not 1960’s unless you want the possessive form of the word. If abbreviated: ’60s is correct; 60’s is incorrect. Notice that the apostrophe [ ’ ] is used as a placeholder for missing the numbers, and not a single close quote mark [ ‘ ] which faces the opposite direction. Strunk & White will disagree.

Hyphenating

Speaking of years, hyphens and numerals are used when you write “the 16‐year‐ old boy.” No hyphen is needed, and the number is spelled out when you write “the boy is sixteen years old.”



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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Perfecting Editing Skills, One Book at a Time

This list expands the one the in the appendixes of my
The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success and is from a coming booklet I hope you'll add to your editing library.

Also note the one iffy recommendation among them. So much more for a good argument. (-:


Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs--Even If You're Right by June Casagrande, Penguin.

Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language." Find it on the Web at: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm.

The Elements of Style: 50th Anniversary Edition, William Strunk and E.B. White, Longman. Kind of a half-hearted recommendation, here, and I suspect this will surprise you. Really this book is best, for academics or those trying to manage English as a second language. English is no longer as rule oriented or as static as people think it is and this book—though it uses "style" in the title—does not allow for publishing style choices or for creative choices that might be made by writers of fiction. If you should decide to refer to it, do not use your old copy. The grammar and style information in old editions are particularly dated.

The Birds and Bees of Words: A Guide to the Most Common Errors in Usage, Spelling, and Grammar by Mary Embree, Allworth Press.

The Author's Toolkit: A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Book by Mary Embree, Seaview Publishing, a Writer's Digest Book Club selection.

Usage and Abusage by Eric Partridge and Janet Whitcut, W. W. Norton & Co.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Editor Extraordinaire Yvonne Perry Shares Curly Quote Secrets

I am in the throes of editing my next book, A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions and, like a very good editor, know I need an editor. Yvonne Perry of Writers in The Sky Creative Writing Services is the one! She hadn't been at it two minutes before she caught what I should have remembered--that "curly quotes" thing for books. I was so busy with, you know, the book thing that I forgot! She shares how to fix them in Word for you here!

As you type text, some Microsoft Office programs automatically change straight quotation marks ( ' or " ) to curly quotation marks (also known as “smart quotes” or typographer’s quotes). You can turn on or off this feature. This from MS Word's help feature:

If you are using MS Word 2003:

1. On the menu bar, select Tools

2. In the AutoCorrect tab, do the following:

§ Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and under Replace as you type, select or clear the "Straight quotes" with “smart quotes” check box.

§ Click the AutoFormat tab, and under Replace, select or clear the "Straight quotes" with “smart quotes” check box.



In 2007:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options.

2. Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.

3. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, do the following:

§ Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab, and under Replace as you type, select or clear the "Straight quotes" with “smart quotes” check box.

§ Click the AutoFormat tab, and under Replace, select or clear the "Straight quotes" with “smart quotes” check box.

Yvonne Perry says, "Social networking is a great way to connect with others and create an online presence. Follow Writers in the Sky to success on Twitter. I say, Yvonne is an editor's editor. No higher praise than that!


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writes will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Jozette Aaron Asks Questions You May Not Be Able To Answer

Here is a review sent to me by Jozette Aaron, the editor of DeSilva's News. She is not an Amazon customer so couldn't post it there. It seemed a waste for subscribers to The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor not to see, don't you think!?

Review of The Frugal Editor by Jozette Aaron

Do you know what a dangling participle is? Are you aware of the gremlins that lurk as you type? How about the gerunds, ineffective passives and adverb redundancies? How familiar are you with Word when using it for your work in progress? Do you know how to track your edits and ideas or readability statistics?

I don't consider myself to be computer illiterate but I couldn't answer these questions without the help of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success by Carolyn Howard-Johnson. I started reading the book and became so engrossed, I was halfway through before I put it down. It is engaging, entertaining and extremely informative. No writer should be without a copy in their library of references. On these pages are answers to many of the issues I face as a novelist. There are links to useful websites, a list of agents and what they are looking for in your submission, sample query and cover letters and so much more.

I highly recommend The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success as required reading for every writer whether you're a novice or well published. It is an easy to use, reader friendly guide to help you clean up your work to "put your best book forward!"
Jozette Aaron
Author, Freelance Writer
Editor-in-Chief, Publisher
DeSilva's News
http://jozette.webs.com
http://jozettesnotes.blogspot.com
http://inkedin.ning.com/profile/Penlady
http://www.myspace.com/barriewriter


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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com.

More On Italics, Internal Thought and Other Hateful Subjects

Q&A A La Ann Landers

Note: This is a reprint from Sharing with Writers where the formatting holds up a little. If you'd like a copy of that newsletter, e-mail me with SWW in the subject line. HoJoNews@aol.com.

This exchange is from the continuing brouhaha on using italics for internal thought. But instead of merely defending the practice (and no one ever said never, never, never to use it!), Ron Berry offered to let me use our communication so others can learn from the edits we talked about. That's the kind of guy he is.

He's obviously also the kind of author who wants to learn more so he can avoid using italics when he chooses to. He has given me permission to use these clips from his novel, and I've added some other editing tips, too.

Question:

Below is the prologue of Tea Leaves, a book in progress. I find the only way to make internal thoughts visible is by way of italics. I can't think of a better way, short of saying, "she said" all too often and that does not fit my style of writing. Your opinion would be appreciated.

Answer: Ron, I've made a couple of suggestions of ways to indicate whose head you are below.

Before we start, I should address the "he said, she said" question. The reading public is conditioned to read "she said" and not even notice them, though you are right to try to avoid them when you don't need to use them. When you do need them, though, use 'em. Just don't try to vary them by saying "she cried," "she yelped," "she yawned," etc. which lots of new writers do because they think the "she saids" are repetitive.

And, of course, we wouldn't want to use "she said" for internal thought anyway because she didn't "say" anything. She only thought. But we don't need to use "she thought" either because the reader knows that she is in the head of the character because the story is being told from a specific point of view.

It Was in the Tea Leaves

Prologue

"Miss, the last words your mother spoke were, ‘It was in the tea leaves.’ Can you... "

“The son of a bitch finally did it. He said he would kill her and he finally did!”

Carolyn's comment:

We don't know who is saying this last piece of dialogue or who "Miss" is yet, so consider letting us know who is speaking. You can do that by putting the next sentence (see below) right after the quoted dialogue and by using her name in it instead of a pronoun.

That was all she (Strike "she" and add "Karen") could say.

At that point Karen collapsed.

Carolyn's Comment:

Your antecedent isn't clear here. Again, who? Use Karen's name again, so we'll know if "she" is the Miss who is being addressed. If it is the mother who is being addressed, use her name right after she said, "It was in the tea leaves.")

The paramedics brought her around at last. “Ma’am, your dad beat your mother; he didn’t poison her. At least there’s no evidence of it. We didn’t see any cups or tea leaves.”

“'It was in the tea leaves' is our private code for trouble, and almost always it meant that Dad was taking out his rage against whatever—on Mom.”

Carolyn's Comment:

This " It was in the tea leaves," is a direct quotation from the mother. Thus, you can use internal quotation marks, rather than italics. I made that change for you above. See the little single quotes? That's because it is a quotation within a larger piece of quoted dialogue.

If this were a true edit, all these suggestions would be tracked in Word and you could simply accept or reject them with a click of your mouse. And they'd be very obvious because they'd be in color.

Mike, Karen’s father, was arrested, and this time he was charged with murder. The laws of the day did not recognize spousal abuse. Karen had seen her mom used as a punching bag all too often, but never had it been as bad as this. The police knew their house well, as they had made many visits in the past, but they could never do anything about it. Once it escalated to the point of hospitalization, they had enough for a charge of assault. But Mike had gone the extra step and made this beating fatal.

Karen was a witness for the prosecution at her dad’s trial. Like almost everyone else, she was stunned at the verdict: second-degree murder. He hadn’t preplanned to kill her. Right! He just beat her beyond recognition!

Carolyn's Comment:

OK. Right here, where you say "Right! He just beat her beyond recognition!" You've used internal thought without using italics! So you seem to understand at some level that it isn't necessary to use italics for internal thought. The reader knows we are in Karen's head and you didn't have to tell us with italics. We just knew it.

Good job, Ron. See, you answered your own question.

So, if you choose to stop using italics for internal thought, or you want to cut way back, you already know one way to do it! There are other ways, too, but most writers have a little writers' brain working subconsiously. They know these things from their reading and so they know what to do. They just don't know that they know!


She went to the cemetery and leaned down on the fresh earth. “Yes, I will be at every parole hearing. I’ll make sure that monster stays behind bars forever. “

Carolyn: Thank you, Ron!

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits and consults on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success on Amazon. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

Editing Tips Every Friday on Word_Mage!

Billie Williams invited me to contriute an editing tip for her e-group every Friday. This is my first week, so I'm sharing it here, too. If you care to subscribe to Billie's group, send an e-mail to Word_Mage-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. When you introduce yourself, please tell the group how you found them. (-:

Anyway, here is the post. I thought I'd start of with something controversial. (-:

So, you're all going to hate me for this.

Avoid using italics to indicate internal thought. You probably don't have to use them. You will be writing from a specific POV and your reader will know those words are in that character's head anyway. Plus, there are several ways to get around having to use them that are part of a skilled fiction writer's stable of writing techniques. It's not that exceptions can't be made. (All rules were made to be broken.) But don't break guidelines or rules unless you have a really, really, really good reason for doing so.

Caveat: "Because I like it that way," is not a good enough rule.

Caveat #2: Neither is, "My reader won't understand. I'm trying to make it easy on my reader." Your reader may have read Anna Karenina. Not easy reading. No italics. We all know your reader understood it. I mean, 1,000,000 Oprah fans can't all be geniuses. Smart, but not geniuses. So I guess that's another tip. Trust your reader to be a reasonably good at what she/he does which is to read.

More to come later on how to make internal thought work without italics. Actually, how to make internal thought work well. Maybe even some related topics on something like stream of consciousness. How does that sound? (-:

Q&A: Royalties, Editing and Other Miscalculations

Question: I need to know if 10% is the standard royalty. And I hear it's always best to publish a novel traditionally because you will reach a larger audience and get a good editor and book cover.

Answer: I wish what you are saying were always true. It isn't. At least not enough of the time.

I'm referring especially to the part about a good line editor. Sometimes yes. Too often no. That's why I wrote the Frugal Editor. So that authors can partner with a line editor, no matter how good or bad he or she is. If you get a bad one, you won't know it unless you possess at least some of the skills. If you get a good one and submit a really clean manuscript, she'll be even better because it's easier to spot errors on clean copy. Now, that's a partnership!

And I'm not just talking typos and grammar when I talk editing. I'm talking index stuff and frontmatter and backmatter and even some formatting stuff. The more you know about publishing, the happier you'll be with your end product.

I do agree that poetry and novels are best traditionally published for a whole lot of reasons but only if you get a really good traditional publisher. Make that a top traditional publisher. Or an exceptionally good small publisher. Don't assume all traditionals are good just because they pay an advance and provide a cover. That's a generalization fraught with danger, just like any other generalization.

And royalties can go higher once you have a known name -- and maybe even if you don't. You won't know unless you negotiate. If you want the best traditional publisher, you'll need an agent to do that for you. If you end up negotiating for yourself don't just ask for a higher royalty. Show them why you deserve it. Tell them more about your platform. And if you haven't been building a platform, then you need my other book, The Frugal Book Promoter.


Best,

Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Author of the How To Do It Frugally series of books. Both are USA Book News Best Book award winners. The Frugal Book Promoter is also a Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award winner. The Frugal Book Promoter is available as an e-book at Star Publish as well as on Amazon for Kindle and as a paperback. The Frugal Editor is also available as a paperback and for the new Kindle.

About Acronyms, Initialism and Cadillacs

I had to laugh.

It seems the auto companies have gotten themselves into hot water over initials. It used to be they gave cars names that meant something—exotic car names like El Dorado. Or words that connoted speed like Mustang. Or mischievous ones like Gremlin (a word I use in The Frugal Editor, by the way, to establish an image of the stuff that happens to upset our best editing intentions.)

Ken Bensinger, an LA Times staff writer*, points out that Ford's Mark Fields made a mistake when he was speaking at the LA Auto Show. He apparently couldn't keep all his MKXs and MKZs and MKTs straight. Bensinger asked that if he can't, how is the car-buying public going to do any better?

Which brings us to those acronyms. The word acronym applies to those initials that spell out another word that is often related to the meaning of what they stand for in some way. SPAN (Small Publishers of North America) is one of those. Ford's MKX is not one of those because the letters don't spell a name. Some are calling this a initialism. And we're seeing more of it all the time.

The letters MKX might initially give a car-buyer a certain feeling of power, but that intent is getting lost among all of Ford's other MKs. And Lexus's LSs, GSs, ESs, ISs, etc. Volvo uses S with lots of numbers. S40, S60, S80. Vs, too. My point is they soon become meaningless until even the executive vice president of Ford Motor Company can't keep his letters straight—or meaningful.

The same is true of our writing. Theoretically we write for clarity. Many suggest writers use the full name of an entity and then resort to initials or acronyms thereafter. That makes sense. But have you ever run into those letters later in an article and had to go back to search for what they meant? That is not clarity. That's a damned puzzle.

Some might counter that we use initials and acronyms in the interest of brevity. Sometimes we are limited to word count, though that's rarely the case online. Web pages can go on forever.

Some say brevity is next to Godliness. I say, no! With a resounding but seldom used exclamation point! Not when it comes to acronyms and strings of initials. No, sir. I'll take a few extra words any time.

So, here's a good rule of thumb. The first time you use a title, use the letters you intend to use later as an indication right after it. Put them in parentheses. But wait! Even that won't leave you home free. When you're tempted to use initials again, assess how long it has been since you used the whole name. A sentence. A couple paragraphs. A page or two? Factor in that people are busy today. They read quickly. Work out your own guidelines for this, depending on your writer's sixth sense and the familiarity of your audience with whatever it is you're initializing. It's a style choice, but I say error on the side of overkill (and clarity) rather than brevity every single time you're in doubt.

This is an issue that goes beyond style. Teresa Pavia, professor of marketing at the University of Utah says "The poor consumers can't keep anything straight any more." And I say, ditto for readers in general.
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*If anyone wants to research the whole article find it on Pages C1 and C6, LA Times, Saturday, January 05, 2008

Seven Easy Ways to Keep Dialogure Sharp

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson


1. Keep it simple. "He said" and "She said" will usually do. Your reader is trained to accept this repetition.

2. Forget you ever heard of strong verbs. Skip the "He yelped" and the "She sighed." They slow your dialogue down. If you feel need them, look at the words—the actual dialogue—your character used when he was yelping. Maybe it doesn't reflect the way someone would sound if he yelped. Maybe if you strengthen the dialogue, you can ditch the overblown tag.

3. When you can, reveal who is saying something by the voice or tone of the dialogue. That way you may be able to skip tags occasionally, especially when you have only two people speaking to one another. Your dialogue will ring truer, too.

4. Avoid having characters use other characters' names. In real life, we don't use people's names in our speech much. We tend to reserve using names for when we're angry or disapproving or we just met in a room full of people and we're practicing our social skills. Having a character direct her speech to one character or another by using her name is a lazy writer's way of directing dialogue and it will annoy the reader. When a reader is annoyed, she will not be immersed in the story you are trying to tell.

5. Avoid putting internal dialogue in italics. Trust your reader. She will know who is thinking the words from the point of view of the narrative.

6. Be cautious about using dialogue to tell something that should be shown. It doesn't help much to transfer telling from the narrator to the dialogue. It just makes the character who is speaking sound long-winded. Putting quotation marks around exposition won't draw the reader into the scene or involve him more than if you'd left it part of the narrative.

7. And magic number seven is, don't break up dialogue sequences with long or overly frequent blocks of narrative. One of dialogue's greatest advantages is that it moves a story along. If a writer inserts too much stage direction, it will lose the forward motion and any tension it is building.

For more on writing dialogue check out Tom Chiarella's Writing Dialogue (Writers' Digest) and for more on editing in general—from editing query letters to turning unattractive adverbs into metaphoric gold—find The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success on Amazon.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for the UCLA Extension Writer's Program. The first book in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books, The Frugal Book Promoter, won USA Book News' Best Professional Book Award and Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award. The second, The Frugal Editor, is also a USA Book News winner. It includes many editing tips on dialogue, the use of quotation marks and more.

Carolyn Great First Impression Book Proposal Is Here!

Don't put it off any longer. You can learn the knack of book proposals without so much pain, I promise you. You can be a pro with and investment of only 20 minutes and 49 cents with my Great First Impression Book Proposal Short. And, yes, editing is super-important in anything that's a "First Impression!" So this sure enough isn't off-topic. (-: