The copyeditor is principally ‘a second pair of eyes’ for the author.[1] She or he points out and usually corrects errors and inconsistencies in punctuation, grammar, usage, and syntax as well as word choice. In doing so, the copyeditor also makes sure the content conforms with a specific house style, and that any editing decisions made are recorded on the style sheet.[2] Editing may also mean pointing out any possible adjustments to the sentences themselves, especially if they’re too wordy or misleading. But the mantra of any decent copyeditor is ‘it’s not my manuscript’ so all syntactic adjustments to sentences will be consistent with the intent of the author and, in any case, flagged up with the author before any changes are made.
The copyeditors job encompasses six principle tasks:
- Mechanical editing
- Correlating parts
- Language editing: grammar, usage, and diction
- Content editing
- Permissions
- and Markup
- MECHANICAL EDITING
The central objective for the editor is to make the manuscript consistent with an editorial style. Not to be confused with an aesthetic sense of style, editorial style means adjustments to spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, punctuation, the treatment of numbers, the treatment of quotations, the treatment of acronyms, and so on, according to the requirements of a particular publishing house. The copyeditor must know which house style is required and make sure the manuscript adheres to it. Major publishers for instance the New York Times and Random House have their own in-house style guides. Other publishers will refer to The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)for general non-fiction and fiction; in journalism The Associated Press Stylebook; and for medical publications AMA Manual of Style; New Harts Rules found in the New Oxford Style Manual is a standard for academic writing in British English.
‘There is nothing mechanical, however, about mechanical editing’, Amy Einsohn writes in the main reference for this article, as it requires the copyeditor’s ability to read letter by letter, word by word, and mark by mark, while knowing which style is required.[3]
The main purpose of house style for one book and across multi-volume works remains the same: ensuring consistency.
- CORRELATING PARTS
Short fiction and flash fiction are unlikely to need this attention but longer works will. Below are some of the tasks. Most of these tasks will apply to non-fiction and especially formal and academic work:[4]
- cross-reference verification
- footnotes, endnotes, illustrations, and tables checked
- tables and illustrations and their callouts specifically placed
- caption content checked against illustrations
- the list of illustrations checked against content for illustration captions
- table content checked against headers
- footnotes and endnotes checked with bibliography
‘How to’ books require special treatment if they contain numerous elements as well as a specific sequence. This would be found in a recipe book, for example: the copyeditor will check that ingredients listed are actually found in the recipe and that weights and measurements in the list of ingredients match the weights and measurements in the recipe.
- LANGUAGE EDITING: GRAMMAR, USAGE, AND DICTION
Copyeditors also attend to grammar, the use of words, and the choice of words, either making the adjustments or flagging up any infelicities for the author to deal with. Most grammar issues can be dealt with directly and editors will go to a collection of trusted references for confirmation. Grammar closely allies with effective writing, so a copyeditor may edit the line to make it flow better (without changing the author’s meaning) and highlight the adjustment in a side-note.
But the contentions that arise in language editing don’t tend to concern grammar at all. It is language choice and usage that causes the most issues. Words come into use and go out of use. Words can change in meaning even becoming their opposite. A word or phrase may be acceptable in a more liberal usage guide, eg., Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage and not so much in a more conservative guide like Garner’s Modern English Usage. A copyeditor must decide what level of formality to apply to the editing of the language.
A few examples:
data, which in scientific writing is consider a plural noun, ‘the data have been compromised’ but in corporate and most other writing is singular: ‘the data has been compromised’; hopefully, once upon a time when used as a sentence modifying adverb as in, ‘hopefully we’ll be home by nightfall’, was just bad grammar and usage experts advised copyeditors to rewrite: ‘it is hoped that we shall be home by nightfall’; Bryan Garner describes chaise lounge (common in American English) as ‘distinctly low-rent’ (at 157); elegant, which once meant ‘precious over-refinement’ now means of a high grade or quality; and factoid, a word Arthur Miller coined to describe the Marilyn Monroe stories of dubious origin journalists shared at cocktail parties now simply means, especially in American English, ‘a little fact’.
Copyeditors need to know the history of words to make informed judgments about usage today. An informed copyeditor will not make the novice’s mistake of changing a word because it looks or sounds ‘funny’. Amy Einsohn cautions copyeditors with this question: ‘Is this sentence acceptable as the author has written it?’ (at 10)
- CONTENT EDITING
Many publishers will discourage copyeditors from making changes to the content of a manuscript that will disrupt the production schedule. However in editing fiction and especially with indie authors, the copyeditor functions as much as a continuity supervisor found on a movie set: Fiction has characters in scenes doing stuff and there are several ways inconsistencies can arise. Therefore the copyeditor must be ready to reflect on everything the author puts forward in the manuscript and notice problems.
‘If a gun appears in Act 1 it should go off by Act 3’. Known as Chekhov’s Gun, the playwright admonishes the writer to make something of characters and objects and scenes which appear in the story. A copyeditor of fiction and especially one working with new writers, needs to keep their eyes peeled for characters, objects, and places that go nowhere.
Describing in detail the various ways problems occur is beyond the scope of this article, but briefly
physics: a copyeditor looks for anything that may defy our physical laws or the physical laws of the world in which the author places their narrative.
action: a copyeditor looks for characters that jump around instantaneously or do things implausibly quickly; do things twice in the same scene; overhear dialogue they couldn’t possibly hear; see emotion they couldn’t possibly see; transform from one entity into another; start talking in a scene without prior introduction; appear in one scene then another without a logical connection; relate inconsistently from memory facts the author set out earlier, with no justification for their lapse supplied in the narrative.
plot: holes in the plot must be addressed but can mean extensive rewriting. The copyeditor needs to be certain but vigilant all the same: in North America, Natalie can’t marry her cousin; a drive from Rhode Island to Washington DC is unlikely to take the protagonist through Nebraska; and the detective is unlikely to access the suspects phone without knowing the password. For such issues the copyeditor sends a polite query to the author.
facts: the copyeditor questions all facts: if a man is stabbed in the belly and the knife moved from side to side how will the victim really respond? did the car the woman is driving out of Budapest exist in the year the spy thriller is set? does a Glock 23 pistol exist?
anachronisms: often relate to time and copyeditors of fiction will check, eg., did Pakistan exist in 1758? did Romans drink whisky? did Arsenal win the European Cup in 1988? in the US state of Maine, can tomatoes be harvested in October?
The copyeditor will also confirm fictional locations placed in actual settings by the author, to protect the privacy of the real occupants of a particular address. The author will thus put the fictional office block in a actual place but one that would be impossible, eg., wooded public land or the middle of a river. Phone numbers, email, and other forms of address are likewise disguised to protect the identity of real people (and the author from possible litigation).
Conversely, real people in fictional settings can also be problematic. The copyeditor will query a real rock band in the story, a real politician in the story, a real theme park with a fictional murder in the story or any but a passing reference to real people, and so protect the author from any potential legal problems.
- PERMISSIONS
The use of real consumer goods and trademarks that corporations require be rendered precisely according a particular style will also be queried. Kleenex® for example must always be accompanied by the symbol for a registered trademark. Furthermore, the way a real product is described in the story will be scrutinised to avoid presenting it in a negative light.
Any text or illustrations the author uses that were created by someone else will also be checked for permission required to reprint.
- MARKUP (TAGGING, STYLING, OR TYPECODING)
The copyeditor may be asked to apply mnemonic codes to certain parts of the document other than running text. These codes identify such elements as chapter numbers, chapter headings, subheadings, epigraphs, bulleted and unbulleted lists, extracts, footnotes, tables and many other specially configured features of the content. Copyeditors can also be asked to identify by code, diacritics, non-Latin alphabets, glyphs, and symbols not found directly on a QWERTY keyboard.
CONCLUSION
The fiction copyeditor’s role combines numerous subroutines, from straightforward punctuation and spelling cleanups to suggestions for line edits and continuity solutions, in between, attention to grammar, word choice and usage. Additionally, a style sheet detailing characters, places and a timeline, etc., provides the publisher and author with an overview of editorial decisions.
References:
Amy M. Schneider, The Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction. Chicago: UCP, 2023.
Einsohn, Amy, and Marilyn Schwartz. The Copyeditor’s Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communication.Oakland, Calif.: CUP, 2019.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Chicago: UCP, London: UCP, 2017.
[1] I reference Amy Einsohn’s handbook on copyediting for much of this article, see references.
[2] As well as style choices, a fiction style sheet will contain character profiles, a timeline, and setting details..
[3] Indie authors who are interested in my services and may not be familiar with these style guides should note that I refer to CMOS for all style needs, which is an industry standard. However, the author’s preference regarding style judgments will always come first.
[4] This list is drawn from Amy Einsohn’s book, at page 8, listed in the references.
