Good Copyediting Is Good Hospitality
Poor copyediting is the visual equivalent of a garbled audiobook recording. It's much harder for a reader to have an immersive experience if their eyes and brain are struggling to parse what's on the page. This article presents exercises to fix the most common copyediting mistakes we see in book submissions.
—Annie Mydla, Managing Editor
If I had to describe my literary taste in just one word?
Hospitality.
It's early January at the time of this writing, and I'm burrowed deep within the mountain of judging feedback we write for all digital North Street Book Prize submissions. This is the time of year when, like earthworms chewing through soil, my team and I digest our substrate of books—leaving behind, we hope, a nutritious trail of literary loam from which our authors' creative roots can swig up strength for a new season.
It's a cozy activity—maybe that's one of the reasons I'm thinking about hospitality. When I read a book in any genre, from introspective poetry collection, to galactic thriller, to family saga, I want to feel welcomed.
Hospitality can take many forms in literature. For fiction and creative nonfiction, it can mean having a distinct genre identity and premise right from the start, or building tension in the rising action so it's easy for the reader to keep reading. For visual forms, like art books and picture books, it could mean having varied layouts but keeping them neat. All genres have their own recipes for reader comfort.
This being deep winter, I'm in the mood for the most fundamental of comforts. And in the literary context? That's copyediting.
Some writers think of reading as taking place in the imagination, but in truth, the activity of reading is physical. Whether you're looking at words on the page, touching Braille, or listening to an audiobook, the images in your head are bring created by physical input: sight, texture, or sound.
If something happens to the physical input that makes it harder for the brain to process the information, then the "imagination" part of reading can't happen as easily.
Imagine an audiobook with a reader who's garbling words, skipping necessary pauses, and adding unnecessary ones. A bad recording makes it all but impossible to feel absorbed in a story.
Poor copyediting is the visual equivalent of a bad audiobook. It's much harder for a reader to have an immersive experience if their eyes and brain are struggling to parse what's on the page.
Some authors have told me readers who complain about copyediting problems are lazy. Why? "Because if the reader cares about a book enough, they'll put in the work to understand it."
This seems backwards to me. The author is the one who works hard. Their book is a gift of effort. Writers undertake grueling imaginative, artistic, and research tasks so that we readers don't have to. Writers wrestle the unwieldy, dispersed, infinite, and unaesthetic parts of our universe into products that are aesthetic, internally consistent, rich, and finite. And hospitable.
Expecting otherwise is like inviting a guest over for a chat, but making them fix your porch, vacuum your floor, wash your windows, and serve the tea before you'll talk to them. And (if they bought the book) pay you for the privilege.
Hospitality means doing the cleaning before your guest arrives, preparing the tea to perfection, then pulling up a chair for them so you both can enjoy your time together.
"But what about literary contests?" I hear some authors cry. "We paid you to read the book! It's your responsibility to enjoy it just as it is!"
True, if you entered the North Street Book Prize, you paid us to read the book. But, since this is a contest, you also paid for us to judge it in relation to other books, the market, the composition of our submissions pool, and our personal taste.
If you ask an architect, interior designer, or organization consultant like Marie Kondo to come in and assess your home, are you going to require them to enjoy it just as it is?
Second question: Are you going to tidy up before they arrive?
Authors who win literary contests, find agents, and get publishing contracts aren't just great storytellers. They're porch-fixers, rug cleaners, window washers, and tea-makers. They attend to reader experience on every level. If the story is the house, then copyediting is the most basic thing that makes it livable.
To all the North Street entrants this year with excellent copyediting, I sincerely thank you for your hospitality. I'm looking forward to spending more time in your literary world in the future.
Top copyediting mistakes we find in North Street Book Prize entries and resources to correct them
Tense-switching
Tense-switching is inconsistency in verb tense, i.e. when the narrative moves from past to present or vice versa unnecessarily. Example:
"She ran for the bus. The bus driver stops the bus and waves for her to climb aboard. 'Thank you so much, she said.' 'Not a problem,' the bus driver responded."
Resources:
https://jerichowriters.com/writing-tenses-tips-for-past-present-and-future-tense/
Homophones
These are typos that are often missed by spellcheck because they're real words, just not the ones you intended. Examples:
"I never asked him wear he comes from." (Correct: "I never asked him where he comes from.")
"There gowns were layer cakes of silk and taffeta." (Correct: "Their gowns were layer cakes of silk and taffeta.")
Resources:
https://www.liminalpages.com/10-mistakes-your-spell-checker-wont-catch
The comma splice
When two independent clauses are linked by a comma instead of a conjunction, it's called a comma splice. "She went to the park, all the trees were draped with colorful lights." (Correct: "She went to the park. All the trees were draped with colorful lights." Or: "She went to the park, and/where all the trees were draped with colorful lights.")
Comma splices can sometimes be used for specific effects depending on the goals of the narrative, such as stream-of-consciousness or informal voice. Unfortunately, though, we most often see mistakes that are not connected to larger goals.
Resources:
https://harvardwritingcenterblog.com/2020/09/07/stop-splicing-those-commas/
https://writingcooperative.com/the-usually-but-not-always-unacceptable-comma-splice-84c481e4ccd5
Missing comma of address
Examples of the missing vocative comma:
"Henry can you come over here a moment?" (Correct: "Henry, can you come over here a moment?")
"No problem Jeanay, I'll be right there." (Correct: "No problem, Jeanay, I'll be right there.")
Resources:
https://www.artfulwords.com.au/commas-around-names/
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/vocative-comma-guide
Missing commas with quotations
"'I have good news' she said." (Correct: "'I have good news,' she said.")
Resources:
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/punctuation-capitalization/comma/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/when-to-use-commas-before-quotations/
Copyediting checklists
Consider following a copyediting checklist before sending a manuscript or book to an agent, publisher, or literary contest. Here are some templates to get you started:
https://carminemastropierro.com/copyediting-checklist/
https://diymfa.com/writing/copyediting-checklist/
https://beaconpointservices.org/checklists-for-editors/ (contains downloadable files for a number of useful editing checklists, not just copyediting)
Exercises: Building copyediting skills
Read these articles about why copyediting is vital, how bad copyediting hurts credibility, and how to self-copyedit effectively:
https://www.spinebookprinting.co.uk/blog/importance-of-editing-and-proofreading
https://writetodone.com/how-to-proofread-your-own-writing/
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-proofread-your-writing
http://mediashift.org/2013/02/10-proofreading-tips-for-self-publishers-058/
Complete at least ten exercises from one or more of the following websites:
https://libguides.daltonstate.edu/c.php?g=267539&p=2457891
https://chevronediting.com.au/proofreading-exercises/
https://www.proofreading-course.com/proofreading-exercises.html (the older ones are especially good, because they have you proofread sophisticated passages of fiction)
Go over the following video and article about using Microsoft Word’s spelling and grammar checking tools:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-use-spell-checker-in-ms-word/
Choose a chapter from your book and copyedit it using the skills outlined above. Set it aside for a week, then compare it with the original version. What visual differences do you notice? Does the edited version feel easier to read and digest in any way? If so, how?
Categories: Advice for Writers, Annie in the Middle
