Editors, when they’re working, can be a very angry bunch. With apologies to Alexander Pope, if we had a motto it could be, “To err is human, to forgive is out of the question.”
Whether it’s ignoring style manuals and publishing guidelines, and demonstrating that they’ve forgotten or are rejecting what they learned in English and writing classes, many authors really get our knickers in a twist.
The book I’m currently editing is filled with so much crap (nonsensical writing, seriously incomplete references, free-for-all capitalization and punctuation, end note numbers in text not matching end notes, etc.), I’ve been pissed off almost the entire time I’ve been at this edit—more than a month now, part time.
And, my, how my anger has affected my work. As I close in on the Wednesday deadline (appropriately falling on April Fools’ Day), I find more and more things I’ve missed, from the introduction straight through to the conclusion.
As far as I can recall, when I started my editing career back in the eighties I didn’t experience this anger phenomenon. It began perhaps a couple of years ago.
My inner, angry editor is actually uncharacteristic—I’ve grown more tolerant, of everything, as I’ve matured. To what, then, do I attribute this powerful reaction to author errors that earlier didn’t even cause a ripple? One word: BURNOUT.
Showing posts with label First-time authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First-time authors. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
This kind of thing could end up in my dreamscape.
My author of the moment is a Vietnam vet and first-time author. I'm editing his 400+ page, heavily referenced book on Vietnam.
The structure of references (the sequence of their elements) isn't complicated; even most high school students have this knowledge. And after I read his bio (he has an advanced degree from an Ivy League school), I figured the end notes would be OK. We don't always get what we want, do we.
Here's an example: "I owe the reference to Dean’s compelling Shook Over Hell, 41."
Conspicuous by their absence: author's first name, complete book title, city and name of publisher, publication year.
And the right way: "I owe the reference to Eric T. Dean Jr.’s compelling Shook Over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), 41."
While the writing itself isn't half bad, the end notes are my current cross to bear.
As the great philosopher Roseanne Roseannadanna would say, "Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something."
The structure of references (the sequence of their elements) isn't complicated; even most high school students have this knowledge. And after I read his bio (he has an advanced degree from an Ivy League school), I figured the end notes would be OK. We don't always get what we want, do we.
Here's an example: "I owe the reference to Dean’s compelling Shook Over Hell, 41."
Conspicuous by their absence: author's first name, complete book title, city and name of publisher, publication year.
And the right way: "I owe the reference to Eric T. Dean Jr.’s compelling Shook Over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), 41."
While the writing itself isn't half bad, the end notes are my current cross to bear.
As the great philosopher Roseanne Roseannadanna would say, "Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something."
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