Hurrah for Editors!

The edited manuscript of Under the Skin (the fifth Elizabeth Goodweather  book, tentatively scheduled for an October 2011 release) showed up Friday. My editor's comments and suggestions are in pencil; the copy editor's marks are in green.(I get to use red this time.)

The copy editor also keeps track of continuity -- making sure that my dates agree, that I don't have Gloria call Elizabeth 'Lizzy' on one page and 'Lizzie' on another. My editor (Herself) is reading, I think, with an eye to writing style and to building tension, as well as making sure that what I say makes sense.

When I'm writing, I already know quite a lot about these characters and their background and motivations and if I'm not careful, I may forget that the reader doesn't have all that same information. Herself and the copy editor bring their fresh eyes to the work.

They catch me when I repeat myself; Herself pushes me to add more tension to a flat scene and suggests a better word or phrasing now and then.

It's truly a suggestion. I'm free to write 'stet' by their changes -- which means 'leave it the way I wrote it.'

I don't often disagree. This time though I've stetted my use of the lower case g when a speaker who isn't a believer says something like 'Oh my god.'  I like to save the capital G for someone actually invoking the Deity.

I love reading through these pages and polishing the words one last time. It's been months since I sent it in and it's fun to read it again.  And oh, how I love seeing which parts Herself liked -- and where the copy editor agreed!