Editorial Comments: Adding “please” isn’t enough
I’ve filled many roles: student, teacher, tutor, writer, and editor. So I have experience writing, giving feedback on writing, and receiving feedback on writing. My experiences receiving feedback have informed my practice of giving feedback. Like most writers, I prefer editors whose knowledge and experience I respect. I want edits to be helpful and correct, not to change my meaning or style.
I recently sent my siblings a piece of writing for feedback before sending it to a larger audience. Some suggestions were helpful and appreciated but other feedback was un-informed. As the author, I used the suggestions I found helpful and ignored the others.
As an editor, I want my comments to be helpful and not ignored; I want the author to respect me and trust my suggestions. I can earn that respect and trust in two ways. First, I need to be knowledgeable, familiar with grammar, usage, and punctuation. I can refer to the appropriate style guide/sheet when needed, but I need to know when to check it and how to look up the issue. I don’t want my edits to fall under the list of complaints of editors in Eaton’s survey: unclear, useless, inaccurate, ignorant of style guide, overediting, changed meaning, harsh, or nitpicky.
Second, I need to develop a good working relationship with the author. The Deming article suggests that editorial comments should not be commands, even if preceded by “please.” As an editor, I am a colleague and team member, not an authority figure. My job is to ask questions, describe my reactions as a reader, and offer suggestions. Deming suggests that editors should imagine being in a conversation with the author, both looking at the manuscript. This visual is easy for me because I spent years working as a writing center tutor and then director. In the writing center, the student and tutor sit with the paper between them and the tutor gives verbal feedback, making queries and suggestions. Ideally, the student holds the pencil and chooses which suggested edits to mark. The student (not the tutor/editor) is the author.
So as an editor, I can imagine the author next to me and make editorial comments that pass Deming’s test for the tone of a comment: Would I be comfortable in saying this to the author in person? I think this is a great test for any form of communication. Many miscommunications and offenses could be avoided if we would always use this test before sending email, for example. And imagine what this rule would do to eliminate rude and hurtful social media comments.
My takeaway here: I want to be viewed as an authority on the use of language, but not as being authoritarian in demeanor. I want to be an influencer, not a dictator.
Author Queries: When in doubt, ask!
I have a random memory from 1986 when I was copyediting a feature article for my high school newspaper. In those pre-computer days, we submitted handwritten stories to our typesetter and received them back printed on strips of sticky paper, which we then cut and literally pasted onto large sheets of paper. This process took 2 afternoons after school and was called “paste-up.” We then marked any errors with light blue pencils. I was editing a story about the high school musical My Fair Lady and corrected three references to the song “Wouldn’t it be Loverly” by changing “loverly” to “lovely.” I hadn’t seen the musical or heard the song before and assumed it was a typing error by the printers. Of course, there was no Google then, but I could have easily queried the author or anyone else familiar with the musical. Instead, I assumed the printer had made the same error three times. It was an silly mistake that for some reason still embarasses me.
Of course, today I can do a quick search to see if a questioned spelling is correct, no need to query the author. And I hope that after all these years I’m much more strategic and skilled in my comments.
I found Shelley Potler’s test for when to comment or query very helpful: only when something is unclear AND I can’t easily fix or find it AND the author’s answer matters.
The takeaway: No need to annoy an author with something I can easily figure out myself. But if I can’t figure it out, I need to ask.
Hills to Die on: Nothing is hard and fast
Harbeck warns new editors (and seasoned ones) not to have hills to die on and to stay away from the likes of Lynne Truss and Nevile Gwynne. I’m not familiar with Gwynne, but I read Truss’s Eats, Shoots & Leaves when it was published in 2006 and bought the children’s version, as well as her The Girl’s Like Spaghetti for my children. I found her to be very witty and refreshingly dedicated to proper punctuation. I’ve never vandalized signage, but I’ve often committed the crime in my mind. I find the errant apostrophe used in plural non-possessives especially jarring, and it seems to be everywhere. So what’s wrong with using correct punctuation and teaching my children to do the same? Nothing. I think the problem is in the attitude and tone. It’s good to know the rules. It’s not good to bully and demean those who don’t or those who choose not to follow them. I’ve also read Mary Norris’s Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen, written 10 years later. She’s equally witty, and equally enthusiastic about proper grammar and punctuation, but her tone is kinder and more endearing.
My takeaway: As an editor, I want to be more like Norris than Truss. I want to know the rules, but I don’t want to be dogmatic and prescriptive. I’m the editor, not the author. The author owns the document and gets the final say, even if I’m “right.” I was instructed by Carol Saller when she said that the greatest cause of grief for editors (submitters to her Q&A) is the tendency to insert our egos to the point that our relationship with writers becomes adversarial. She says we need to be flexible, even at times sacrificing what we believe in, because style is arbitrary and changeable. Grammar is less negotiable than style, but even grammar rules evolve (i.e., the split infinitive, preposition ending a sentence, use of “they” as singular pronoun). From Saller I learned that to be a good editor, I should make informed suggestions, but then honor the writer’s preference.
Another Argument for Flexibility
Saller also talked about different style guides being necessary for different audiences. She says that style guides help give us structure, but they can change. The Adyha reading explained the various ways and reasons style guides change. As I’ve explored various style guides, I’ve been especially interested in the section usually near the top called something like “What’s New.” I find it fascinating to see what changes have been made over the last few years and how language and style reflect our changing culture.
If even style guides can change, can we have any hill to die on? If a style guide is just a guide for a specific rhetorical context, then apparently not. Editorial comments will vary based on which style guide/sheet is being used.
My takeaway: I need to be very clear about which style guide/sheet(s) I am to use when editing any document.
Editing for my Mom
My mom used the Covid-19 quarantine to write a book about her life, and she asked me to be her editor. It’s interesting to think about my approach so far in light of what I’m now learning in my TECM editing class.
I started by giving more structural suggestions. As she sent me each chapter, I commented on content (often suggesting areas where she needed more explanation or clarification) and organization. Now that her book is all written, I’m copyediting. This is a substantial undertaking, as her book is over 300 pages long. I’ve felt the need to re-work some sentences for clarity, but I’ve struggled with those choices because I want the book to remain in her voice. Of course, I don’t want to change her meaning or intent, but I literally don’t want to change her voice, which I can hear as I read. So I suggest changes when necessary for meaning but largely leave the word choice and style alone.
I realize now that I’ve been creating a sort of style sheet. It’s just a scrap of paper where I jot down style choices I make as I go. For example, I had to determine when to capitalize “Army,” how to write dates and ordinal numbers, and whether to use Canadian or American spelling.
My takeaway: I will create a more official-looking style sheet and send her a copy when I give her my copyedits. This will help us when we get to the final proofread stage.