You Talking To Me? You Talking to Me?

I have to confess, I've actually never seen Taxi Driver. I mean, it came out when I was a kid.  And my parents weren't (and still aren't) movie fans. There was a family rule that no one (maybe it was just me and not my older brothers) could see a movie before my parents saw it and approved of it. This was before the days of PG-13. So it was either a G movie (which I would most likely be able to see) or PG (which was more up in the air...what exactly would be showing up on the screen could be all over the place).

So you can imagine my movie-going was severely limited. And certainly did not include Taxi Driver.

But I couldn't help but think of this iconic scene when I was thinking about repetition in manuscripts:

He repeats several lines here, most famously: "You talking to me? You talking to me?"

There are times when repetition works in a scene. If DeNiro didn't repeat himself here (in a scene that apparently was more off the cuff than on a script page), it wouldn't have such a lasting impact in the film world and be so recognizable.

So writers are well within their rights to have repetition in a scene. Even in a few sentences close together. After all, that's sometimes how people talk.

But other times, it seems as if the writer had forgotten the character had already said that. That's especially true when it's information (Bob's my uncle; have you met Bob, my uncle?) as opposed to a reaction (Oh my God. I can't believe he left. Oh my God. He's gone?).

And there's times I catch exact wording a few paragraphs apart. Those instances make me wonder whether there was some self-editing going on and the repetition didn't get caught.

So if you've gotten a manuscript back from me (or any other editor) asking about repetition, we do recognize it can be an effective storytelling tool. But hey, it's our job to make sure you're telling your story, not getting stuck in Groundhog Day!

Oh, You Are So Punny!

The first time I met The Boy's current Girlfriend, we were in Denver, visiting The Hubby's family.  So it was me, The Hubby, The Boy, The Girlfriend, Grandma, and Aunt Dee driving down the highway. And one of us (not The Boy or the Girlfriend) starting making some snarky, punny conversation.  We all laughed a bit and then quieted down.  I looked back at The Girlfriend and said, "Doesn't being with someone's family explain a whole about them?" 

My family has always appreciated good word play.  And sarcasm (but that's another post for another time). Maybe that's why I love reading and books and authors-and yes, even editing-so much.  I grew up with words running around in my head, even if I never spoke them.  

The editor groups I participate in on Facebook have no shortage of pun enthusiasts.  Here's a recent post: 

And not to get on a political note here, but I couldn't help but laugh at this one:

 

My brother just shared Mental Floss's article on puns (This Is Your Brain On Puns - which, of course is a play on the anti-drug commercial "This is your brain on drugs" with the fried egg). It's a pretty quick article on how the left and right sides of your brain work to figure out puns.  

A few years ago, I found out there was a contest of puns: the O. Henry Pun-off World Championship.  I'm not sure how this wonderful event found its way into my world, but it's a cool idea: a bunch of people celebrating our wonderful world of words and often employing humor to do so. 

I've decided to run another contest for 2017, and this time I'm letting you all know what it's about.  And if you guessed puns, you'd be right. So for all of 2017, I'll be keeping track of the puns (or just the stuff the tickles my funny bone) and have a year-end poll for the best pun of 2017. 

 

Editors - the Writer's Natural Enemy

I want to make this clear: I didn't come up with the title of this post.

I was searching online (for what, specifically, doesn't really matter) and ran across this post on George R. Martin's website:

Editors: The Writer’s Natural Enemy

The author (maybe you've heard of him, or his Game of Throne saga?) gave a speech in 1979 where he talked about the importance of editors.  Now, his definition of editor may or may not still work here in 2016 (especially considering the rise of indie and hybrid authors and the general state of traditional publishing) but I found some of it highly amusing:

Left to their own devices, writers talk about only three things; the three most important things in the world.
They talk about money, they talk about sex, and they talk about editors.
Money and sex are things that most writers want and never get enough of. Editors are things that most writers don’t want and get all too much of. I’ve often heard writers ask other writers why there have to be editors in the world.
 
But later on, he has this to say: 

Yes, there are a lot of ways for editors to go wrong.
Fortunately, a surprising number of them go right. It never ceases to amaze me. What is a good editor like? A good editor offers you decent advances, and goes to bat with his publisher to make sure your book gets promoted, and returns your phone calls, and answers your letters. A good editor does work with his writers on their books. But only if the books need work. A good editor tries to figure out what the writer was trying to do, and helps him or her do it better, rather than trying to change the book into something else entirely. A good editor doesn’t insist, or make changes without permission. Ultimately a writer lives or dies by his words, and he must always have the last word if his work is to retain its integrity.


I hope that I am in that category of editor (copy editor and proofreader, really) for my authors. I'm not looking to be the enemy of the author - I want to be the champion, the cheerleader, the advocate, the supporter ("If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter!" - bonus points if you know where that quote is from).

So, I am looking forward to a grand 2016, supporting and cheering on all my authors as they continue their careers and fulfill their writing goals and dreams.

 

Your Editor is an Idiot

Okay, maybe your editor isn't an idiot, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone...occasionally...might think so.

I belong to the EFA (that's the Editorial Freelancers Association to you - not to be confused with Essential Fatty Acid or Egyptian Football Association or European Film Academy). A benefit of joining this association is the online discussion list, where editors go to ask questions of one another and once in a while, share funny stories or general chit-chat.

Just to give you an idea about what we talk about, in the past two days, there have been 19 emails (and counting) debating whether half-eaten (with the hyphen) or half eaten (without the hyphen) is correct usage in a particular sentence. 

These are my people, people.

So what does this have to do with your editor being an idiot?  Well, when editors (or me, at least) make suggested changes to a manuscript, we are doing it with a voice inside our head (and you writers thought you were the only ones with voices telling you what to do, huh?).  We I automatically know what something should be (capitalize the South when you are talking about the area of the country but keep it lowercase if you are going south on the highway) or what it possibly should be ( the author probably means to have the character exit the door, not excite it - because, really - yuck!).  But there are times when we I are just not sure, so we I ask: did you mean Where we going or Where are we going here?  In this instance, the dialogue could go either way; after all, sometimes people do just ask Where we going and not Where are we going - so is it a deliberate choice by the author or is it a missed word in the sentence?  

And I suppose it is possible...just possible...that you think your editor is an idiot for even asking the question, because the answer is so obvious (well, to you, anyway).  But we are the ones who obsess over whether or not to hyphenate half eaten so you don't have to.

Just deal with our idiot questions...we'd rather look like idiots in front of you than have you look like idiots in front of your readers.

I'm So Green

Okay, I'm not really green.  But I was trying to think of something to prove my point.  But before I get to my point, here's what led me to my point:

The entry in Merriam-Webster:
Nonplus (also nonplused; nonplussed also nonplused; nonplussing also nonplusing; nonplusses also nonpluses)
:  to cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do 
:  reduce to a state of total incapacity to act or decide :  perplex, baffle, stump
<this turn of events nonplusses me — J. R. Perkins> 
 <nonplussed by the disclosure — Newsweek>  
<for a moment the girl was nonplussed — A. R. Williams>

What really gets me is how the examples give absolutely NO help in reinforcing the meaning of the word.  It's like I tell you I'm so green without you having any idea what green is.  

Unless, of course, you are this guy.  Then I totally know what you mean by green:

So, anyway, back to my point.  My point is nonplussed is one of those words that might be misused because there might not be good context for the reader (or the writer!) to know what is really meant.  I recently came across this exact scenario in a manuscript and I asked the author if nonplussed (at a loss as to what to say, think, or do) was really the word they meant to use because I could see the character reacting a different way.

I've had instances where an author used a word and I was sure the word shouldn't be used that way.  But when I looked it up, there it was: some fourth or fifth (or sixth or seventh) definition that allowed for that particular word to be used the way the author intended.  And I learned a new way to use an old word.  

Guess those dictionaries (and those editors!) are handy, huh?

 

I Did it! I Wrote a Blog Post!

Well, I sort of wrote a blog post.  But it's not really a post, and it's not really on my blog.  But I did write it!

Author Kevin Hardman was kind enough to ask me to answer some questions for his blog.  Check out his questions and my answers here.


And hopefully soon I'll have an actual post for my own blog!

Editor Interview

Taking a page from our usual Author Interviews, this month I'm answering some questions.

Describe your typical day.  I'm typically up anytime between 7 and 9 (mostly depending on how late I was up or if I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep).  After feeding and walking the dog, it's time for me to wake up (read emails and news online) and get ready for the day.  Mornings are typically dog walking interrupted by editing.  After lunch, the dog walking slows down and I can focus more on editing.  Dinner is either the start of my winding down or just a pit-stop before more editing.  That depends on deadlines and whether or not the hubby is home.  Some nights I've got meetings (church, town, and professional). I hit the hay around 11 and am hopefully asleep by midnight.

Favorite books growing up: our town library was so small when I was a kid, I feel like I read everything they had.  I wouldn't be surprised if the total square footage was less than 750 square feet (and it was a big deal when it moved to the basement of the new town hall - 2,000 square feet of luxurious rack after rack).  But I was super fond of the Adventures of Tintin, all of the Little House on the Prairie books, and the Bobbsey Twins.  As a teenager, I found science fiction and fantasy (thanks, big brother!) and picked up Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, and Anne McCaffrey.  And what childhood would be complete without the works of Steven King to freak you out (or reassure you that you weren't the weirdest kid in the world)?

What would you tell your younger self? You won't die if you speak out loud in public.  People might actually be interested in what you have to say.  It took me until I was about 30 or so before I became comfortable speaking in public.  Some people would say they preferred it when I wouldn't talk, because now they can't get me to shut up!  I am still shy in social situations, but I've really gotten much better at asserting myself when I need to.

Any writing ambitions?  As any regular reader of this blog knows (and thanks, by the way!), writing is not my best skill.  I am much better at editing.  I really admire my authors—you create new worlds and characters and make them come to life.  I've never really had a story or characters stuck in my head, driving me crazy until they came out on paper (or screen, as the case may be!).  I will say I can write some interesting stories about things that have happened to me, but my life isn't so interesting every day that I'd try to write a collection of stories.  The occasional blog post is about the best I can do on that front.

Is the Atwater Group really a group, or is it just you? It’s just me. It has grown and morphed over the years in purpose and “employees.”  My husband is one who continually has great ideas and wants to start all these “small businesses.”  So, at first, it was a way to corral all of his ideas and ventures.  But then he got laid off from his real job and had to start a rep agency while he was looking for work.  “The Atwater Group” sounded solid, dependable, more than just a one-guy outfit, and wasn’t specific to his name or industry.  He did find another job, but it required that I quit my job (I was working for a rep agency that is in direct competition for my husband’s new job).  So I putzed around a bit, started my own company (Atwater Chocolates) under the umbrella of The Atwater Group, but that proved to be time-consuming and not profitable.  Once I started proofing and editing, I took over the name (after all, it’s a pretty good name and we had all the tax ID stuff set up). We’ve toyed with my husband providing voice-over work and audio books, so if he ever does that it will be under services that The Atwater Group provides. So…no, there’s no farming out, no big corporate backing, no small, dedicated band of brothers/sisters who work here…just me!  (The hubby provides moral support and technical support when needed; the dog provides distraction and a reason to get away from the eyestrain of the computer screen!) 

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know me a bit better.  And next month, I promise to have the Author Interviews back on track!