Confessions of a Copy Editor

Let me begin by telling you I was always the resident 'bonehead' in every math class I ever attended.

The torture would begin innocently enough, with the instructor standing in front of the blackboard, speaking quite understandably; but within moments their voice would slip into an alien tongue, and this foggy mist would gather in the space between us.

Theorems, algebra, square roots, calculus, algorithms, logarithms...it was all gibberish to me.

And then there was English. Aaaahhhh, the delights of the English classes. The instructors were so intelligent, they all spoke so clearly, and every word they said made perfect sense. The concepts they taught were so brilliant, so easy to assimilate, remember and apply, that I found myself in a positively glowing linguistic heaven. I had discovered my life-long passion!

Nouns and verbs, adjectives and prepositions were each separate, sparkling gems. Sentence structure, parsing, tenses, contexts...I soaked it all up as if I could never get enough. Perusing a dictionary or encyclopaedia as 'light reading' became, (and still is), one of my favourite past-times. This addiction to the shades and nuances of meaning of language comes in handy, and helps me to offer the right word or words when changes are required.

An interesting side-benefit to my fascination with the written word is this peculiar quirk (which, had I but known it way back then), marks me as a 'natural' proof-reader. Over the years, this ability has grown, until now, as I scan a block of text, errors jump off the page at me. A missing space or one too many, poorly placed punctuation, skewed sentence structure; or horror of horrors, incorrect word usage... each mistake absolutely screams to me for correction. Sometimes it might be the lack of 'flow' of the piece (which grates me like the sound of fingernails on chalkboard). I've even been known to print out text and literally cut it up into separate paragraphs, spread them out all over the floor and re-arrange them until the story 'flows' from start to finish.

Body, Mind, Spirit Magazine offers such a wealth of knowledge, given so generously by so many interesting people, and for me to be able to assist any writer is a joy, an opportunity to hone my skills as well as theirs. Loving what I do makes every day a delight. Thank you, Jeni and Aleesha. Being appointed to this position is really a dream-come-true for me.

So since this is the "Careers" Issue, what advice would I give to you if you're thinking of becoming a Copy Editor?

Without doubt the marvelous word-processing programs available for computers are a great boon to the writer, and they have also simplified the Copy Editor's task. They alert you to boo-boo's on the fly...they can tell you if spaces are too few or too many, (and even politely give you a nudge if you've committed a spelling mistake). However, what they can NOT do, is tell you if you've used a totally incorrect or inappropriate word. As long as the program recognises the word as being spelled correctly, there's nary a peep out of the beast. So much for the expensive software!

As a Copy Editor, you must have an excellent command of language, and you need to be able to work alone for long periods, and/or be able to totally ignore any distractions. Patience is definitely required, and good eyesight sure helps.

Because the particular way a writer 'strings their words' is a unique part of their style, the copy editor must have a loving respect for the writer's 'voice', even though making sure not to alter their specific form of expression can sometimes be a challenging task. Occasionally, you will have to work with writers who find it impossible to stick to a given assignment and/or word count. They get distracted and veer off the topic, or they get a touch of verbal diarrhea, and before they know it, there's an extra few hundred words on the page... and do you know who gets to do the chop? Yes, you guessed it... that's the Copy Editor's job. Writers, of course, may hate you; because they blame you for 'ripping the soul out of their work' when you have to reduce the word count or remove the extraneous 'fluff'.

Production Editors often have articles submitted AFTER the stated deadline, because 'the muse' doesn't always come to the writer exactly on demand. The BIG boss (the Publisher) also has a veto on every article, and because it all comes down the food chain to the copy editor before it goes to print, there may be times you will have to work under pressure. So you have to be able to be calm and unruffled at all times and perform serenely, no matter what!

Oh, and here's the real kicker: The Copy Editor is 'The Bad Guy'. (Everyone has to have a "Bad Guy," right?) So if you're thinking of taking on a job like this, you better have a VERY thick skin, because let's face it, we get a really bad rap. After all, who can everybody blame for any stuff that goes wrong?... THE COPY EDITOR...

By Maggie Frost