January 24, 2006

stet

I'm finishing the next draft of the manuscript. The copyeditor's notes arrived, so my novel is marked up with hundreds and hundreds of little, red marks.

The copyeditor has a bitch of a job, I know. The book has to be taken so literally, looked at as letters and words on a page, so that there isn't a comma or emdash missed. I know this. But sometimes it makes for some hilarity.

First: this note, after a paragraph in the book where the main character's sister announces she'd like to name a baby "Nelly" because she thinks it'd be funny.

There is an actual rapper named Nelly. Intentional reference?

Hee. Now, I really need a copyeditor, as she pointed out I'd named two tertiary characters Michael, and in one chapter I'd messed up the entire concept of time zones. I am forever grateful for what the copyeditor does, because I've had to look at these three hundred and something pages so many times I couldn't possibly read it slowly enough to find missing words.

But this is my favorite thing about a copyeditor's draft. It comes with a list of words that, from the best I can figure, are words that are found in this book, but not necessarily in everyday life... or a dictionary. These words, in the manuscript, have tiny red dots underneath them. But in list form, it reads like a poem for the best ad for my new book. I wish it was all the back cover said.

Albertson's
Armwarmers
ax

BlackBerry
chlamydia

Crazyland

dumb-ass
dammit
daybed

e-mail
Earthquake City
eBay

Fashion Don't

Grey Gardens
gangbanger
girl-power

Hep-C
honey
heartbreaker

Latin Club
logline

MySpace
muffin-top
mustache
man-friend

shit-kicker
skanky
side-grin
sloppy-cool
sake
Strawberry Shortcake

tongue-kiss

uh-huh
ugly-ass

Posted by pamie at 08:02 AM