Castle Walls Editing

Month: November 2018

  • Shh! What Do Editors Mean by ‘Silent’ Changes?

    Shh! What Do Editors Mean by ‘Silent’ Changes?

    With Word’s Track Changes turned on, every insertion or deletion an editor makes is visible to the author. Silent changes happen when the editor switches Track Changes off so that the author can’t see what’s been changed.

    Sounds sneaky, doesn’t it?

    Almost nefarious.

    It’s easy to imagine authors bristling at the notion. But there’s a reason for a certain type of silent edits, and in these cases the editor is trying to help the author.

    Why Make Silent Changes?

    When an editor returns a manuscript, authors are often surprised by the number of edits. Tracked changes can splash red all over the page, and this can be alarming. As authors review their edited manuscript, they are faced with the task of contending with these edits.

    To reduce the amount of electronic marks on the page, editors sometimes make silent changes for edits the author wouldn’t question. Not tracking these changes makes it easier for authors to see the changes they care about without getting lost in a sea of red.

    Candidates for silent editing include the replacement of straight quotes with smart (curly) quotes, the movement of punctuation inside quotation marks, and the elimination of extra spaces. Editors might also make silent edits for 100 percent typos (“carts” for “cats”).

    I generally only make silent edits for things like extra spaces, but I always clear this with authors beforehand so they know what kinds of changes will be done silently.

    Because authors place a great deal of trust in editors, there should be no surprises. Editors need to be fully transparent with their actions, and there is no reason not to be.

    Editors, after all, want to help authors, not trick them.

    What About When Authors Make Silent Changes?

    Depending on the arrangement, authors may want the editor to take another look at the manuscript after the authors have responded to comments and accepted or rejected changes.

    Because editors feel responsible for the quality of the work, they want to be aware of any changes authors make at this point, so no typos slip through. For this reason, editors will often lock the file so that Track Changes cannot be turned off.

    With all of the above in mind, I hope silent changes sound less less like a sneaky intrusion and more like a helpful part of the editing process.

    About James Gallagher

    James Gallagher is a copyeditor and the owner of Castle Walls Editing. For more information about how he can help with your writing projects, send email to James@castlewallsediting.com.

  • My Editing Checklist

    My Editing Checklist

    When used by doctors and air-traffic controllers, checklists save lives by ensuring that critical steps aren’t missed during high-stress situations.

    Editing doesn’t involve life-or-death stakes (usually), but checklists are still helpful for reducing complexity and lessening the burden on memory for routine tasks. Even after spending forty or more hours on a manuscript, it’s easy, for example, to send off a final package to the client and forget the invoice.

    Unlike a style sheet, which goes to the client, the checklist is just for me. There is some overlap, but the checklist simply helps me roll through the steps in my editing process without forgetting anything, whereas the style sheet records such things as proper nouns, variant spellings, and unusual usages. (For more information on style sheets, click here.)

    The following is a typical checklist I’d use for a manuscript to be edited in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate, but it’s easily adapted for other styles or editing requirements I’m charged with.

    Prework

     Create contract (Word exported to PDF)
     Create invoice (Word exported to PDF)
     Set up style sheet (Google Docs)
     Set up chapter-breakdown sheet (Google Docs)
     Rename author’s file
     Set up Toggl for job

    Formatting

     Double space lines of text
     Set automatic indents and delete extraneous tabs with Editor’s Toolkit
     Delete extra returns (Editor’s Toolkit)
     Delete spaces around returns (Editor’s Toolkit)
     Remove double spaces (Editor’s Toolkit)
     Close space around em dashes and ens (editor’s Toolkit)
     Check heading styles
     Check page breaks
     Format ellipses (Editor’s Toolkit)
     Turn straight quotes to curly (Editor’s Toolkit)
     Check TOC

    Editing

     Start Toggl
     Turn on Track Changes
     Delete commas before “too” and “either” at end of sentence or clause
     Watch for towards, backwards, etc.
     Check for close quotes after em dashes in dialogue
     Ensure US stylings
     Use serial commas
     Insert comments questioning logic, continuity, etc.
     Insert comments praising author’s craft
     Run PerfectIt before second pass
     Read through comments and check tone

    Postediting

     Send edited manuscript with tracked changes
     Send clean PDF
     Send style sheet
     Send chapter breakdown
     Send cover letter
     Send invoice
     Thank them!
     Send follow-up with info on referral fee

    In the above, Toggl is a time-tracking application, Editor’s Toolkit is a collection of macros, and PerfectIt is a consistency checker, all of which I find highly useful. I also talk about the tools I use in my editing business in my post “Five Tools That Help My Editing Business.”

    Do you use checklists in your work?

    About James Gallagher

    James Gallagher is a copyeditor and the owner of Castle Walls Editing. For more information about how he can help with your writing projects, email James@castlewallsediting.com.

    References:

    Gawande, Atul. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. New York: Henry Holt, 2009.