Come on, now…
Published by Deanna Hoak May 7th, 2005 in blogOnly three of you have asked me any questions. I know more people than that look at this journal….
I’ll answer the few I was asked, but chip in with more!
1. Yes, I write, and yes, many of the nitpicky traits that make me a good copy editor slow my writing. On my own novel, I have been refusing to allow myself to edit it at all until it’s done. Since I have hardly worked on it this past year, though, I can’t report whether that’s an effective strategy–perhaps I don’t like it enough unedited to want to finish it. :-) Whereas in editing I am extremely confident, I am not so with my own book, and the lack of decisiveness is the one thing that has hampered my ability to finish my writing more than anything. If any of you have tips for getting over that, I’d love to know them. :-)
2. I drew a tiny amount as a teenager, looking at a drawing and copying it, but have never done any other drawing at all. It is not a natural talent of mine.
3. I work for almost all of the major publishers.
4. I got into copyediting SF/F by taking a freelancing test for Del Rey while working as an editor at Harcourt Brace College Publishers. As soon as I could support myself with freelancing, I quit Harcourt to focus on the fiction I love so much.
5. As a copy editor, I seldom get to work with the authors directly, though of course I have my favorites to read. I did get to work fairly closely with China Miéville on Iron Council because I was editing it electronically in both the British and American versions at once. China’s lovely, as anyone who’s met him knows. I will forever tease him, though, because when I asked for a map to clarify some directions that were off, he insisted he had been “utterly rigorous” about them but that he would be happy to send me a map for my “own delectation.” *eyebrow raise* He seemed suitably chagrined when I pointed out the inconsistencies page by page, though. :-D
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award for my copyediting.
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Hi! I really haven’t been doing much more than lurking everywhere for the past few weeks. Here’s a non-writing question: After last year’s hurricane fun, are you going to do anything differently when it comes to preparation for the new season?
And yes, my grammar skills suck quite hugely as of late.
He seemed suitably chagrined when I pointed out the inconsistencies page by page, though. :-D
*grin*
And it’s people like you who amaze/terrify me *because* you can spot that sort of thing. :D
Fiction for pleasure, novels or shorts?
Where is your favorite shopping spot and what is your favorite thing to shop for?
If you could live anywhere in the world, where might that be?
What’s on your walls?
What is your favorite bedtime story for the little ones?
What are some practical but overlooked things individuals can do to snap out of relationships that are bad for them? What makes it so hard? What makes it easy?
Do you think your kids will be as smart as you? Less? More?
Is there a culture of the military wife, and how would you describe it? Do you fit into it in your opinion?
What’s your SF con schedule look like? Do you get asked to do programming often? Would you like to do more? Are you coming to SFWA’s New York Publishing Professionals Reception in November?
Do you have any idea why teenage boys like to punch each other so much?
Diane (busting her lurker status)
(And, yes, I know “busting” is incorrect.)