News has been pretty thin on the ground this week. I’ve been busy doing what I call the Galley Proofs on the next Ali Reynolds book, Smoke and Mirrors. ‘Galley Proofs’ is a term that sticks in my head from my senior year of high school when Pat McAdams Hall, my best friend from fourth grade, and I, were co-editors of the school newspaper, the Copper Chronicle. The paper was published once a month. Once the articles were written, edited, and sent to the printer, it was our job to organize the pages and send them back to the printer at Bisbee’s Brewery Gulch Gazette, (Yes, there was an actual brewery on that street back in the older old days. Clearly, at this point the 1960s are the “old’ days.
Then on the night before the actual printing, Pat and I had to go to the printshop and peruse a paper copy checking to see if there were any remaining goofs. Somehow, in our November issue, we failed to notice or fix a place in our joint column where we referred the Thanksgiving turkey as being ‘born’ rather than ‘hatched.’
These days New York publishers use some other term, one which definitely doesn’t stick in my head, but it means the same thing—editing the copy-edited manuscript after it has been formatted and typeset in the way it will appear in the actual book.
This is not a time to do a complete rewrite. It’s one last chance to check and fix typos and echoes. I’m sure everyone knows what typos are. Echoes are repeating the same word or phrase in close proximity. I happen to be someone who does a lot of those. After all, if it sounded right the first time, why not use it again? In my last copyediting go down, not with this publisher, the copyeditor was so busy readjusting my characters’ names that I caught way more echoes than she did.
But with that bad taste still in my mouth from a month or so ago, I was dreading this one, especially since, for some reason, Smoke and Mirrors was a really challenging book to write and took far longer than expected. So I was surprised when the book moved smoothly along, shifting seamlessly from one character and location to another.
In order to facilitate that, each chapter is time stamped at the beginning with the location, date, and time of day displayed in bold print directly under the chapter designation. But here’s the rub. I’d be reading along in the text itself when, wherever the term A.M. appeared, it was a bold print, A.M., thus making it look like A.M. was most important word on the page, which it wasn’t. Then, later in the book, when the term P.M. appeared, it wasn’t in bold at all.
Prior to that, I had circled and complained about all those offensive, bold-faced A.M.’s, because I felt they were disruptive, but I hadn’t done anything about them. But then, when I saw that one plain-Jane P.M., I hit the wall. I couldn’t do a global search and replace because there were a lot of bold A.M.s in the chapter headings. Instead I had to do a search-and-destroy scroll through the entire manuscript. Fortunately I had circled all of them in red, so they weren’t that difficult to find.
All that being said, I’m sure a couple of sneaky typos are still lurking in there, and I expect my faithful SERs—Sharp-Eyed Readers—will weigh in on those.
Late last night, I sent the Galley Proofed manuscript for Smoke and Mirrors back to New York, ten days before the deadline. Now it’s time to go back to Unnamed Joanna #22. There’s a timing tangle at the beginning of the book, and I think I’ve finally figured out how to fix it.
Editing is the worst
Oh boy, we are one step closer to a new book release date. I’m sure you’ll be glad to have it finished. But then there’s always another one to proof or write. As a dedicated reader I yearn for new books from you to read. But, I’ve never known how much is involved in the process. My wife, forever the editor, gave me some insight, but you’ve added so much more. Thank you in advance for your upcoming book releases.
Congratulations on your forward motion! I admire your determination almost as much as I love reading the fruits of your labor.
I did see this question posted earlier and immediately thought of you and wondered exactly what your thought process is.
“Do authors cry when they kill the best character or do they smile, laugh and have a cup of tea with satan?”
Congratulations again! You make a positive impact on so many people and I hope you realize that.
There are times what happens to my characters or something they say gives me goosebumps or brings a tear to my eye. Or some curmudgeonly thing J.P. Beaumont says makes m laugh out loud. Even though I’m writing it, it feels like they’re doing it.
Gee, being an author is so much more than just writing a book. You bring it all close. Thank you.
Blessing to you and Bill.
Your books have been my absolute favorites since I stumbled on Desert Heat many years ago. They move. They twist. They turn. They never fail to deliver intrigue and excitement. The characters are real people – not super powers. They are relatable. (Now, I’ve used too many ‘theys,’ but you get the point.)
I am always amazed and continually aware of the creativity involved in writing a book. I am not a writer but I truly appreciate the process. My first real job was in the children’s curriculum department of a religious publishing house.
Thank you for keeping my fiction friends alive & well – especially Beau. I’m still in love with him. (Insert blushing emoji.) I anxiously await every new release. Again, thank you.
Happy your editing process is going so well. I always watch for your new books and enjoy reading them and updates on your life. Loved hearing the name for a problem I have – echoing. Thanks for taking time to keep in touch with your readers.
Editing is becoming just like writing computer code. Things are gone over with a very fine tooth comb.
It makes it quite tedious but it is a good way to eliminate almost all errors.
So much interesting stuff going on about editing. Makes me curious about what an author expects from a beta reader to aid in the process.
Honesty. If something is wrong, the writer is better off knowing it. For decades, Bill was my beta reader. After reading Improbable Cause he said, “The part about the zoo is just like reading an article i the Post-Intelligencer. You need to put the people in it. We were on our way to Vancouver, most of it in dead silence because I was upset. But then, once we got to the hotel, I got out my computer and realized Big Al’s feet hurt. As soon as I did that, I got things going again.
I’m about to start my first attempt at being a beta reader. When I got the go ahead I was all excited and felt sure I’d do a great job. Then I realized how important the feed back is to the author and decided I need to get serious if I want to do anything constructive. So, your answer really helped me settle in and is much appreciated. Thanks Judith.
Jim W
Editing is more difficult than actually writing…yet you always manage to create meaningful and wonderful stories!
Did you ever consider using AI?
There certainly is a lot to writing/publishing a book.
I like the word “echoes.” I’m guilty of that when writing a note/letter to someone.
PS–just to let you know that my friend, and fellow J. A. Jance fan, Sandy fell and broke a vertebrae in her back. She had surgery, and is currently in a rehab facility and wearing a back brace.
Please tell her hello from me.
I appreciate the care taken proofreading your books and don’t believe I’ve ever seen an error (I only read ebooks.)
I wish I could say the same of our local newspaper, in which some really obvious errors make it through, even in headlines. With ad revenue and circulation loss they are reduced to skeleton staff these days. I’m thankful that even though newspapers are on their back legs, struggling, books apparently are not–especially high calibre work like yours.
Wow, the glamour of being an author……….
You make it look so easy. I never would have thought that much had to go into the proofing. Very interesting to know about the process. Thanks for sharing.
First, I hope you don’t use AI (earlier comment). I’m concerned that is going to change writing in the future. I also wonder about the correct use of a.m. and p.m. vs A.M. and P.M. My good friend who was a teacher says it should be small letters. I never remember learning one way or the other. When I looked at Google I think it said small letters. Since yours are capital, I just wondered. Looking forward to the books! It must be hard to have to read them multiple times!
I prefer lower case. The editor is obviously going by somebody else’s style book.
Interesting, thanks!
Waiting eagerly in the eves for your words, in whatever format, to be published. It will all be good.
Grade school newspapers are so fun!!
It’s amazing how much work you put in to writing a book. And your patience…..
Excited for the new books!
Another enjoyable read here, esp when the ending is happy!
Not all authors/editors, etc. are as exact as you, JA. I was a proofreader in my younger years for a biological company so am familiar with galley-speak. I also read many, many books per year and am flabbergasted at the mistakes I find along the way, esp misspellings and wrong words in the syntax. (Yours are pristine 😉 )
Looking very forward to the fruits of your labor.
Best to you and Bill. <3
It. Always amazes me how you can write multiple books at the same time!
I don’t WRITE them at the same time. I’ll be writing one, editing another, and promoting a third.