Tag Archives: editing

Which Service Do I Need?

Read time: 3 mins

Illustration courtesy of sketchrobin.com

Book coaching

When you have yet to complete a full first draft, you may like some help getting your thoughts written up and your ideas nailed into a manuscript. As an experienced and trained book coach, I help writers to get their manuscripts finished. With an outcomes focus and with targetted support, we would collaborate over the time needed to reach a complete first draft. This is often the best way forward when there are blocks or sticking points which have halted writing progress. Once the initial draft exists, it can be the source material for future drafts, beta reading, self-editing and further editing services.

Developmental editing

Developmental editing is carried out at an early stage of preparing a manuscript. You may have written a full manuscript and be aware that aspects need improvement, but not have certainty of how to make those changes. There may be issues with the plot which, if improved, would increase your book’s success and appeal to readers. A developmental edit will consider the big-picture aspects such as plot holes, unconvincing characters, character development and themes. From a developmental edit, you will have a report on the strengths and weaknesses of the manuscript, as well as comments and suggestions within the manuscript to consider. Click for more details on pricing and how our collaboration would work. Do get in touch with the form at the bottom of the page if you would like a developmental edit.

Manuscript critique

Manuscript critiques are similar to development edits, and you’ll get a similar report on your manuscript considering the big-picture aspects but without the additional comments and suggestions within the text.

Following both a developmental edit and a manuscript critique, it is likely that you will want to apply some or all of the suggestions and prepare a redraft. Click for more details on pricing and how our collaboration would work. I would like to work with you to improve that redraft. Do let me know about your book with the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Copyediting or line editing

Copyediting and line editing is carried out on a manuscript which may already have been reworked and could have had some developmental editing. You will be happy with the structure and the big-picture aspects. Having been redrafted, the writing is ready to be thoroughly checked through and consistency improved where appropriate.

This will help the next reader to have a smooth and immersive reading experience without the distraction of inconsistencies and errors. When copyediting I edit the work line by line and word by word. I will be aiming to increase the clarity and flow of the sentences and words. I will be checking for:

  • Clear, effective and well-paced narrative
  • Spelling, punctuation, grammar, hyphenation and capitalisation
  • Suitable use of tenses
  • Clarity of dialogue, expression and presentation
  • Consistency within the word choices with character and author voice
  • Believability of characters through consistent traits
  • The avoidance of overwriting, repetition, cliché or unintended confusion
  • Suitability of balance between showing and telling within sentences
  • Spacing of chapters, paragraphs, sentences, lines and words.

Following a line and copyedit you will receive the marked-up manuscript (in MS Word and with Track Changes) and a bespoke style sheet showing the style decisions which have been made, including those relating to capitalisation, numbering, spelling and punctuation styles. Click for more details on pricing and how our collaboration would work. Do get in touch with the form at the bottom of the page.

Proofreading

Proofreading is carried out on the manuscript when it has been written, redrafted and edited so is almost ready for the final reader. Proofreading aims to catch issues of spelling and grammar which remain, and other mistakes that may still have slipped through. You will probably have read the manuscript so often by this stage that it will be harder for you to spot mistakes.

Traditionally, proofreading is carried out after the manuscript has been typeset and the layout of the paragraphs, lines and words on the page can be viewed as they would be when the book is published. A trained and experienced second pair of eyes will help to ensure that the manuscript is as good as it can be before the next reader, be that publisher, agent or the public gets to read it. Click for more details on pricing and how our collaboration would work.

It’s OK if you don’t know exactly which service you want, that’s what I’m here for! Drop me a line with the form below and I’ll get right back to you.

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Should Dad Be Lowercase?

Read time: 2 mins

Illustration courtesy of sketchrobin.com

Speech can bring difficulties when it is written, and one area of difficulty is that of whether to capitalise some naming words. This is because the words Mum, Dad and Grandad have different forms. These words can be used in their proper noun form, and this is when they should be uppercase.

Proper noun form

Sentences where these words are used as proper nouns:

Did you like the flowers, Mum?✔
Can I borrow your glasses, Dad?✔
I asked Grandad to pass the map.✔

To check that a word is being used in this form, you can keep the sentence the same but swap out the proper noun form and swap in their proper name, if the sentence still makes sense, then the word was being used in its proper noun form.

The same sentences with the names swapped in:

Did you like the flowers, Mary Gilesbie?✔
Can I borrow you glasses, Ian Telling?✔
I asked Alfred Potter to pass the map.✔

Generic noun form

However, these words can also be used generically – as generic nouns or regular nouns and when they are, they are lowercase.

Sentences where these words are used as generic nouns:

If these sentences are given the same swap test, they don’t work because the word was being used as a generic noun.

My mum does not like red flowers.✔
All dads have children.✔
My granddad called on us.✔

Sentences where generic nouns have been swapped for proper names:

My Mary Gilesbie does not like red flowers.✗
All Ian Tellings have children.✗
My Alfred Potter called on us.✗

                   

Rules of thumb

  • Whenever these words are preceded by a possessive adjective like (my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their) the noun will be lowercase.
  • Whenever you use these directly as a name, they will be uppercase.
I brought this for your mum.✔
The coat was from my dad.✔
These are from Grandad.✔
  • When there is a determiner preceding the word (such as – a, an, the, this, that, these, my, his, their, much, many, some, two, seven, all, every) use lowercase.
Some mums drove the car.✔
Seven dads ate the pizzas.✔
His grandad was in the play.✔

This works for other similar words in the same way, these include: uncle, aunt, father, mother, daughter, cousin etc.

Is it a name?

Changing between upper and lowercase depending on usage happens with other words. This applies to when the word is a title or political entity.

Where a word is used as a name it will be uppercase:

They followed Captain Wilson over the bridge.✔
We walk up the steps to meet Queen Bess.✔
Come on let’s go Governor. (instead of name)✔

Where a word is not when it is not being used to replace a name and is being used as a description, it will be lowercase.         

Our old captain turned to fight.✔
The girl was a princess.✔
The governor was going to the meeting.✔

Style guides often have requirements regarding capitalisation and these should be followed where applicable, but as with general rules about writing, it is important that the rule is applied consistently or the writing can be jarring, and the reader can be distracted from the meaning of the content.

Illustration courtesy of sketchrobin.com

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How to Use Dashes

Read time: 4 mins

I have checked back to my references for crystal clarity, referring to the New Oxford Style Manual (2012) and to the Chicago Manual of Style, although these do not state every instance and are only conventions adopted, or not adopted, by publishers. There are also instances of exceptions, so these are far from being strict rules.

How to create dashes

The en dash can be found on the ribbon on the Insert tab and at the right-hand side. Click on Symbol and the then on More symbols.

Select the Special Characters tab and the top two offerings are the Em dash and the En dash, select the one you want and click Insert.

The keyboard shortcuts are:

Alt+Ctrl+Num for Em dash and Alt+Ctrl+Num for the En dash.

Alternatively hold down the Alt key and using the Numbers Pad:

key 0151 for the Em dash or 0152 for the En dash.

When introducing a phrase at the end of a sentence

A phrase at the end of a sentence can be introduced with an em dash (closed up) and the example given in New Hart’s Rules which, in my copy of the New Oxford Style Manual, is p81 (4.11.2)

            Everyone understands what is serious—and what is not

So, this is a single parenthetical usage, and replaces a colon and is widely accepted in UK English.

When used as a pair of dashes

Where you use em dashes with a space before and after, these would be parenthetical. This is not currently a general UK English publisher’s preference.

New Oxford Style Manual (2012) 4.11 p72 states:

‘The en dash … Many British publishers use an en dash with space either side as a parenthetical dash, but Oxford and most US publishers use an em dash.’ And

(p80) ‘The em dash … Oxford and most US publishers use a closed-up em dash as a parenthetical dash; other British publishers use the en dash with space either side.’ …

A pair of dashes expresses a more pronounced break in sentence structure than commas, and draws more attention to the enclosed phrase than brackets:

           ‘The party lasted—we knew it would!—far longer than planned’

And

… Use an em dash spaced to indicate the omission of a word, and closed up to indicate the omission of part of a word:

            ‘We were approaching — when the Earl of C— disappeared.’

So, both the em and en dashes can be used to set off an augmenting or explanatory word or phrase in a sentence that could stand alone without the insertion. Examples include:

That small flower – the pink one – is as fresh as can be.
That small flower—the pink one—is as sweet as can be.

He knew the price of that rare vintage – everyone did.
She knew the price of that rare vintage—everyone did.

In the UK, it is conventional to use a SPACED EN DASH. This is not a law, but is the conventional style used my many (although not all) UK publishers (an exception being Oxford).

In the US, it is conventional to use a CLOSED-UP EM DASH. Not a law, just a convention, but one which many US publishers follow.

It is also true that there are some style guides which ask for spaced em dashes; however, this is relatively rare.

So how are authors using the dash conventions?

Beyond the reference material it can be useful to look at how published authors’ work appears.

Publishing in the UK

In Stephen King’s Everything’s Eventual (2002)

There is an example of the single parenthetical en dash:

(p299)  ‘… for what I’ve done – for what I did to Skipper, even.’

And in Val McDermid’s Killing the Shadows, (2001)

(p159) ‘That someone hated Kit – or his word – even enough to pour out such venom…’

Whereas publishing in the US

In Emma Donoghue’s Room, (2010) there is an example of a pair of parenthetical em dashes:

(p133) ‘Old Nick will carry you into the hospital, and the first doctor you see—or nurse, whatever—you shout …’

And in David Baldacci’s The Finisher (2014) there is an example of the single spaced em dash:

(p1) At first light, I was almost always up in my tree — a stonking, straight-to-the-sky poplar with a full towering canopy.

In conclusion: I recommend using spaced en dashes or closed-up em dashes because that is what readers are most familiar with. The choice of which depends on where much of the target audience are (US or UK), however, where there is an international audience either style can be chosen, as long as it is applied consistently.

Illustration courtesy of sketchrobin.com

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For How to Capitalise Family Names click here.