The Way Out of Copyedit Hell

[ellenkushner]

One of the nicest gifts I got this year was this, a cover letter to a set of copyedits from our publisher to all his authors from editor Jonathan Strahan:

 As is often the case, the copyedits are sometimes perceptive, sometimes
save the day, and occasionally miss the point or wreck the sense or
poetry of your prose.  In most cases the copyedits are minor, but in
some instances they are not. In either instance I wanted you to have
the chance to see, consider and accept or reject them. I would also
add that, while I value copyeditors a great deal when it comes to
catching grammatical issues and the occasional minor problem, I also
routinely overrule them, and so should you. This is a chance to ensure
the text is as you want it to appear, so you should make whatever
changes you require.

It is advice that every author should pin up over their desk, or secrete with lavender in their handkerchief drawer, or put behind glass next to a teensy hatchet with the words:  
When panicking over suggested copyedits, Break Glass!

It is very much the advice my college writing teacher of blessed memory, Joy (B.J.) Chute gave us:  "It's your name," she used to say, "that the work goes out under, not the editor's!"  But what did we know?  We just hoped there would be an editor to contend with some day!

And so, I offer it to you, and hope that you enjoy it all 'year round - and if not this year, then the next.