Alice’s dilemma
Alice is a copy-editor and proofreader. She had been a teacher. Primary school, years three and four. Enough was enough. Her kids had left home. Her husband, the rat, had met a young social influencer and gone with her to run a bar in Marbella. No taste, Ronnie.
So she quit. Did a Chapterhouse proofreading and editing course and thought about changing her name. Alices were nice, reliable, conventional. Scratch the surface and she was a rebel. Constanza, Esmerelda, Sasha.
Work was slow at first. Proofreading a few local business websites, checking a memoir for an old boy down the road, and proofing a series of booklets for a GP practice. The money was OK but not spectacular. Subject matter a bit dull. But no unhinged parents slagging her off on social media or turning up on her doorstep at the weekend. The kids had been fine, but some parents had become a needy, entitled nightmare!
Grammar traps for copy-editors
Then six months into her new life of freedom and home-working it happened.
An email from a London publisher. A novel! Why her? Well, it was set in a school! It all seemed a little weird. She met the co-ordinating editor, Sally, over a couple of yak milk flat whites. They got on. Sally was young, vague, and seemed simply to want to shift the manuscript as quickly as possible. Instructions on editing? No, not really. Just tidy it up, you know. House style? Oh, just stick to the author’s.
Sasha (she was now Sasha) settled to work.
Your little choices
Imagine you are Sasha, or Alice if you prefer. Your first copy-editing job. You had imagined a small school book. But here it was, a novel!
Here is a selection of the decisions you have to make on the first morning. The book has a lot of dialogue. It rocks along at a good pace. It’s modern and for your taste a bit crude. But it’s really quite a laugh. But it presents you with problems. What to do about poor grammar? Here is Alice’s dilemma:
“Damian and me have split. Dumped him last night by text.”
“And I told him to get lost!”
“Less than ten turned up to his leaving do.”
“But I could never do that, Kate.”
“Who shall I say is calling?
“I wanted to absolutely love him.”
“ He gave the bloody lamp to Jake and I.”
“ I ain’t goin’ and that’s flat!”
What to do
Answers to Alice’s dilemma? Well, it’s the author’s voice. She has created characters. This is how they speak. So? Don’t touch a thing.
Once Alice/Sasha had realised this, the job became much easier. She relaxed. She picked up some valuable inconsistencies. Queried a few things. Tidied up some overlong sentences and tedious paragraphs and corrected some apostrophes. Job done. Invoice sent. Sally happy. Another book on the way, a quick proofread this time.
She might just get a cheap flight to Marbella, take her new friend Tony, just to see the rat squirm, sweating over his cocktail shaker.