Several weeks ago, a reader asked me a serious of questions about how to break into editing. I would hardly say that I’ve “broken into” editing, except maybe as a thief in the night, rattling the windows of traditional publishing and occassionally finding one unlocked.
Sometimes, when I’m out prowling, I see that my friend Al is working late. Or my CTI friends. They are almost always happy to let me in and have a late night cup of coffee. And they always say, “Look, the publishing industry isn’t any big secret. People just don’t ask the right questions. Or they don’t ask the right people. Or they can’t hear an honest answer because they have an agenda.”
I’m not the right person, but I can’t resist an honest question. Here’s the first question:
1. How do I get more copyediting experience so that I can improve, when I need improvement? Is there something online that might teach me or anything?
I don’t know how to answer this except to explain how I got my copy editing experience. First, my bachelor’s degree is in English. The only way to learn the language is tons and tons of reading. And tons and tons of writing. Good teachers help too.
After graduating, I taught English for ten years. Teaching high school English is a really good way to learn copy editing because grading papers turns out to be a kind of crash course in editing. I made myself crazy trying to edit so many papers, but it really honed my skills as an editor.
While I was in school, I worked on my Masters in English. This was where I learned how to read poetry. And to a lesser extent it’s where I learned how to write. I say to a lesser extent because I feel like I still have a whole lot to learn. I’m getting to where I can recognize what makes something good writing. But I can’t necessarily reproduce it with artistic coherence. The parts of my writing don’t yet come together with synergy to create a greater whole. At best they are just polished parts.
There are some decent resources online, but primarily the kind of education you are talking about is, well, education. I’d recommend higher education–even if it is a virtual campus. A lot of schools have low residency programs now that rely on virtual classrooms for the majority of work. (Anyone interested in that, my wife is an independent admissions counselor. I’d be happy to ask her some questions for you.)
A lot of schools will let you audit a course. You go to classes, do the work, and participate in the discussion for $50.00 per semester or something ridiculously cheap. You get the education, but no official credit. Joining any kind of literary course in this way could be worthwhile.
A lot of cities also have writing guilds. Reading workshops that meet once a month or even once a week. For example, San Antonio has the Sun Poet’s Society that meets in Barnes and Noble. They have a literary guild. And they have the literary arts center Gemini Ink. When I lived there, I made use of all of these as often as I could. (And not nearly often enough.)
Writing conferences are a really good idea, too. Something like Breadloaf or Mt. Hermon or The Glen Workshop would be worth every penny.
There are some really good podcasts for writers too. Grammar Girl is good for editing. (Can you believe I actually met her in person in New York! I was all googly eyed.) The Writer’s Block can have some good models. (It can be a bit pretentious too.) I especially like Writers on Writing. And it has an incredible archive of interviews you can listen to. Even Barnes and Noble’s Meet the Writers is good—though it has a tendency to glorify writing. (My favorite Writers on Writing by the way is the interview with fantasy writer R. A. Salvatore.)
Oddly enough, I also find great inspiration as a writer in cross-disciplinary podcasts. The Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar has changed my life. (But my wife thinks it is the most boring thing in the world.) Whether you like my specific podcast recommendations or not, the point is that there is something out there that will work for you.
There are some good books. The best one is Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. I also found that I was profoundly affected by Stephen King’s On Writing and Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. John Gardner’s book the Art of Fiction is really good too.
And of course the inspiration for this series:  Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke.
{ 10 comments }
Why is it that so many people want to write? Just what is with that, considering that there are so many other worthy and interesting things to do in this world?
LL, you really made me think with that question, and it’s a tad too early for that!
I can tell you whyI write, and I’m not a writer-writer. Just a blogger. I think at this point in my life, I’ve experienced a lot. So by writing, I can look back on some of the experiences and put them in perspective. Like yesterday’s blog. I wrote about being keyless. It was based on a conversation I had with a friend who is going back to the states, has sold everything and now has one key to her name. I related to her in that, and the transition issues it implies.
At this point, I also am not thinking about the big picture…just events as they are brought to mind and the lessons learned. Or maybe just reflection. What I do know is that I can now go back through things I have written, and see patterns of growth, or lack of it, and it spurs me on to do better and learn more. Plus, reliving some of those experiences is just fun.
Why do other people write? I’d love to hear other reasons! (Sorry Mark…it’s off topic from editing, isn’t it?)
Mark – you made me laugh with the editing of the high school English papers – I could just see the red ink, arrows pointing to the proper place for the sentence and editor’s marks flying about! What a visual!
I don’t know how well I write as a writer, but I’m reasonably good as a scientific writer so they say. When I work with grad students this is exactly what happens to me also – I kill myself with editing. The looks on their faces when they get the first draft back is always priceless because if they have any potential at all, the paper looks like an axe murderer has visited! I always tell them that this is a good sign – there is actually something there to work with – they should only worry when it comes back blank with the exception of “try again” written at the top.
I think your advise is great – write, edit, read – and then do it all over again – and read across disciplines. There is nothing new under the sun and somewhere someone will have “turned a phrase” exactly in the way that you have been looking for but just haven’t found!
Why do we write, L.L.? What a great question. You might as well ask why we talk at all. We need to be heard. And we need to hear ourselves.
Vygotsky says that language actually creates thought. That is, a thought isn’t fully formed in a way that can be communicated until it is put into words–either words we speak, words we think, or words we write.
In the beginning was the Word. And so I write. And so I edit to help others write.
Mark – brilliant answer – and I love the quote – it is so true. I do not “own” a truth until I can teach it to others and that requires that it be fully formed in my mind and I can get it on paper to teach it verbally – all three parts of language are required for me – in fact, I will probably need to verbalize it, at least in part, before I can even get it on paper.
as to eharmony – may as well be light-hearted. it is kinda funny and so very God to set up the “coincidence” just to make sure I know that He’s paying attention to my life.
Vygotsky. Wow. You’re the only person I’ve ever met in “real” life (ha! is virtual life real?) who knows Vygotsky.
In any case, this must be why I talk and write all the time. Must be that I need more thoughts!
Actually, I think it is so cool to consider how thought interacts with language and vice versa. Now, could the same be said of music, of art?
Mark, do you have the link for the interview with fantasy writer R. A. Salvatore? I’m interested in checking this out
I also recommend Critters.org for editing training /practice.
I actually put this into words last night, so I think this will be clear. I think in words. To me, words are the life-blood of everything that surrounds me. I perceive things with words, question with words, listen with words, feel with words, and use words in every convention I use to communicate outward.
Mark, I am extending my A.A. in Liberal Arts to pursue my B.S. in English starting next month. I’m really pumped, though admittedly nervous about all of that American and Brit Lit.
Eve, I added all of the links to various sources at your suggestion. I should have done that from the beginning. Oh well.
That’s the wonder of online publishing, right?
Jesse, good to hear you’re pursuing English! I really think it is the most versatile degree. I’ve known English majors who went on to med school, business school, law school, you name it. Knowing how to analyze a text is a skill that applies to any text.
And feel free to ask my 2 cents on lit stuff. I live for that kind of thing.
I can’t wait to listen to this “grammar girl.” I might have to check out some of those books. I have read the copy of Letters to Young Poet that you gave me multiple times. It means a lot to me.
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