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Dark Day of Copyediting
As many of you know, I've been mired in the copyediting stage for a few weeks. I've spent the bulk of my time rewording phrases, avoiding word repetition and echoes, tinkering with grammar and punctuation and all that stuff. As far as I'm concerned, that's the easy stuff. It's like reaching a fork in the road in a car that doesn't go in reverse. You assess the preferrable direction and hit the accelerator. In the case of a copyedited manuscript, you assess the comment, deliberate whether making the change improves the book, and make the decision. Once the decision is made, you do not go back. In fact, you put it out of your mind and focus on the next fork in the road.
Then came the hard part: The Fact Checking.
This is my first stab at historical fiction and attention to detail is very important. At least it is to me.
The mysterious copyeditors checked many facts for me. When they did, they would put a tiny checkmark above the detail, sometimes scribbling in the margin the source where they confirmed it. Anything they were unable to confirm, they would write "please confirm" in the margin. Now, most of the details I was asked to confirm were easily confirmable. Racing records. Star jockeys. Long defunct hotel and casino names. Location of a railroad station that is no longer there. All that stuff.
Then came one "please confirm" that turned me upside-down.
It was aboutSaratoga Saratoga
Well, it turns out that in 1934Saratoga
Arrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!
This completely undermines the racing schedule I had carefully planned for the entire novel! I am going to have to go back to page 1 and give this whole book yet another close read from beginning to end to make sure all my dates work out properly and that there are no glaring contradictions! Someone please send me a case of Jolt Cola and some No-Doze!
Then came the hard part: The Fact Checking.
This is my first stab at historical fiction and attention to detail is very important. At least it is to me.
The mysterious copyeditors checked many facts for me. When they did, they would put a tiny checkmark above the detail, sometimes scribbling in the margin the source where they confirmed it. Anything they were unable to confirm, they would write "please confirm" in the margin. Now, most of the details I was asked to confirm were easily confirmable. Racing records. Star jockeys. Long defunct hotel and casino names. Location of a railroad station that is no longer there. All that stuff.
Then came one "please confirm" that turned me upside-down.
It was about
Well, it turns out that in 1934
Arrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!
This completely undermines the racing schedule I had carefully planned for the entire novel! I am going to have to go back to page 1 and give this whole book yet another close read from beginning to end to make sure all my dates work out properly and that there are no glaring contradictions! Someone please send me a case of Jolt Cola and some No-Doze!
Like what if I have good weather on a day that they would have been completely snowed in!!!!!
Good luck with the pass over the novel. It will probably go more quickly than you think.
You're right--your dark days are completely different.