Writing: Page Proofs

[jpskewedthrone]

I recently got the page proofs for the new novel. For those unaware, there are many stages in the process of getting the book from my head to the bookshelf. There's writing it, revising it, sending it in so the editor can rip it apart, revising it again. Typically there's a copy edit stage here where the author gets to look at the changes the copy editor wants, but DAW doesn't do that unless the author requests it. (I requested this on the first book, The Skewed Throne, but determined that it wasn't worth it for the rest.) Then there's the page proofs, where you get to see what the actual pages of the book will look like and have a chance to make minor changes, such as fixing typos, changing words, perhaps some sentences, etc. But you can't change anything significant (unless it's some hideously wrong with the book that somehow made it through all of the previous stages intact). After page proofs, the author has nothing left to do but sit a fret about it coming out on the shelf and (hopefully) selling well. There's no chance to change anything after page proofs. It's out of the author's hands.

So, the book is 650 pages long and of course (this happens with every book) DAW wanted those corrections back at the office within a week. By this point, you've read and revised your book often you typically hate it and can't stand reading it any more and pretty much just want to be done with it. In this case, it's been long enough since I wrote it, revised it, and handed it back in that it was more like I was reading the book again for the first time. I actually found myself enjoying it. Except for a few things that are what the page proofs are all about.

One of the biggest things for me as a writer (and I'm certain it happens to a lot of us) is that while writing I somehow, unconsciously, get fixated on certain words. For the first book I ever wrote (unpublished) it was the word "chill." Everything was "chill"--the weather, the air, the water, the grass, skin, metal, marble, mist, light. Chill, chill, chill, chill, chill. I wrote it off as first novel syndrome and vowed it would never happen again.

HA!

In this book, it was dialogue tags. Or at least gestures surrounding dialogue tags in an attempt to give the flavor of the emotion without actually telling you what the emotion of the moment was. There was lots and lots of "snorting" usually in contempt, and "grunting" as the noncommittal or angry response. A lot of "snapping" in anger as well. My editor commented on this while she was doing her edits and had called me up for another reason (I needed to send in acknowledgments and dedication and address some issues the copy editor had brought up). She said she was changing some of them but I should look at it during page proofs. So I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to eliminate every "snort," "grunt," and "snap" in the book. I didn't eliminate them all of course, but I changed some, and changed some of the changes that I'm certain my editor made using words that didn't feel right to me in that context or whatnot. I was shocked at how many there were.

I understand how they show up of course. While you're writing, you get perhaps 3-5 pages done per day on average (for those of us with day jobs). So you make certain that nothing repeats like that in those 3-5 pages. But the next day you don't remember necessarily what you used the day before, so you make certain you don't repeat THAT day. So a week later, you may have used "snort" 7 times without realizing that it's happened within the space of 21 pages.

However, when you read the entire novel in the space of 4 days . . . things like that stick out. *grin*

And then other things pop up that you don't expect. As I mentioned earlier, I discovered that I must have been wavering on how many brothers one of my characters had because he started out with one, but a couple of chapters later he had two. He had two for a while, then it went back to one, and finally ended back with two by the end. Somehow the copy editor didn't catch this (which I totally understand because the character's brother/brothers were only mentioned maybe 8 times in the entier 650 pages). In any case, I made a final decision about how many he had and HOPEFULLY caught all of the mentions of brothers and corrected them. He only has one by the way. Children are rare in his culture/race, so it made since he'd only have one and that one would be of note and his death of even more significance.

Those were the major changes I made. There were a few others, such as typos (artchitecture instead of architecture; brathe instead of breathe; etc). There were a few missing quotes on dialogue. A few double double words, which everyone has a habit of reading over as just the one word. Things like that.

But the page proofs are now done, mailed back, and I hope all of my fixes make it into the final version of the book. I hate reading books where typos and such have not been found and removed. I've written long enough to know that NO ONE ever finds every typo and such. So having a few in a 650 book is expected. I have no delusions that I found them all. But I still hate it when they appear. Which is why I set everything aside--writing, grading, etc--in order to get the page proofs done and sent in on time in the first place.

What do I think of the book now? I can't tell. I hope everyone loves it, and loves the main character. It isn't like the Throne books. It's written in third person and has a much more epic feel to it. I'd say it's halfway between the intensely personal story of Varis from the Throne books and a grand epic fantasy series. The two sequels are supposed to push more and more into the epic field. There are parts of it really, really love. But is it good? I really just can't tell. I've read it so often and lived with it too long to be able to judge. I know I love the characters and the world and I absolutely LOVE the endings of the two parts and the magic I've introduced and how I used it, making it integral to the plot. I'm somewhat upset that the cover copy I've read of the book spoils one of the major surprises of the book (something that happens about halfway through). But I don't control the cover copy and hopefully it won't destroy the reader's enjoyment of that section.

In any case, I'm done. It's handed in and completely out of my hands. Now to get down to some serious fretting.

And the writing of the sequel of course. *grin*

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Wow does this sound familiar. I keep a list of overused phrases that show up in my stuff, and when I think I'm done, I do the grindingly tedious thing of global search. When there've been fifty of those within the first three chapters, I realize, yep, I've done it again.

I also stick the whole thing into a Worldle, and see what words show up as used most often. Urrrrgh.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I've never gotten Wordle to work for me. I cut and paste and it just never generates anything for me. It was highly disappointing.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

You have to wait a minute or two, then you'll get the Java image in the square, and then about thirty seconds later you should see it.

My books are longer than yours, and they work, so yours should, too.

[thelauderdale.livejournal.com]

This was fun to read because I know I definitely fixate on particular words (and qualifying adjectives are the bane of my existence.) As for novel discrepancies that make their way into the final copy, I think my favorite was Killconey the sex-changing ferret in Brian Jacques' first Redwall novel. It was just occasionally: he/she would go for entire chapters of the book as one sex, then as another. It was charming and delightful. 8)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

*gape* Do you think the sex change thing was done on purpose, or did the author just lose track (as well as the editor and copy editor and . . . )

[thelauderdale.livejournal.com]

My theory is...the author and the editor and the copy editor and. Because where the sex changes were applied, they were consistent. I *think* that Jacques was toying with the idea of making one of his vermin female (this was his first book and there weren't any female vermin in the first book, with the variable exception of Killconey), that he wrote it sometimes in the one way and sometimes in the other. And yes, somehow, NO ONE caught it after that.

[controuble.livejournal.com]

So...
If page proofs are done, that means it should be out shortly, no?

What's it called and when can I expect to be able to read it?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Typically there's a copy edit stage here where the author gets to look at the changes the copy editor wants, but DAW doesn't do that unless the author requests it.

*goggle* Much as I hate doing copy edits, there is NO WAY I would skip that stage. ZOMG. *goggles*

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. I need to see my copyedits and can't imagine skipping that stage.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Lordie, no. I get so angry, and end up stetting almost everything. I did once get a publisher on the phone, saying "Chaaaaz - if you're going to be this difficult, and undo almost everything the CE has done, would you rather we just skip the copy-edit stage altogether next time?"

To which, of course, I had to say no. Copy-edits have their uses, many and various. Just, the point is not to rewrite my prose. Grr.

[kmarkhoover.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I find I get fixated on words too and then you have to go diggin' for them through the MS. :)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Once someone points them out, THEN you see them everywhere, but not until someone points them out.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

What an incredibly satisfying craft post. I usually hate posts about writing; this one was interesting AND personally useful. I am going to do some searches for some of _my_ tic words after I finish the third draft of this novel and before I send to my beta readers. Thank you so much!

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[cj-ruby.livejournal.com]

A very informative and surprisingly useful post. I wear out the thesaurus and I still find the same words popping up. Kinda makes me feel better knowing it's a common problem.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I think everyone does this and there's no way to really stop yourself. At least any way that I've found.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Heh. Try having two characters have basically the same conversation, because you forgot Character A already introduced Character B to Concept C.

Did you have those "Dang, I'm good!" moments?

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I had a few of those moments. *grin*

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Fixated on words? You mean like searching one of my books for goat references? :-)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

This is a different kind of fixation, one that requires far more intensive and interventive help.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Beer.

[mardott.livejournal.com]

*snorted* That was a big one in my first book. What fun.

I can't wait to read this. Your post made me feel like I'm going through it with you.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Great! It's coming out shortly, so keep watch.

[shanrina.livejournal.com]

I don't just fixate on words, I have an entire sentence fixation. I don't think it's possible for me to write a third person rough draft without including a sentence along the lines of "Even in the dim light, X could see Y." I try to catch it as I go and usually I don't even finish typing out the sentence when I see the dreaded "Even in the dim light" start to emerge, but sometimes it worms its way in. Apparently none of my stories ever take place in well-lit areas.

Do you have any information yet on when it might be coming out? When do authors tend to get that information, anyway?

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

It should be coming out in another few months. Information on nail-down release dates tend to vary from book to book, but keep watch!

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Ahh, printer's proofs, how I love to hate you. I doubt this is as much of an issue in novels as it is in textbooks, but you might wan to turn on some nice music and glance at each page without really *looking* at it. Typing errors will jump out at you this way, erroneous capitalization, mistakes in punctuation, and so on.

Hopefully, you won't find anything as badly wrong as this piece of homosexual chicken art:

(I refer to it in those terms because this diagram shows the possibilities of genotypes in cross-breeding, but every chicken is a rooster. This art led to me having to give a presentation of recognizing animal gender to the Science Department.)

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

This diagram reminds me of working as an aide while in college. the kids were supposed to be learning about rhyming words. After a while, they brought the worksheet to me and said, "None of us can get #5."

I said, "That's because the person who illustrated this workbook is under the impression that the animal pictured is a *cow*." (This was a rural community, so every kid was well aware that while the creature pictured was a bovine, a cow he was not.)

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, textbooks aren't supposed to show cow udders because they're "offensive." They are also not allowed to use the word "create" becuase the southern bible-thumpers go up in arms, and if they talk about food, it has to be healthy. *eyeroll* I miss my job, but not some of the ridiculous things we had to do.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

And you can't mention holidays that have any religious connotations, or things that might make kids feel bad because they can't do those things, or can't afford them or... (No head/desk icon, so you'll have to settle for Giles.)

[thelauderdale.livejournal.com]

In a tenuously related vein, I had the fortune of seeing the "Harry Potter" display at the Boston Museum of Science a few weeks ago. There were life-size replicas of the centaurs and...yes, they were anatomically correct. I checked.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to go check that out.

I also would have checked for anatomical correctness, but I'm terribly anal like that.

[thelauderdale.livejournal.com]

Ya've got till the 28th. After that you must seek it in Ontario.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Usually the errors leap out at me as I read, especially if I've had some significant distance from the book before I have to read it again, like here. But if I've just written it, then what I WANTED it to say is still in my head, and so that's what I read no matter what's written there.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Oh, I quite understand. Heck, you read my awful first pass at a chapter--I can edit another person's bad attempt, but my own work? Forget it!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

If it's any comfort, I was just rereading a favourite novel by Big Name Author, and found him using the same easy-cliche phrase three times in two paragraphs. I am Homer, see me nod...

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

But when someone points something like this out, you become HYPER-aware of the word(s) and so now when I'm writing I find I'm doing anything I possibly can to avoid using the words:

snort
grunt
snap
chill

even when they're abundantly appropriate. But yes, it's satisfying to know that other writers, even the biggies, do the same thing.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I have an editor who has been persuaded - by someone else, I'm fairly sure - that the word "it" is crude and ugly and awkward and to-be-avoided. Which means that every story of mine he handles, every time that word occurs he's trying to persuade me to swap in something else. It's becoming an expression of paranoia, rather than legit editing. I am resisting, but we could almost fall out over it.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

You're definitely not the only one who latches onto words or certain tics. Thank goodness for solid editing. I salute your fortitude.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I agree wholeheartedly with your remarks regarding writing time vs. reading time. I've never thought about it as a factor in overusing certain words, but rather as a reason for repeating information. If I point out something for the fifth time, it might be that I last wrote about it six weeks ago. I figure the reader has forgotten it and mention it again. Contrarily, the reader has read it thirty-six minutes ago and wonders if I think he has a poor retention factor. Doing so also provides excellent "delete" fodder for editing.
Dave

[jaxom92.livejournal.com]

I greatly look forward to reading the new book when it comes out. Always love your posts about the writing process. Even the ones about how hard it is or maddening or whatnot, they all inspire me.