The infamous convo between Donkey and Shrek on the ogre persona goes like this:
Shrek : For your information, there's a lot more to ogres than people think.
Donkey : Example?
Shrek : Example... uh... ogres are like onions!
[holds up an onion, which Donkey sniffs]
Donkey : They stink?
Shrek : Yes... No!
Donkey : Oh, they make you cry?
Shrek : No!
Donkey : Oh, you leave 'em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’ little white hairs...
Shrek : [peels an onion] NO! Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers... You get it? We both have layers.
[walks off]
Donkey : Oh, you both have LAYERS. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions. CAKE! Everybody loves cake! Cakes have layers!
Shrek : I don't care what everyone likes! Ogres are not like cakes.
In a different post we can debate whether copyediting is more like an onion or cake. I personally prefer to eat cake, but for today’s post, I’m going with Shrek in saying that copyediting is more like an onion. There are layers to copyediting. When a copyeditor receives a text to edit, there are some basic questions to ask that help determine the scope of a project.
Scoping = Layers
How difficult is the text? Are we talking scientific, technical, academic, professional? Or are we closer to a simple narrative, advertisement or Young Adult fiction?
How long is the text? Are we dealing with a 900-page novel, a 2,500 word article or a brief, splashy ad? If we’re dealing in pages, are we at 250 words-per-page or 500 or more?
In what format is the text? Do we have a Word doc needing track changes? Do we have a hand-written manuscript? Or perhaps a locked-down PDF?
Which type of editing is needed? Are we reading for clarity and a grammar polish? Or are we diving into charts, tables, footnotes or endnotes, bibliographies, or fact-checking?
What is the preferred style manual? Does the text need to adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style? The APA? An in-house style guide? Do we need to create a style guide for the text based on similar texts?
Who is the author (and the audience)? Is the writer a native English speaker? Is he/she a seasoned veteran or a first-timer? Is he/she a business exec, a pastor, a student? Does he/she know what she needs out of the editing process and what to expect during it?
What is the preferred deadline? Is it feasible? How firm is it? Are there third-parties involved (a publishing house, printer, etc.)? Are there reporting structures within these entities that need to be navigated?
Think about scoping like approaching the onion section at the grocery story. If it’s your basic small market with a small selection, it may be a fairly simple endeavor. But, if you’re at a more fresh-produce focused store, you’ve got some major decisions to make. The onion section can be strangely overwhelming. For simplicity, we’ll categorize the selection criteria into two: color (or flavor) and size. That’ll reduce analysis paralysis and get you out of the store with what you need.
Color or flavor/varieties: white, yellow, red, green (sweet, shallots, leeks, Vidalia, pearl, etc.)
Size: large, medium, small or mini.
That said, it first helps to know what the heck you’re doing with said onions—how you’ll ultimately use them, and of course, how you need to prep them.
Prep or use: roasted, grilled, pickled, caramelized, battered and deep-fried, raw (sliced thinly or chopped); as a main ingredient or a garnish
In determining color/flavor, size and use, you’ve actually honed in on scope and covered many of the copyediting questions above. But let’s chat a bit more about size. For onions, it’s not that hard to make a call. You see a pile of onions, you check your knowledge-base about what you’re cooking, and you grab that medium yellow onion. As a complete aside, I love this description of yellow onions from the Spruce Eats so much that I had to share. Because who describes onions as the staple workhorse?: “The workhorse, the staple, the everyday brown beauty, yellow onions are suitable for any conceivable use, other than perhaps as a garnish for your martini (use a pearl onion for that). You could easily live a rich and fulfilling life even if this were the only onion you ever tasted.” Beautiful.
Sizing = Layers
OK, back to sizing. Sizing is crucial in copyediting. And there are three basic levels (or in this case, if you’ll humor me and think layers, we’ll keep the onion analogy going). And to be fair, leveling is not universal and it’s not 100% objective. Like many of the best things in life, copyediting is an art and a science.
Because time and money are inescapable constraints in life, copyediting jobs are often broken down into Light, Medium and Heavy. Let’s say there’s a movie script up against a tight production deadline with a waning budget. In a world where time and money did not impede, the text could really benefit from Heavy copyediting. Alas, the production company comes back and says, “We hear you, but our timeframe and budget only allow for 5 days and $2,000 to get this script online (translation: Light copyediting).”
You get the basic concept. You’re sizing the job so that you can estimate well. Not so you can pat yourself on the back, but so you can give your client a fair shake at duration and cost of the project as a responsible copyeditor. We’ve all had experience (directly or via a friend) with a general contractor saying the new kitchen will take 4 weeks and cost $15,000. And who’s gnashing their teeth 6 and 8 weeks later now $25k deep? Not the contractor—it’s the family still washing their dinner dishes in the bathroom sink while plotting the general contractor’s demise.
Sizing well means expectations can be set well. Expectations met means happy client and happy copyeditor. Win-win. With plenty of timely communication throughout, if/when there are changes, and a contract structured in such a way that both parties are protected throughout.
But if you’re a client, you still might be wondering… sizing based on what exactly? You get the initial questions about the project help guide an initial estimate, but at that point, it’s still just a high-level estimate.
You guessed it, more layers. According to Amy Einsohn’s A Copy Editor’s Handbook (2019), a copyeditor has 6 main tasks:
Mechanical Editing
Correlating Parts
Language Editing: Grammar, usage and diction
Content Editing
Permissions
Typecoding
We can go into more detail on each of these in subsequent Bob posts. For now, let’s stick with sizing. Numbers 1, 2, 5 and 6 are fairly straightforward when it comes to sizing. There’s no real need to break them down into Light, Medium and Heavy categories. Language Editing and Content Editing however; can be broken down into levels or sizes.
Language Editing
Let’s say you’re editing the executive summary of a colleague’s final report on emerging market research. The second paragraph is wordy, convoluted, and hard to understand. It throws off the flow of the summary and invites more questions than it answers. What do you do?
It depends. Did he ask you to skim the summary for egregious errors and get it back to him in 20 minutes so he can send it on to the CEO ASAP? If so, you go “Light” and point out the paragraph that seems wordy and convoluted, and suggest it be re-worked for clarity and brevity. You might also ask for a clarification on a specific point. You correct any major errors you find, but you leave alone some of the wordiness or imprecise wording. You turn it around and fire it back and wish him well. If you’re able, you might offer more substantive assistance, but you know time is of the essence so he probably cannot take you up on the offer.
Now let’s say your colleague had another 4 days to turn in the executive summary and he asked you to really dig in. Now, you can go “Heavy.” You’re correcting all grammar, syntax and usage. You’re actually rewriting those wordy or convoluted sections, and you’re getting and providing the clarification needed. This is substantively more work and will take time. You might even go back and forth with him on certain sections until you both get them right.
Content Editing
Now let’s say you’re editing an article about immigration reform. It’s chock full of assertions, non-cited data, and unattributed quotes. You’ve been asked very clearly to go “Light” on the editing. You dutifully and respectfully point out each case where there is a factual inconsistency, where a source is needed for a direct quote, where a data point or quote may have been taken out of its original context, where a claim is made and not backed up, etc. You return the article with all the notes and know that you provided the best service you could for the job requested. Now let’s say the author comes back to you saying “I honestly do not have the time to dig up all these sources and citations.” Let’s says he asks if you can go “Heavy” and lets you know he’s willing to compensate you for it. Now as an editor, you’re researching and verifying all facts. You’re revising the ones that are incorrect. You’re fixing faulty logic and gaps in logic. You’re ensuring assertions are backed up, and where they cannot be, you are making/requesting specific changes to the text to bring it down a level to “opinion.”
Stages = Layers
Finally, we can break down the copyediting process into stages—and again, if you’ll humor me and think layers, we’ll ride out the onion analogy to the death.
Copyeditors will always read a draft twice through, and many times, three times or more. That is why, dear friends, it can take some time. If you are unused to working with copyeditors, it may seem strange that something you can read through in 1 hour would take 8-10 hours of copyediting work. So let’s review for a moment. You have to talk to the author and read through the text once to get a feel for it and be able to 1) scope it properly. Then you need to 2) size or level it to get down to a more defined estimate. You’re charged with those 6 separate 3) editing tasks (see above). And, you’re diving into the 4) stages of the editing process.
Stage 1: Content Edit
You’re working with an early draft
You’re reading for content (not grammar)
You’re determining suitability for the intended audience
You’re looking very closely at organization and coherence of the text
You’re flagging things to come back to (usage, jargon, grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, etc.)
Stage 2: Deep Edit
You’re working with a final draft
You’re looking closely at pacing, wordiness, word choice, punctuation, grammar, spelling, conclusion and/or executive summary
You’re asking the author for clarification, you doing your own research, you may be rewriting and fixing
You’re deep in citations, bibliography and adherence to a style guide
Stage 3: Proof-Edit
You’re working with the final copy
You’re checking for final accuracy in grammar and spelling
You’re checking to see how queries were resolved and changes received/made since the final draft
You’re double-checking the intro, conclusion and executive summary
It’s easy to think of copyediting as a two-layer cake with some happy chocolate pudding filling in the middle. Nice and simple. (For me, it’s cannoli cream filling. Yeah, that’s a thing back east. It’s as they say, to-die-for.) But I do think copyediting is more like an onion. There’s a lot going on there. A lot of layers.
I’ll let Shrek close us out.
Shrek : I don't care what everyone likes! Ogres are not like cakes.
Donkey : You know what ELSE everybody likes? Parfaits! Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait."? Parfaits are delicious!
Shrek : NO! You dense, irritating, miniature beast of burden! Ogres are like onions! End of story! Bye-bye! See ya later.
Donkey : Parfait's may be the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet!