Editing: The Art of Asking the Right Questions (Part 2)

Maureen Shelley continues with Part 2 of "10 Simple Steps to becoming a successful published author" series, putting the spotlight on masterful editing.

An editor will proof read and undertake more substantive edits to a work. Proof reading involves checking for semantics, typographical errors and grammar.

Pic source: Tumblr.com

In searching for grammatical errors, an editor will consider a range of issues; and here are just some.

1.    Has the writer made the correct use of definitive articles?

2.    Has the writer avoided confusing modifiers?

3.    Are the subject and verb in agreement, in grammatical terms?

4.    Has the writer used appropriate punctuation within sentences?

5.    Does the sentence structure follow established principles? If not, is it appropriate for the work?

6.    Are there any spelling errors?

7.    What is the style for capitalisation and is it used consistently?

8.    Are the pro-noun (s) /noun (s) in agreement?

9.    Has the writer split their infinitives?

10. Are there squinting or limiting modifiers used?

11. Are there incomplete comparisons in the work?

12. Has the writer solved the great gerund mystery?

13. Are there redundant pairs?

14. Has the writer misused or confused 'like' and 'as'?

15. Has the writer taken the long way round to say something? That is, are there circumlocutions?

16. Has the correct punctuation been used, particularly in regard to question marks?

17. Has the writer confused self and personal pronoun use?

18. Is there pronoun and antecedent agreement?

19. Has the writer used double negatives?

20. Has the writer begun or ended sentences with a conjunctive?

21. Is there comparison of absolute adjectives?

22. Has the writer used unbalanced quantifiers or dangling modifiers?

23. In regard to semicolons; are they used correctly?

24. Is the verb form use appropriate?

25. Has the writer used prepositions at the beginning or end of sentences? If so, is that appropriate for the text?

26. Has the writer indulged in noun strings?

27. Do the verb tenses agree?

28. Has there been misuse of subordinate or subjunctive clauses?

29. Is there incorrect pronoun case agreement?

Apart from resolving these issues, an editor will also (if paid and directed to do so) check facts, gain permissions where appropriate, insert appropriate references (biblical, geographical and literary are just a few), index, mark citations, insert footnotes and endnotes and create a glossary.

In addition to all of this, a good editor will ensure that a work is readable and makes sense. That it has a consistent structure and sensible flow or a cohesive narrative.

A good editor is worth their weight in gold. (And they will check for cliches too!) Oh, and they will eliminate exclamation marks or 'screamers' as they are known.

June is Author's Month to celebrate the launch of Red Raven Books. Red Raven Books is the publishing and imprint arm of The Copy Collective. Find out how we can help you today.

Proofreading: What's it all about? (Part 1)

The Copy Collective's resident wordsmith Maureen Shelley begins her new blog series: "10 Simple Steps to becoming a successful published author."

Today she unpacks the curious concept of proof reading.

What is proof reading anyway?

Proof reading is when a manuscript or other written work is submitted for checking of semantics, grammar and typographical errors.

This can be done by a proof reader or editor or, if you can't afford a human, you can use online programs such as Grammarly . We use Grammarly to check for originality to ensure that work submitted for proofing or editing by us isn't plagiarised by the writer.

So what are you trying to say?

What programs such as Grammarly can't do for you is actually understand what you are trying to say when your subject and object aren't clear and then to suggest appropriate edits. 

If as a writer you can't even afford Grammarly, then you should at least use the spell checker in your word processing program.

Tips for top-class grammar when using Word:

• Set the language to your choice first - Australian English, UK English or US English - they will all give slightly different suggestions for spelling of words. Then do a "select all (Control A in Word on a PC) and then F7 for a spell check. Do this repeatedly - you will be amazed at how many errors you find.
• Turn on recommendations for grammar as well as spelling. It will come up with a few suggestions that you will need to ignore but should find most glaring errors.

June is Author's Month to celebrate the launch of Red Raven Books. Red Raven Books is the publishing and imprint arm of The Copy Collective. Find out how we can help you today.

The Red Raven flies with “Hope in 60 Seconds”

Guest Blogger Graeme Innes gives a bird's eye view from yesterday's book launch of “Hope in 60 Seconds”, Red Raven Book's first title in print.

Crows Nest is a great place from which to launch a new bird.  So Northside Community Church in Crows Nest, NSW provided an excellent launch-pad for Pastor Graham Agnew's first book, Hope In 60 Seconds.

It was fitting that the driving force behind the launch, boosting the book into the stratosphere of sales, was new publishing house Red Raven Books, the imprint arm of The Copy Collective.

When I endorsed Graham Agnew's (or GA to his friends) book I said:

“A super-charged buzz is on every page of Graham Agnew’s Hope is 60 Seconds. The messages throughout this book will renew your hope. I’ve been riveted by his sermons, loved his radio messages, and his book will make a permanent appearance in my daily reading.”

In launching the book, world-renowned author and speaker Michael McQueen commented the book contains 100 stories each with that vital ingredient of hope. He smilingly encouraged those at the launch to buy and read the book, as one of the stories could be about them.

I met a man walking away from the launch with five copies of the book in his hands.  In response to my question about his bulk purchase, he said "I've bought five of these books to give to five kids.  If one kid reads one story in the book, and it changes their life, it will be $100 well spent."

Hope in 60 Seconds can be obtained in print through Graham Agnew's website: grahamagnew.com. It will also be available as an E-book in July 2014.

June is authors month at The Copy Collective. We will profile new titles published by Red Raven Books; the publishing and imprint arm of The Copy Collective.

Stilettos and Women's Liberation: What have they got in common?

Feminists were flat against them. Flappers were out to shake them. While Dior made them a household name. This International Women’s Day we trace the twentieth century woman’s stride to freedom and the shoes she wore along the way.

 

Who knew the well-trodden path to women’s liberation would follow the rise and fall of the high heel?

Stepping out

Comfortable, practical, and ready-for-duty heels stepped out on the very first International Women’s Day on March 19^th, 1911. Over 30,000 women gathered at the largest street demonstration in Europe, joining thousands across the globe.

1925 Sears Catalogue (Source: flickr)

Following this chorus of confidence, the heel rose in stature to enhance the glamour of the Roaring ’20s. 

The high heel gave the illusion of longer and more slender legs. And a racy frock demanded a statement shoe. 

 

Heels at war

However, it couldn’t last. The captivating allure of the 1920s faded against the harsh realities of two World Wars and the Great Depression.

The high heel trend plummeted along with spirits to a more practical, low and wide heel. 

The heel revival

Post-war in the 1950s, good times were breaking through.  The high heel revival began again. Fashion designers like Christian Dior were going even higher with their first 5-inch stiletto heel.

It was a shaken, but battle-strong woman who stepped in to this new free world.

She’d gained her confidence and independence while the men were off to war. She had demanded her right to vote, fiercely fought by The Suffrage movement in most Western nations, and her traditional role in society was dramatically changing. 

The stomping 60s

Heel fashion, like the political and social state of the time, shifted significantly in the 60s and 70s. It was no longer about height and style, but about statement and freedom. And with that came the chunky platform shoe.

At the time, her role of mother and housewife was shrugged off for that of career woman. The introduction of the pill brought freedom to plan pregnancies and gain ‘control’ over her body and future. So women flooded universities and the workforce – in industries not previously broached – in fields of medicine, politics and business.

The rising trend

Manolo Blahnki Stilettos (Source: Vogue.com)

Designers like Manolo Blahnik brought back the sky-high stiletto in the 1980s and 90s.

The modern woman found stature and authority in her lofty heel. She fought for equality in the workforce, and challenged the traditional perceptions of her role and value across all levels of society.

The heel had earned its entitlement on catwalks, department store shelves, and then the wardrobe of every woman. She was confident. She was on her way.

The Heel Debate

Now I know what you’re thinking. It’s sexist to equate high heels and women’s liberation, right?

And you would be right, according to the views of the feminists of the 1960s and many still today.

Feminist groups were flat against it. Overly erotic or a form of ‘self-harm’, they saw heels as a male-invented shackle aimed to slow the progress towards women’s freedom, both literally and figuratively.

In the last 20 years, feminist views have receded – or indeed popular view has demonstrated acceptance – that the wearer of the heels does so for themselves, and not simply to appeal to the opposite sex.

So why is that one person’s view of the oppression from a patriarchal society, so vehemently opposed to someone else’s pursuit of personal expression?

I guess it’s because the feminist movement, or path to women’s liberation, is all about freedom of choice.

And women aren’t just women, they’re individuals. Individuals who have the freedom to walk-it-out in whatever they choose –stilettos, flip flops, sneakers – you name it, girlfriend.

 

Celebrating freedom

So, whether you’re liberating the flats or the heels from your wardrobe today, there’s much to celebrate as we approach International Women’s Day.

Since that first march for freedom in 1913, we’ve benefited from the patient tread of courage and determination by ordinary women that saw extraordinary progress, change and transformation.

While the debate continues about women in leadership and on boards, and the need to turn our efforts to ending poverty for the global poor wages on. I’m grateful to follow in the footsteps of those who’ve gone before me… and consider my swagger for those who’ll follow behind.

But it seems for now, the high heel – like women’s liberation – is here to stay.

 

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated each year on the 8^th of March. IWD is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women in the past, present and future. For information and events:  https://unwomen.org.au/iwd/about-international-womens-day

 

By Kirryn Zerna 

What does your tone of voice say about you?

What is your tone of voice saying about your company?

"Dear Maureen,
With the Spring ‘14 product update just around the corner, we want to make sure you're adequately informed regarding the coming changes." 

Adequately informed? Really? 
Thanks #Salesforce or as we (lovingly) call it Satanforce.

"February is the month of love and because we love you so much, we're adding one new integration every day this month." 

And that's how you do it folks.
That's #Zapier.

What does your tone of voice in your marketing communications say about  you?

Are you direct and friendly, informative and helpful or is your communication riddled with "adequate information"?

What's the worst example of marketing comms you have ever received?

What you can learn from someone else's business disaster

A disaster for one suburban cafe is a learning opportunity for all small businesses, writes Maureen Shelley.

In leafy Lindfield, the day started well for Tablespoon cafe owner Scott. Breakfast business was brisk and the full complement of about 10 staff had turned up and were soon hard at work serving soft-boiled eggs with Turkish toast soldiers and pots of Earl Grey tea to anyone that asked.

Lindfield is on Sydney's leafy North Shore

Tablespoon is in Tryon Road, Lindfield on Sydney's North Shore. It's popular with business types, mums and kids and the grey-haired stay-at-homes who populate the area.
In the adjoining street Downer EDI were carrying out roadworks for Ku-Ring-Gai Council. The hum of machinery could be heard in the cafe but not at an uncomfortable level.
As The Copy Collective's COO I (Maureen Shelley) was hosting a small business MeetUp in the cafe, as I do every month. One of the attendees noticed the staff packing the chairs in the outside dining area.
A river of comment rippled through the restaurant and people started asking: "What's going on?"
In Tryon Road, the road workers had hit a Sydney Water main with their machinery and it had burst. The cafe had no water. There was no indication of when there would be water and Scott had decided to cut his losses and close early - just 2 1/2 hours into the day.
"We have no water," a waiter told the MeetUp members. "We can't do anything without water."
Another staff member went around offering the remaining diners the freshly-cooked scones to take home for free. Business owner Scott had told all the staff that they would be going home - on full pay, of course, because they hadn't any notice that they wouldn't be needed for a full shift.

Lindfield shopping village, corner of Tryon Rd

Not understanding that the water being turned off was accidental rather than planned, Scott was asked if he'd been given notice of the shut down.
"No," he said, "And none of the people in the street knows when the water will be back on.
"No one can tell me anything. I can't run the business like this."
He said that he did have "business disruption insurance" and that he'd be seeing if he could make a claim.
Tablespoon is open 7am to 5pm most days and operates seven days a week.
One customer (an experienced marketing strategist) estimated that, apart from loss of business revenue and reputation, the restaurant would have had to have paid $3,000 in wages for staff to go home and have a swim. Then there was the food that couldn't be kept for another day - such as the scones being handed around -  and the losses were starting to mount up.
No one can prevent these things - road workers burst water mains, heat waves keep people home, computers crash - random events can impact on any small business.
So, apart from having business disruption insurance like sensible Scott, what can you do to minimise the damage?

Sign at Tablespoon 16 January 2014

1. Have a plan
Thinking about the risks to your business before they happen can help. You may not need to ensure that your executives fly on different planes every time but would it hurt to implement it as a strategy?
2. Make sure everyone knows what the plan is
How often has your business paid expensive consultants to develop a business plan and then it has lain around collecting dust? Make the plan short and relevant. Keep it simple - maybe just 10 bullet points that address the most likely things that could hit your business - like computers crashing, the internet being down, the phones being cut off. Simple stuff but can you operate without them?
3. Take out the insurance and pay the premium
If disaster does strike, knowing that you have insurance to cover it can make the difference between your business surviving or going through a really tough time.
4. Look on the bright side - it might be a good thing
I spoke to a business owner who had a fire that destroyed her business premises. They had good insurance cover and she said to me: "It's actually quite scary how well we did out of the fire. Everyone was very sympathetic, our business was back up and running within six weeks, we were able to fix all the things that were wrong with the previous processing plant and the insurance company money really saved the day."

Disney, disability and Frozen

Frozen charts feminist territory and a the glimmer of a more enlightened view of people with disabilities for Disney writes Maureen Shelley.

Despite the singing (I lost it when the snowman started warbling a ballad to summertime), Frozen is a stand out in the Disney movie archives. The plot – loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen – has two beautiful young princesses face the requisite number of obstacles before they discover the meaning of true love. So far, so Disney.

What’s different is that true love IS true love, the sisters are agents of their own destiny, the issue of disability is taken out and examined implicitly in a shockingly different way for Disney (more on   that later) and the plot is intricate, complex and engaging.

True love

For Disney true love has been, until this century, what we in the real world call infatuation or lust. In Frozen, true love turns out to be the love that two people have for each other and is based on years of relationship, shared memories, selflessness and self –sacrifice. It is based on more than a few hours of acquaintanceship or a single kiss. So not Disney.

Further, one of the beautiful princesses falls for a bad boy who is prepared to kill her and her sister to win a kingdom for himself. The princess sees the bad boy for what he is and doesn’t fall in love on the rebound. Disney, it seems, has lost the plots on which it has relied for about 90 years.

Feminism

Peg-Leg Pete threatens Mickey (C) Disney

Yes, these two princesses are beautiful, size 6, talented (singers at least) and privileged. Yet, in Frozen the young women get to do the rescuing as well as being rescued. They get to make decisions for themselves and implement them. They order people about and have their orders followed (I think that’s the princess bit but it’s a start). These women do more than stand around singing.

Although the animators at Disney still have foot-in-mouth disease where women are concerned (it’s hard to animate them, make them do things and keep them “pretty” said one), at least Frozen sheds a glimmer of light on the equality of the sexes in Disney. It doesn’t stretch to the women being plain, ordinary, lacking in privilege or, you know, with a job or anything but it is progress.

Disability

Frozen was shown in the session we attended with Get A Horse – a short cartoon based on old footage, reworked for the digital age. The villain in Get A Horse is Peg-Leg Pete. Pete’s name is a dead giveaway – he’s a person with a disability. He’s the only person with a disability in the cartoon and he’s the villain. He’s a pretty nasty character and he has Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt himself) to contend with, so there are no prizes for guessing who wins the day. Mickey ensures that Peg-Leg Pete, who is a would-be thief, is repeatedly injured by taking advantage of his clumsiness that results from him only having one leg. Now, apart from the unsympathetic treatment of Pete, Get A Horse is a nasty little story, so we won’t dwell on it. However, it does show Disney’s (sometimes very unsympathetic) treatment of characters with disabilities.

Disney has depicted a range of characters with disabilities in Princess films over the years, namely

·         Seven men of short stature in Snow White (achondroplasia or dwarfism is a recognised disability)

Ariel - The Little Mermaid (C) Disney

·         Ariel in Little Mermaid (at times she can’t walk and at others she can’t talk)

·         Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (she’s in a coma for much of the film and may have brain injury)

·         the Beast in Beauty and the Beast has a debilitating disease that causes dysmorphism or physical malformations

·         Pocahontas believes she can talk to animals, commune with spirits and understand unknown languages, which makes her a savant, possibly on the autism spectrum or she may be delusional

·         Cross-dressing Mulan is very clumsy and may be living with ataxia, a movement disability

·         Tiana in The Frog and The Princess believes she turns into an animal. This may be psychiatric therianthropy or delusions associated with schizophrenia.

·         Rapunzel in Tangled clearly had a form of polycystic ovarian syndrome that resulted in excessive hair growth

·         Merida’s mother Elinor from Tangled and her brothers Harris, Hubert and Hamish all turn into bears – a similar dilemma to Tiana in The Frog and The Princess. These may be just delusions created by drug abuse but they also may be symptoms of mental illness.

These disabilities are usually “inflicted” on the characters by a “wicked witch” or a “curse” and are often resolved (cured) at the end of the film by true love (a different form of magic).

Yet it is in Frozen that we see Elsa, the character with a disability that is both a “power” and a “curse”, as being the subject of two very different treatments as a result of her condition.

Elsa has a condition that makes things she touches become frozen, which can be a good thing – she can create ice castles in the air – and causes problems (she accidently puts ice into her sister’s brain).

Elsa the Good, (C) Disney

Her parents’ response is to lock her away, to not let anyone see her, to have her learn to control her emotions and to be a “good girl”. She and her family become very isolated.

It reminded me of how families with children with disabilities would put them in institutions, send them to special schools (we don’t see how Elsa was schooled) and generally cut them off from mainstream society. Both Elsa and her sister, Anna, suffer loneliness as a result of Elsa’s isolation – much in the way that families with members who had a disability did in the past.

Elsa runs away to the mountains and embraces her condition and the power it gives her. Interestingly, when she does so, she becomes much more womanly. She sheds her “good girl” clothes and walks with a wiggle; she creates a beautiful palace and becomes more queen-like.

However, she is even more isolated than when she was shut in a room by her parents. In her room she could talk through the door to her sister or the servants. In the ice palace, she is alone except for the snowman and a Yeti-like beast that she creates. Clearly, in the Disney cosmos, disability is a reason to isolate people in the most extreme way.

Anna, when she learns of Elsa’s “power” (curse) wants to investigate what can be done, she wants the condition out in the open and she wants to use relationship to address it.

It seems odd to me that Elsa’s parents don’t ever try to get help for her to learn to control her emotions (psychiatric treatment) so that she can manage her condition. They seek advice from a troll when she is a child but no further intervention is sought until she comes of age.

Elsa - the Snow Queen (C) Disney

The intersection of sexuality and disability in Elsa’s life is like a double threat and echoes the experience of many women with a disability. The disability may be tolerated when they are children but when they become women the disability needs to be dealt with more strictly. In extreme situations (in real life) this has resulted in many women with intellectual disability being sterilised. In Elsa’s case, she has to run away to become a woman but is seen by some as a “monster”.

Anna works to get Elsa to return to the city so that it can be removed from the permanent winter she accidently created by letting her emotions loose. By Anna’s self-sacrifice – she takes an injury meant to kill Elsa – Elsa’s heart melts and she is now able to control her condition. She uses it to create beauty.

Through the self-sacrificing love of her sister, Elsa is able re-join society, live in the city and be crowned queen. She is no longer isolated, her condition is known to everyone and the people are indulgent of her and proud of the way she uses her power to create beauty.

However, Elsa doesn’t win the ultimate Disney prize that of a relationship with a man. Maybe, that is a stretch too far for even this new 21^st century, Pixar-driven Disney universe.