2008-09-05
Editing on Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law
2 commentsPlease note that all photographs of the book in this article are taken of a dummy copy put together by hand, not from the printer's proof copy. We're not quite at that stage yet...
Worksurf warning: some rather rude cartoons may offend those of a sensitive nature/your boss/probably not your secretary.
Brian, my editor, building a mountain bike on the terrace. © Jude Calvert-Toulmin
(You can read the first in Brian's series of articles about landscaping our garden: "A garden of mud and stone - Part 1" here on his blog.)
Update 16th November 2008:
I wrote Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law in three months, whereas it took me eighteen months to write my first novel, My Adventures in Cyberspace. That will be published in Spring 2009, but I figured I'd rather have something published first which caters for an existing market.
My partner Brian is one of the most widely read, intelligent people I've ever met. He did a fantastic job editing My Adventures in Cyberspace and is editing Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law.
Besides having a full time job, he is also the assistant programmer for the up and coming ShAFF, Sheffield Adventure Film Festival, and has recently been appointed assistant programmer for the prestigious and world-famous KMFF, Kendal Mountain Film Festival. This entails him watching a lot of films whenever the weather is too inclement for him to work on the huge garden landscaping project he started four years ago (see my blog article "The Garden With Seven Rooms" for pics.)
And so, he is editing Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law in his lunch hour, sitting in one of Sheffield's Art Galleries.
You may have heard authors say at award ceremonies "And thank you to my editor...the book would not be the same without him (her.)"
Well, it's not just glib fawning, that. Editing requires a completely different skill set to the initial writing, and Brian is a superb editor. He does a lot of wood carving, using a set of finely sharpened chisels, and editing is not that different. Only sometimes my writing requires a cleaver, and sometimes the results are very painful, especially for a flower as delicate as myself.
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
I don't mind so much his telling me he knows my characters better than I do. That's fine and dandy, I'm not such an egotist I can't handle that...
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
More on the italics...
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Apart from his fabulous sense of humour and no nonsense attitude, one added bonus of Brian being a down to earth Yorkshireman, is that he can edit dialect.
Originally, the character of Matt in Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law, was going to be from Wakefield, but Brian wanted the accent to be absolutely accurate, and as he is from Pudsey, we've decided to relocate Matt so that he now hails from Shipley, where the accent is a general East Bradford accent (it changes on the West side of Bradford to being more like a Halifax accent.)
For this reason, the editing on the dialect sections is taking ages as every apostrophe has to be absolutely accurate. We decided not to use traditional editing marks on either the copy edit or the proof edit of this book and developed our own form of communication, rather like children inventing their own language.
(There's an article about my character Matt here by the way.)
Originally, the character of Matt in Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law, was going to be from Wakefield, but Brian wanted the accent to be absolutely accurate, and as he is from Pudsey, we've decided to relocate Matt so that he now hails from Shipley, where the accent is a general East Bradford accent (it changes on the West side of Bradford to being more like a Halifax accent.)
For this reason, the editing on the dialect sections is taking ages as every apostrophe has to be absolutely accurate. We decided not to use traditional editing marks on either the copy edit or the proof edit of this book and developed our own form of communication, rather like children inventing their own language.
(There's an article about my character Matt here by the way.)
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
As Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law is partly humourous and partly erotic, Brian has developed a ratings system for the erotic sections.
He calls them "Stubby ratings" and they verge from one cartoon todger for a mildly arousing section, to three cartoon todgers for a section which results in his barely being able to stand up in the Art Gallery after an editing session.
However there is a bonus rating, the equivalent of getting a starred A in your GCSEs, which gets a "Spurty rating" as you can see from the pics below.
The result of this is that as soon as Brian gets home from work he forgets about boys' stuff like fixing his mountain bike, and instead remembers he's a man, throws me over his shoulder and takes me upstairs for you know what. Oooh I feel coy all of a sudden.
I don't expect traditional editors in the traditonal publishing industry use this system, but it works for us.
As I am concurrently setting up a publishing company there is a lot on at the moment, but I am hoping that Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law will be available to buy this Autumn.
Stubby rating: Semi
He calls them "Stubby ratings" and they verge from one cartoon todger for a mildly arousing section, to three cartoon todgers for a section which results in his barely being able to stand up in the Art Gallery after an editing session.
However there is a bonus rating, the equivalent of getting a starred A in your GCSEs, which gets a "Spurty rating" as you can see from the pics below.
The result of this is that as soon as Brian gets home from work he forgets about boys' stuff like fixing his mountain bike, and instead remembers he's a man, throws me over his shoulder and takes me upstairs for you know what. Oooh I feel coy all of a sudden.
I don't expect traditional editors in the traditonal publishing industry use this system, but it works for us.
As I am concurrently setting up a publishing company there is a lot on at the moment, but I am hoping that Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law will be available to buy this Autumn.
Stubby rating: Semi
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Stubby rating: Single stubby
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Stubby rating: Double stubby
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Stubby rating: Triple stubby
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Stubby rating: Qualifies for full Spurty rating
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Stubby rating: Qualifies for full Spurty rating
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Stubby rating: Qualifies for a Spurty rating of "11"
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin
Coming soon, photos and article: I've moved offices! Inspired by a fellow forum member, I've moved from an alcove in the kitchen to looking out of the french windows over the terrace, garden and woods beyond!
© Jude Calvert-Toulmin 2009
If you have been involved in a fatal road crash and would like to tell your story for CRASH, a forthcoming non-fiction book, please contact Jude at Fleur De Lys Publishing. 2 commentsWhat next?
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Posts
Wed Sep 17, 09:48:00 AM BST
Well since no-one else has- let's leave a comment...
The rating system sure beats crowns or "toques" for restaurants! Hope to see this notation acknowledged officially by the Oxford University Press.
Morgan
Wed Sep 17, 10:39:00 AM BST
The Oxford University Press - indeed. I do have to say though, that I'm very much in the "Tradition can sit and spin" camp. If we all adhered strictly to tradition then nothing would have changed since Medieval Times. Tradition is a good foundation on which to build change. Blimey, did I just say that? That's another of my great mottoes. I think I'll start a "Jude's mottoes" section on the blog in my next tea break. Thanks for the inspiration, Morgan! x
Note to lurkers: Morgan gets a kiss because he's been supporting me in my literary enterprises for a long time!