E D Baker's Blog

I sent the revised version of my latest manuscript back to my editor. It will be going to the copy editor next. I used to think that all copy editors do the same thing, but that isn’t necessarily the case. True, they all look for typos, errors in punctuation and grammar, consistency of names and whether or not your time line works, but they also each seem to have their own special thing that they focus on. I had one copy editor who looked at the last word in each sentence and made sure that it wasn’t the same as the word above or below it. (This works only after you have the manuscript pages divided the way they will be in the book.) Another copy editor made sure that I varied the placement of said, asked, etc in each sentence of my dialogue - as in one line would read so and so said, and the next line would read said so and so.
Because each manuscript goes to two copy editors before going to the printers, one would think that there wouldn’t be any mistakes. And this is after my editor and I have gone over it countless times. Even so you may find a mistake here and there. I apologize, but we really did try to catch them all!
The manuscript I sent was the seventh in the tales of the Frog Princess. I’ve already begun my next book which is neither part of the series nor related to Wings. All I can say is that it is another princess story and that I’m already having fun with it. In my opinion, having fun with your story is vital. If the author doesn’t enjoy it, chances are the readers won’t either. (Check out my message board at talesofedbaker.com. I discussed this very subject with one of my fans recently.)
The latest issue of the Greater Greensward is going on the site today or tomorrow. That’s something else I really enjoy, and I hope you do as well.