Commas, copyedited manuscripts, and the lesser god "stet"
When I read this John Scalzi post about a month ago, about having to put commas back into his manuscript after his copy editor got through with it, I thought "Hmm, yeah, I think I agree."
Now, however, I'm scrambling to get through my own copy edited manuscript (I have just a few days to go through the entire manuscript, either agree or disagree with the C.E.'s changes, and make sure all the words and stuff are exactly the way I want them, before returning it to the publisher tomorrow). Well, I guess I'm more like Scalzi than I thought: my copy editor (who otherwise seems very good at his job), seems to have a strong distaste for commas. He's taken out many, many of my friendly little pauses marks, phrase set-offers, and just plain reading-eye friends. And I find myself stetting a good, large percentage of his deletions. Sure, I can understand that some of them really aren't, in strictest grammatical construction, necessary. But, even though The Presidential Book of Lists is a non-fiction book, the writing therein should (to my mind, and eye) be pleasingly easy to ready, with sufficient pause marks emplaced so that the reading brain can take its breaths as necessary. Dammit, I like my commas! (And semi-colons, too, but that's an issue for another time.)
I guess grammar is on a minimalist swing in terms of punctuation: the more I read, the less punctuation, it seems, the better (as far as those doing the editing and publishing are concerned). Perhaps it's an outgrowth of the instant-messaging culture, where punctuation marks are almost completely absent. And if I'd written my book in IM-speak (or leet-speak, or any of the other new hip jargons floating around), I imagine my punctuation would stand out like a screamingly sore thumb. But I didn't. I wrote it in basic English, and I like my punctuation. It isn't excessive; it's like seasoning—just enough to properly enhance the flavor, to make the whole more palatable, without actually overwhelming the underlying words.
So, when you do read my book, be forewarned: there will be lots of little dangly things on the lines, between the words. Sometimes, indeed, there will be more than two between one period and the next (though sometimes not). If you're a devotee of ee cummings, you'll probably have trouble with it. But if I prevail in the great comma battle, I'll feel better about the book, which, after all, will have my name on the cover.
(And don't get me started with the capitalization: that's a windmill to tilt at another day.)
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ianrandalstrock) wrote,
