(from Moon-Yun)
My friend plans to write a book about his crazy life. I am thinking about offering my editing services since taking this class. I'm afraid that if I do the proofreading markings, he's going to freak out. To be diplomatic, I was thinking of making the edits on the computer instead of marking it on the paper. What do you think?
4 comments:
As I was telling David today, a copyeditor is like a pencil surgeon. You have to be quite skilled in order to keep the patient from bleeding too much.
If you want to conceal the fact that you're operating on your friend's work, copyediting on the computer is a good way to do it. However, if your friend's life is crazy, his book probably will be too—and you, as the person copyediting the manuscript, will be driven quite mad.
If I were you, I would wait till he has gone through two or three drafts before offering my services.
I should add here that I don't believe copyediting can be done on the computer screen unless the piece is quite short and is a business letter, report, et cetera.
Offer your editing services for free? Why not offer your services for a fair fee--only then would it be worth the stress if he does "freak out." If he's an especially good friend, I think it's best not to copyedit unless specifically asked.
Jill has a good point.
Maybe you can just offer to read his manuscript and respond as a reader.
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