But What of Earth? by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, General, Space Opera, Fiction
ISBN: 9780812530988
Publisher: TOR
Published: 1976-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Notes

1. I had a dedication which did not appear in the book: "Dedicated to the anonymous real-life counterparts of Brother Paul and the Holy Order of Vision. Perhaps you will know them when you meet them." The dedication page is missing from the manuscript as it was returned. By what right an editor deletes a dedication I don't know. The copy-editor's job, as I perhaps naively understand it, is normally to correct spelling errors and typos, to mark hyphenations for the typesetter (who is presumed to be too dull to do it properly otherwise), change the author's -- dashes to — — — dashes (it is of course correct the way the author does it; fortunately the typesetter always changes it back to --) and the like. Frankly, I regard it as make-work so that there won't be too many unemployed girls tramping the streets of Parnassus. But copy-editors—let's just call them copyeds—invariably have delusions of literacy, and cannot restrain themselves from rewriting the text itself. Normally the editor goes over the manuscript after it has been copy-edited and STETs out most of the changes, and then the author eliminates the rest when he sees the galley-proofs. But in this case the Editor was evidently sleeping, and no galleys were sent to me, so we have here a clear example of the consequence of allowing copyeds to run amuck.

My manuscript was marked in several colors, as one person after another went over it. I believe that two, possibly three, were at the New York office, and two were after the manuscript went to the other writer for reworking. I know from my own experience that the frame of mind used to edit a book differs from that used to write or rewrite it. Editing is a critical process, while writing is a creative process, so that though one copyed may in this case also have been the Writer, I choose to distinguish between them. It's a Jekyll and Hyde case: the writer is a nice guy, while the copyed is an arrogant little tyrant. This is of course true of every writer who edits, not merely this one; check with any writer for confirmation. Thus my Rogue's Gallery calls out five copyeds and one writer. Here, then, is the cast of characters in this ugly little drama, personified as I perceive them. (I, being a writer, am naturally creative, so my interpretation reflects that.)

PENCIL—Evidently the first copyed to have at this text, female. She means well but does have her feminine hangups.

BLACK—She must be the new copyed who was hired; she is really out to prove herself. That kind is dangerous.

BLUE—an occasional dabbler, perhaps someone who happened to pass through the office on the way to the subway.

RED—Argumentative male; he remarks on everything, regardless whether he has any basis.

PURPLE—Androgynous copyed who sometimes resembles Red and sometimes Red's wife. Two hands with but a single pen?

WRITER—I judged his actions by checking the published text.

EDITOR—The person theoretically in charge, who contacted me periodically on the phone to assure me that all was well.

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