Perfection vs. performance

The public stuff we do, and the behind the scenes for our first novel

It is the season of copyedits and speaking events for us over here at Galiot Press. (Anjali popping to say: also a gazillion other things! But copyedits and speaking engagements are some of the newer stuff.) And those two things seem to come from opposite sides of the word-perfection spectrum. Copyedits involve making sure everything in a given text conforms to chosen standards (see more below)—of grammar, usage, style, publisher convention. And events involve a kind of no-net, no-chance-to-correct-or-edit spoken text. The first is the kind of prose that is supremely perfected. The second is, well, subject to the vagaries of the human mind fueled by the adrenaline of facing a live audience. One is perfection. The other is performing.

Where can you see me and Anjali in such performances? So glad you asked! We’ll be in Woodstock, Vermont on May 16 at Bookstock. Come see us at our table and experience the NFC chip-equipped typewriter! We’ll also be participating at GrubStreet’s Manuscript Month. Anjali will be presenting her revision session Novel Revision Between the Sheets on May 12, and I, Henriette, will be presenting How to Plot a Successful Novel on May 19. These are both online. And on May 22, we’ll both be doing a Zoom talk with the Metrowest Writers Guild. If you’re an overachiever, you could attend all these!

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A word about those aforementioned “chosen standards”. Yes, there is the Chicago Manual of Style. Or, if you’re a lapsed academic like me, the Modern Language Association style guide. But on top of that, there are the conventions that individual publishers adopt. When my debut novel came out with Ballantine, I discovered that the Random House style guide required a capital letter after a colon. This did not sit well with me. It just looked weird! But the copyeditor was adamant. So I contrived to rearrange a few sentences so that I could keep what I felt was an important colon while not having that capital letter seem strange. I can’t remember the specifics now, but I did things like reword the independent clause after the colon so that it began with a proper name that would have been capitalized anyway. I still don’t like that capital-after-a-colon rule, and unless Anjali has strong feelings about it, Galiot Press will not be doing that! (Anjali says: I do not like that rule either! Away with it!)

But the standards of language are always chosen not unchanging. We know this from the return of the singular “they”—and note that I say return because indeed “they” was used as a singular at many points over the history of the English language. As were many other forms of verbs or punctuation that we would now consider ridiculous or at least messy.

So, as we begin working with our freelance copyeditor on our first book, Robyn Ryle’s SEX OF THE MIDWEST, we’re digging into the nitty gritty. Read on for the inside scoop!

But one last thing about opportunities to learn with Galiot Press.

• Our writing workshop in Greece is now discounted to $2,500 for five full days of workshops, tuition, room, and most board. The final application date is May 15. If you want to get away this summer, come to quiet northwestern Greece!

• These three upcoming classes (next week!) are great ways to hone your craft and build your audience. Click our Classes page here for all the deets to work with the fantastic Ethan Gilsdorf, Lorena Hernández Leonard, and Lynne Griffin.