> My friend Susanna J. Sturgis, who copyedits fiction,
sent this message
to a
> publishing list. She granted me permission to
forward it to lists
including
> novelists; the more who read it, she says, the
easier her job will be.
> Joy, who sticks to easy stuff like
monographs
>
> > I rarely see usage notes or a style sheet
accompanying mss. _now_.
An
> > astonishing (to me, anyway) number of published
novelists don't know
what
> a
> > style sheet is, or they didn't before I told
them. <g> IMO, they're
> > especially useful for fantasy, historical, and
science fiction, but
I
> recall
> > mentioning style sheets in a discussion on the
SFRT (Science Fiction
> > RoundTable -- those were the days <g>) on
old GEnie, and almost none
of
> the
> > (mostly experienced) authors knew what they
were. (If they did, it
was
> > usually because they received the CE's style
sheet with the edited
> > manuscript, but this practice didn't seem to be
all that common
either.)
> >
> > I'm currently copyediting a trade history book.
Any proper name that
has
> > acceptable variations, you can be pretty sure
that my author has
used all
> of
> > them. <g> My style sheet isn't quite as
long as the book, but it's
getting
> > there, and if the guy doesn't like my choices,
I don't want to hear
about
> > it. <snark>
> >
> > In my exasperated opinion, agents and acquiring
editors ought to be
> > suggesting that their fiction authors (and some
others as well)
include a
> > short style sheet with their finished mss., and
then this style
sheet
> should
> > accompany the ms. through the production
process.
>
>
Pardon my ignorance, Joy, but what in blue blazes is a style
sheet?
Rene
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