Now that one issue of Horizons is almost put to bed (though the link won't be up online for a little bit - I'll post again when it is) I wanted to write a little bit about the process we've been going through.
Well... I'd characterize the process as brief periods of frenzied activity when trying to get contributions - and when contributions first arrive - followed by long periods of reading, and re-reading, and re-reading. The contribution that first land on our doorstep (/inbox) are immensely varied, both in terms of content and level of polish. Vuk Jeremic has an amazing network, so each and every one of our contributors has something important and innovative to say - we have Jean-Claude Juncker, Bert Koenders, Jacques Attali, Carl Bildt and Dominic Barton, amongst others, in the current issue - but for most English is not their first language. This means that the first read through often takes a while as one tries to think of ways to make foreign-idioms-literally-translated-into-English sound more natural. I really enjoy this part; it's deeply satisfying to take interesting, intricate arguments and try to present them in the best possible light. We absolutely don't change any of the substance; it's just a matter of making sure that the reader can see immediately the power of an argument. (I should say, of course, that a large proportion of our contributors submit absolutely flawless pieces, which are a joy to read, but render my role at this stage somewhat less meaningful.)
In theory I'm also looking for typos etc during the content read through, but in reality I pick up only a small fraction. I'm getting better at this - one of the many skills I'm learning - but others in the office are still streets ahead of me. My brain seems to only really be able to concentrate on content or grammar.
Which means that on my second go through I still tend to make lots of changes. And on my third. And fourth. And even fifth. It's amazing how good the human brain is at taking the sense of a sentence without actually looking at all the letters. Great most of the time, but not so good if you're supposed to be tracking down little errors. Being a child of the internet era I do the vast majority of my reading and writing on a computer screen, but I've learnt that actually it's often easier to miss things that way. I'm much more accurate when physically marking a printed-out copy. Sorry trees.
And then the piece, which is theoretically pretty much finished, get's formatted. We use InDesign. There are then a couple more read throughs - all of which tend to pick up some previously neglected mistake; it's amazing how the change in layout brings some things to the fore.
As mentioned, my eye of typos is still very much in need of development, but there are a couple of things that I flatter myself that I am good at. Firstly, I'm good at stopping formatting mistakes. I seem to have an uncanny ability to judge if something is a fraction too high, or if there is a fraction too much space around a picture. Or indeed if there are two spaces before a full stop (shock horror! This is something that I actually pretty much always do when writing for myself, but apparently it's absolutely not allowed). Secondly, I'm good at word ordering and synonyms. I'm already got a reputation around the office for being able to quickly come up with just the right word, so my working day is peppered by people coming in to ask for a more impressive word for unity, or a good antonym for opprobrium. (I really shouldn't flatter myself too much though - I'm one of only two people in the office who are native English language speakers).
This is pretty much where we are currently at with the current issue. All contributions are in InDesign, and have been checked at least 10 times. There are some that I can almost recite word for word so I must say I'll be quite pleased when the printing machines finally start whirring and it's too late to add any further changes! And I'm really excited to hold the finished product - I already feel quite protective and maternal about it...
It's been a really great learning experience, and I can already feel how my editing skills have evolved, which is very satisfying. I'm looking forward to getting started on the next issue over the coming weeks - researching authors and persuading them to write requires a very different skill set, and I'm looking forward to challenging myself, and to having the chance to interact with some truly fascinating people.
Well... I'd characterize the process as brief periods of frenzied activity when trying to get contributions - and when contributions first arrive - followed by long periods of reading, and re-reading, and re-reading. The contribution that first land on our doorstep (/inbox) are immensely varied, both in terms of content and level of polish. Vuk Jeremic has an amazing network, so each and every one of our contributors has something important and innovative to say - we have Jean-Claude Juncker, Bert Koenders, Jacques Attali, Carl Bildt and Dominic Barton, amongst others, in the current issue - but for most English is not their first language. This means that the first read through often takes a while as one tries to think of ways to make foreign-idioms-literally-translated-into-English sound more natural. I really enjoy this part; it's deeply satisfying to take interesting, intricate arguments and try to present them in the best possible light. We absolutely don't change any of the substance; it's just a matter of making sure that the reader can see immediately the power of an argument. (I should say, of course, that a large proportion of our contributors submit absolutely flawless pieces, which are a joy to read, but render my role at this stage somewhat less meaningful.)
In theory I'm also looking for typos etc during the content read through, but in reality I pick up only a small fraction. I'm getting better at this - one of the many skills I'm learning - but others in the office are still streets ahead of me. My brain seems to only really be able to concentrate on content or grammar.
Which means that on my second go through I still tend to make lots of changes. And on my third. And fourth. And even fifth. It's amazing how good the human brain is at taking the sense of a sentence without actually looking at all the letters. Great most of the time, but not so good if you're supposed to be tracking down little errors. Being a child of the internet era I do the vast majority of my reading and writing on a computer screen, but I've learnt that actually it's often easier to miss things that way. I'm much more accurate when physically marking a printed-out copy. Sorry trees.
And then the piece, which is theoretically pretty much finished, get's formatted. We use InDesign. There are then a couple more read throughs - all of which tend to pick up some previously neglected mistake; it's amazing how the change in layout brings some things to the fore.
As mentioned, my eye of typos is still very much in need of development, but there are a couple of things that I flatter myself that I am good at. Firstly, I'm good at stopping formatting mistakes. I seem to have an uncanny ability to judge if something is a fraction too high, or if there is a fraction too much space around a picture. Or indeed if there are two spaces before a full stop (shock horror! This is something that I actually pretty much always do when writing for myself, but apparently it's absolutely not allowed). Secondly, I'm good at word ordering and synonyms. I'm already got a reputation around the office for being able to quickly come up with just the right word, so my working day is peppered by people coming in to ask for a more impressive word for unity, or a good antonym for opprobrium. (I really shouldn't flatter myself too much though - I'm one of only two people in the office who are native English language speakers).
This is pretty much where we are currently at with the current issue. All contributions are in InDesign, and have been checked at least 10 times. There are some that I can almost recite word for word so I must say I'll be quite pleased when the printing machines finally start whirring and it's too late to add any further changes! And I'm really excited to hold the finished product - I already feel quite protective and maternal about it...
It's been a really great learning experience, and I can already feel how my editing skills have evolved, which is very satisfying. I'm looking forward to getting started on the next issue over the coming weeks - researching authors and persuading them to write requires a very different skill set, and I'm looking forward to challenging myself, and to having the chance to interact with some truly fascinating people.
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