Question

She wasn't typing through tears. She might have had trouble seeing the screen through her tears, but unless she has garden hoses fueling her tear ducts, she wasn't typing through tears.

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Two questions:

1) Have you tried upper decking him? That seems to be the best way to solve things around here

2) You people actually have real copy editors?

 

Thanks for the input guys. The piece was about a guy who died while playing pickup basketball, and the girl referenced there was his girlfriend of six months. I'll be glad to paste the whole thing on here if you want.

It's not the first time this editor has wrecked a sentence, and according to a reporter in his office (who raised the issue to me), he does this kind of thing a lot. On purpose? Obviously not. But if writers are going to take pride in their work, editors should do the same. He also chopped off my final sentence, which really well captured the guy in a single sentence. I think anyone would agree....that's frustrating.

That said, I know it was a mistake. And I didn't go around ripping up papers.

And for the sarcastic fellas who are coming down on me here for acting like I'm perfect....I never said that. I'm 21. I was just wondering what the right and/or typical way to react is, which is why I asked for advice from my college adviser and then you guys here first.

Thanks though.

 

I'm still curious how she was typing through tears.

Was the keyboard inside of a kleenex? Or was she crying so much, the keyboard was soaking wet?

Just find it funny you are ripping this guy in an open forum and the sentence didn't make sense before the copy editor edited in the error.

 

Paste it. If you can take the criticism, you'll see how much copy editors can help.

 

holy fuck. i feel lucky just to be reading your unedited copy now.

thank you so much.

 

If you're fortunate enough to spend five minutes or 20 minutes around Sneed's unedited copy, your life is better for it.

 

Jeez, that's not what I meant.

 

"Typing through tears" -- I'm not getting how you guys say it doesn't make sense. And I wasn't ripping anyone. I was just asking for your opinions on the situation, and if it had ever happened to you.

I know it's not always easy to distinguish intentions/emotions/etc over the internet, so I definitely don't take anything said on here too personally, but man alive people, relax. I will admit, I can get hot-headed about my writing. I love to do it, and I work as hard as I can at it with the time I have available. I see every story as a stepping stone to the next, which are also stepping stones to a quickly-approaching future career. I know it's not always the case, but I want everything I write today to be better than what I wrote yesterday.

And what the heck, here's the story. Unedited version. Have at it. It'll probably out me if anyone cared to do two seconds of Googling, but it will help me write better in the future to hear some input.

This was assigned about 30 hours before my deadline, so it's not my best bit of writing, far from award-worthy, but despite the rampant cynicism on this board, I know that hearing criticism can only create more room for improvement.

But if you have anything positive to contribute, that's welcome as well, of course.

 

Give Sneed a break, at least s/he still cares about what is being written and is checking the copy in the paper for edits. C'mon copy deskers, you know that's the sign of a writer willing to learn.

Second, 99 percent of copy editors have saved me from committing embarrassing and/or libelous errors, and there is no way I could repay them. But there is one who just wants to smear fingerpaint on copy, changing description and the interior of quotes without calling. It drives me nuts, but if I complained I'd be a prima donna.

 

Sneed,

The story's pretty good. But you need a copy editor more than you probably think. And that goes for all of us.

Mike

 

SNEED: "And I wasn't ripping anyone. I was just asking for your opinions on the situation, and if it had ever happened to you."

like most other guys on this board, i've been in the business a while. i've had my copy butchered, and i've fucked up other people's copy. it happens. grow up.