Some questions about my editing
Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:04 pm
Newest wannabe editor for Index here.
This is going to be rather long, so please bear with me.
Okay, I've been going through volume 7 the last couple of days. I'm doing the edits onto a copy-pasted word document, and am planning to transfer once I've gone through the whole volume. As I've just hit page 60, I figure I should actually ask if some of the edits I have done are overstepping my bounds as a editor or not.
I'll list my edits by type:
1. Minor - Adding commas to separate clauses, putting obvious missing stuff, polishing.
Example: "St George Cathedral" ==> "St. George Cathedral"
or
"Today, although it looks like the Puritan church is run by the Cathedral of Canterbury, the actual decision-making power has in fact now been transferred to St. George Cathedral."
==> "Today, although it looks like the Puritan church is run by the Cathedral of Canterbury, the actual decision-making power has, in fact, now been transferred to St. George Cathedral."
2. Minor - changing the article, usually from "The" to "A" or "An", when the thing is mentioned for the first time. I just felt it a little awkward to use "the" when just introducing the thing in question.
Example: "The red-haired priest, Stiyl Magnus," ==> "A red-haired priest, Stiyl Magnus," (from Prologue)
3. Somewhat minor - Switching adjacent words to get better order, like "now only" into "only now".
Example: "when Archbishop Laura stands in front of a crowd, she looks too noble to be even mortal" ==> "when Archbishop Laura stands in front of a crowd, she looks too noble to even be mortal"
4. Somewhat major - Using different words of similar meaning to replace an awkward phrase.
Examples: "decreased by several degrees" ==> "dropped by several degrees" (when Orsola mentions she's being hunted.)
"Orsola who was abducted" ==> "the abducted Orsola"
5. Major - Massaging the sentence to make it less awkward/clearer. Involves switching words around, deleting redundancy, and messing with certain words.
Examples:
"Unfortunately, it seems that only she feels that as long as she puts these clothes on, she won’t be noticed in the crowd. Because of her crystal-white skin, clear blue eyes, and shining golden hair"
==>
"Unfortunately, it seems she believes that as long as she puts those clothes on, she won’t be noticed in the crowd. Yet, because of her crystal-white skin, clear blue eyes, and shining golden hair"
"It is a hot day, and as London is known for its foggy weather, this aspect of summer- the ever-changing weather- is something that cannot be belittled. Due to the increasing moisture caused by the intermittent rainfall, together with the foehn and summer heat wave, it results in amazingly high temperatures, so these rather enjoyable-looking tourist attractions have their own shortcomings as well. But for someone like Stiyl, when he first chose to stay in this city, he had already considered the shortcomings, and thus does not mind it."
==>
"It is a hot day, and as London is known for its foggy weather, this aspect of summer- the ever-changing weather- is something that cannot be taken lightly. The increasing moisture caused by the intermittent rainfall, together with the foehn and summer heat wave, results in amazingly high temperatures, so these rather enjoyable-looking tourist attractions have their own shortcomings as well. But someone like Stiyl, who had already considered the shortcomings when he first chose to stay in this city, does not mind it.
Number 4 and 5 are what I am most worried about, since it does involve deleting words at times and switching stuff around.
Well, that's pretty much it. I would like to get some confirmation if this is doing too much, as I don't want to continue if my editing method is too heavy-handed.
Once again, thanks to all the translators and other editors who've been working on this, and especially Teh_Ping, who translated this particular volume.
SilverPhyX
P.S. Yeah, I have a few questions about questionable word usage and unclear passages, but I'll save those for later.
This is going to be rather long, so please bear with me.
Okay, I've been going through volume 7 the last couple of days. I'm doing the edits onto a copy-pasted word document, and am planning to transfer once I've gone through the whole volume. As I've just hit page 60, I figure I should actually ask if some of the edits I have done are overstepping my bounds as a editor or not.
I'll list my edits by type:
1. Minor - Adding commas to separate clauses, putting obvious missing stuff, polishing.
Example: "St George Cathedral" ==> "St. George Cathedral"
or
"Today, although it looks like the Puritan church is run by the Cathedral of Canterbury, the actual decision-making power has in fact now been transferred to St. George Cathedral."
==> "Today, although it looks like the Puritan church is run by the Cathedral of Canterbury, the actual decision-making power has, in fact, now been transferred to St. George Cathedral."
2. Minor - changing the article, usually from "The" to "A" or "An", when the thing is mentioned for the first time. I just felt it a little awkward to use "the" when just introducing the thing in question.
Example: "The red-haired priest, Stiyl Magnus," ==> "A red-haired priest, Stiyl Magnus," (from Prologue)
3. Somewhat minor - Switching adjacent words to get better order, like "now only" into "only now".
Example: "when Archbishop Laura stands in front of a crowd, she looks too noble to be even mortal" ==> "when Archbishop Laura stands in front of a crowd, she looks too noble to even be mortal"
4. Somewhat major - Using different words of similar meaning to replace an awkward phrase.
Examples: "decreased by several degrees" ==> "dropped by several degrees" (when Orsola mentions she's being hunted.)
"Orsola who was abducted" ==> "the abducted Orsola"
5. Major - Massaging the sentence to make it less awkward/clearer. Involves switching words around, deleting redundancy, and messing with certain words.
Examples:
"Unfortunately, it seems that only she feels that as long as she puts these clothes on, she won’t be noticed in the crowd. Because of her crystal-white skin, clear blue eyes, and shining golden hair"
==>
"Unfortunately, it seems she believes that as long as she puts those clothes on, she won’t be noticed in the crowd. Yet, because of her crystal-white skin, clear blue eyes, and shining golden hair"
"It is a hot day, and as London is known for its foggy weather, this aspect of summer- the ever-changing weather- is something that cannot be belittled. Due to the increasing moisture caused by the intermittent rainfall, together with the foehn and summer heat wave, it results in amazingly high temperatures, so these rather enjoyable-looking tourist attractions have their own shortcomings as well. But for someone like Stiyl, when he first chose to stay in this city, he had already considered the shortcomings, and thus does not mind it."
==>
"It is a hot day, and as London is known for its foggy weather, this aspect of summer- the ever-changing weather- is something that cannot be taken lightly. The increasing moisture caused by the intermittent rainfall, together with the foehn and summer heat wave, results in amazingly high temperatures, so these rather enjoyable-looking tourist attractions have their own shortcomings as well. But someone like Stiyl, who had already considered the shortcomings when he first chose to stay in this city, does not mind it.
Number 4 and 5 are what I am most worried about, since it does involve deleting words at times and switching stuff around.
Well, that's pretty much it. I would like to get some confirmation if this is doing too much, as I don't want to continue if my editing method is too heavy-handed.
Once again, thanks to all the translators and other editors who've been working on this, and especially Teh_Ping, who translated this particular volume.
SilverPhyX
P.S. Yeah, I have a few questions about questionable word usage and unclear passages, but I'll save those for later.