Monday, October 26, 2020

Leave Society's copy edits

Copy-editing is when a person called a copy editor edits a book after the author and editor have finished working on a book. I didn't understand copy-editing at first. My first times getting copy-edited were with my first prose books Bed and Eeeee Eee Eeee. It didn't make sense to me for a publisher to pay another person, besides the author and the editor, to read and edit a book. 

Now I understand copy-editing. A book is so complicated that even with the author and editor going through it many times, there will likely be some-to-many mistakes—style choices that aren't consistent, things that unintentionally don't make sense, facts and dates being wrong, etc.

I got the copy edits for Leave Society last week, and it included a style sheet, which I think I haven't gotten before. The style sheet had (1) a list of style rules that the copy editor discerned that I used and some errors that she corrected (2) a list of certain words in the novel (3) a list of names in the novel (4) a timeline of the novel's events from 1971 to 2018.

Here are the words:

Acheulean
Adderall
Airbnb
Altamonte Mall
American Dental Association
amnesic
Angelika Film Center
ankylosing spondylitis
anticancer
aprotinin
Aquarium Barcelona
authoritarianly
ayo

bathroomward
Bellevue South Park
beta-carbolines
bobbleheadish
Bobst Library
Bonefish Grill
brainwardly
breathwork
BSA
bù xíng le
bucranium, bucrania
Bunun

California Department of Education
camu camu
Carp Mountain
Çatalhöyük
chelidon
chestfeel
Citi Bike
Cocoa Beach
Cotton Field
counter-possibility
Crestor

Daan Park Station
Dao, Daoist
Daodejing
dementogens
demercurization
derangingly
deshoe
destructionalia
Diamond Head
diamorphine
DMT
DPP
Dr. Bronner’s
dreamworld
DuckDuckGo
DUMBO
dysbiotic

East River Park
eBay
ebook
echo-y
electrosmog
Elephant Mountain
email
emotioned
Ensure
Environmental Working Group
estrone sulfate
extincting

FamilyMart
farmer’s market
FedEx
Flamingo Mountain
Foot Locker
furiouser

GABA
G-gǎi
Goddess (singular female deity)
Goddess Temple
Gokhale Method
guāi
guìbīn
gylany, gylanies

Haldol
Haleiwa
healthcare
Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall
hermitude
High Line
Hi-Life
homeostaticity
Hongshan
hough
Hutchison Effect

Internet
irrationalia

K2
keycard
KMT
Konya Plain
kratom

languaging
La Rambla
LASIK
leapt
LEGO
Levoxyl
lifedrops

MacBook
Magic (collector cards)
mandalic
MC
metatwinkling
microfireflies
mitochondriated
MK-ULTRA
modafinil
moxic

N-95
National Taiwan University
Nerf
Nexium
ng
niànjīng
N-machine
non-debilitating
non-native
Norwich Meadows Farm
not good (adj; hyphenate before noun)
Nuss procedure

Old Europe
Olive Garden
omming
orthotropics
overmind
overunity

Paiwan
pectus excavatum
Personality Assessment System
phubbing
phytoncides
pig-dragon
plasmoid
pleurodesis
polysorbate 80
post-dinner
powerHouse Arena
pre-dinner
preexisting

quarterheartedly

rereturn
Round Mountain

Salvia divinorum
sandbaggish
sǎo mù
schtick
Science Channel
Sesklo
shadowbanned
shit-talking
singularityward
SK-II
sleepward
specieal
starclock
Steak and Ale
stomachdown
Stuyvesant Square
Sunset Beach
Superfund
synesthesiated

Taichung
Taipei Main Station
tetched
Thyro-Gold
Tiger Mountain
Time Landscape
Tom Sawyer Island
Tompkins Square Park
transauditory

unstabler
unupset

valleying
Varna
Vermont State Hospital
Vinča
visiblizing

wah
Waialua
Waialua Public Library
Wekiwa Springs
wheellike
Whole Epiphany Temple
WP Thyroid

Xanax
Xia
xiǎo rén
Ximen Station

Yae Sushi
Yangmingshan National Park
Yangshao
YG, YGing
Yilan County
Younger Dryas

Zhaobaogou
Zhou Dynasty

*

Related: I recommended six nonfiction books that are referenced in Leave Society.

16 comments:

  1. Happy to see Bobst Library making another appearance.

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  2. I like all the ward words: bathroomward, brainwardly, singularityward, sleepward. I love style sheets. This one is one of the longest and most varied one I've seen.

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  3. You should grow a huge afro for your author photo.

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  4. A poem for you, Tao:

    Amnesic beta-carbolines counter-possibility derangingly emotioned farmer’s market guāi hermitude (with) irrationalia keycard languaging mandalic Nexium.

    Overmind phubbing quarterheartedly Round Mountain sleepward.

    Transauditory unstabler valleying wheelike Xanax (for) Yangshao & Zhaobaogou.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I like "Overmind phubbing" and "wheelike Xanax" and "irrationaalia keycard languaging mandalic Nexium."

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  5. I appreciate the expanse of information you interweave in your writing. It seems that Leave Society will include references from many places/cultures. I'm especially excited you have some Polynesian words above. The history of these people is fascinating.

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  6. Wordclouds of these would maybe be an interesting concept for ads for the book lol.

    I remember thinking you would like copy editing, when I read about your writing process around Taipei era.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Tao, since you've uploaded Mumblecore to YouTube could you upload MDMA and Bebe Zeva as well? That'd be cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would be into doing that, but I feel unmotivated to do that currently. Maybe Megan would want to. I recommend asking her.

      Delete