Copy Editing and Hammers

The copy editor I hired to look over my wizard detective story says that "conspectus" is not a word that exists. This is a silly thing to say, because:

(1) Magic also does not exist.
(2) We therefore have to invent words to talk about it.
(3) It would make sense for wizards to use these words.
(4) The meaning is 100% clear from context.

Also: I would love to have the talent to invent fancy Latinate words, but "conspectus," meaning "a subdiscipline of a broader field of study," is very much a real word that exists. Which the copy editor would know if she googled it.

She said the same thing about "ensorcelled," as in "a magically ensorcelled object." That's definitely a real word, and it makes sense for its meaning to shift to become more literal in a story where magic is real.

Like what's the point of writing fantasy if you don't get to make things up?

And also, what's the point of copy editing if you have no sense of style?

Re: Copy Editing and Hammers

> What's the point of copy editing if you have no sense of style?

Sorry I'm not done yet.

( Read more... )

I guess there are two points to take away from this. First, I should be more specific about what I want from a copy editing job. And second, experiences like this make me somewhat hesitant to spend actual money (ie, hundreds of dollars) to hire an editor for a longer project. Getting clueless and unnecessary feedback is actively harmful in that it makes me second-guess whether what I'm writing is accessible to the lowest common denominator of TikTok girlies who only read YA romance. Nobody needs to write like that.