Stainton – The Fine Art of Copyediting

Book page: stainton-fine-art-copyediting

From: Quotes batch 23

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Concept

“The copyeditor’s concept of ‘truth’ is consistency; if the hero has blue eyes on page ten, they must have blue eyes on page three hundred.” (p. 12)

Behavior

“The most effective behavior for an editor is ‘invisible intervention’—improving the text without leaving a footprint.” (p. 56)

Game Theory

“The author-editor relationship is a game of trust; if the editor makes too many trivial changes, they lose the power to make vital ones.” (p. 134)

Cognition

“Proofreading requires a specific cognitive ‘slow-down’ to prevent the brain from autocorrecting errors as you read.” (p. 82)

Memory

“A ‘style sheet’ is the editor’s external memory, tracking every idiosyncratic choice the author has made.” (p. 198)