maxbarry.com
Wed 19
Jan
2011

Copyedits

Machine Man Look at me! I’m clinging to life here. I’ve been so sick I couldn’t even reach the razor. That was for the first few days. Then I started to like it. I have about twelve hours of this Man Grizzly look left before Jen realizes it’s voluntary.

Copyedits off to Vintage today. I pity the fool who has to typeset this mess. I went nuts. And I don’t even know what most copyediting symbols mean. I had to guess.

It’s 2011 and publishers still print out manuscripts, manually scribble on them, and type the whole thing in again.

Comments

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Machine Man subscriber Stygian Emperor (#2947)

Location: the Stygian Empire
Quote: "Flesh is a design flaw."
Posted: 4816 days ago

Wait, what are you doing?

Machine Man subscriber Ciaran (#4286)

Location: New Zealand
Quote: "When life giveas you questions, Google has answers"
Posted: 4816 days ago

@Stygian Emperor: Manuscript for the Machine Man book I guess, since it is under the Machine Man category.
@Max: It is 2011 and you can't look up copyedit symbols on the internet?

Machine Man subscriber Ciaran (#4286)

Location: New Zealand
Quote: "When life giveas you questions, Google has answers"
Posted: 4816 days ago

Also you have beautiful eyes.

Machine Man subscriber SRD (#2889)

Location: Ogden, Utah
Posted: 4816 days ago

10! Keep going!

Machine Man subscriber Narflz (#2594)

Location: St. Louis
Quote: "WARNING: Extended Use Of Narflz May Cause Explosive Diarhea"
Posted: 4816 days ago

Needs more Grizzly Max

Machine Man subscriber Adam Willard (#4231)

Location: Madagascar
Quote: "What unseen pen etched eternal things in the hearts of humankind... but never let them in our minds?"
Posted: 4816 days ago

Wow, I wondered if they still did it by print and not electronic copy but thought: surely not - that would only increase typos, for which they'd need another editor, that'd be ridiculous. Apparently they are ridiculous.

Also, if that's for Machine Man, I'm HAPPY! I can't wait to read the full novel and watch the movie! (Aronofosky will surely do it justice!)

Machine Man subscriber Robert Dillette (#2827)

Location: Brisbane, QLD
Quote: "Cante Jondo and The Blues; Popular suffering raised to a high art."
Posted: 4816 days ago

I've given up on shaving. Now I just trim the stubble back using a bare clipper set every 2 weeks, give or take. So much better.

And girlfriend approved, which makes it almost sane.

How much STET was scribbled on this manuscript? :P

Machine Man subscriber Kyle (#3321)

Location: Burnie, Tasmania
Posted: 4816 days ago

I love the beard. Also, I'm not terribly surprised that they still manually edit manuscripts. The predominant thing I hear from my readers is: Reading online, or on a screen, sucks. They want paper. Especially those doing a more critical reading and/or editing for me.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4816 days ago

Not quite so much STET this time. But it's a little unnerving how any deviation from correct grammar, no matter how stylistic, is attacked by the copyeditor. Makes me wonder what Cormac McCarthy's manuscripts look like. STET STET STET STET STET.

Machine Man subscriber Alan W (#1427)

Location: Spokane, Washington
Quote: "Corgis are like potato chips"
Posted: 4816 days ago

I imagine it's faster to mark up a paper manuscript than try to make annotations in a word processor with a keyboard and mouse. I wonder if a tochscreen interface, al la iPad could be made to be more effortless.

Stijn (#5223)

Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Quote: "Seek nothing and you will find everything."
Posted: 4816 days ago

Keep the beard. Take a picture of it, and ensure your new look gets used on the back cover of your next book. It gives you a more mature look, although some might find it less 'clean'.

As for those prints, I'm sure most people find it more interesting to work through a document in print than focus on a screen all day. Something to do with the way you're using a computer vs paper manuscript.

John (#5226)

Location: USA
Posted: 4816 days ago

From adversity a Sweet Beard is born. Notice any correlation between beards and manuscripts? MANuscripts? That's right. The beard is quite literally inside your head. www.sweetbeard.com

Machine Man subscriber gstein42 (#585)

Location: 127.0.0.1
Quote: "That's not change! That's more of the same!"
Posted: 4816 days ago

I saw black swan, it was %&#@ weird. i hope Aronofsky makes Machine Man equally crazy.

Matthew Dovey (#4468)

Location: West Midlands, UK
Quote: "I was trying to help Max revive the NationStates2 code from Jolt/OMAC! but failed :("
Posted: 4816 days ago

Hey Max, I noticed that when I got the E-mail about this blog post, the images didnt seem to show up! It could be a proxy on the network I'm on, Open DNS or it might be my laptops internet Filter k9 web protection. It has a habit of doing that. Isnt it good you had a second child? Congrats, and I still wonder who violet is, DO ANOTHER NS MAX CHAT!

FatRat (#1554)

Location: England
Quote: "Argh."
Posted: 4816 days ago

Ooh I'd forgotten you were turning this into a real novel! It made me want to dig out my Machine Man feed and start re-reading it again, but I've lost my original email long ago and can't seem to find a way to reactivate it :( Don't suppose anyone else might know how to reactivate the feed?

Machine Man subscriber FatRat (#4221)

Location: England
Quote: "Don't Panic"
Posted: 4816 days ago

(sorry for double comment) Okay after noticing my comment didn't have the little nut symbol next to it, I went and tried logging out and back in under a slightly different username, and it seems to have fixed itself! Can't wait to read it all again, hehe.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4816 days ago

MANuscript, heh.

It's over, people. The beard is gone. Weep with me.

Jack Brownfield (#5166)

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Quote: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
Posted: 4816 days ago

Weep.

Machine Man subscriber coolpillows (#3749)

Location: new york general sort of vicinity
Quote: ""It's not working" -- Joseph Clark"
Posted: 4816 days ago

You think the pubs are bad?? I work deep in the bowels of corporate america in a place that makes that joint from "Company" look perfectly normal, and they go through paper as if their sole reason for existence is to consume toner cartridges & reams of paper.

Saw "Black Swan" and it was weird a-ight. Sexy, complex & well-acted, but that's all ballet. I know Machine Man has way more action. On the other hand, happened upon the first "Robocop" w/Peter Weller. The beginning where he's made into the robot, there's a sequence of scenes from his POV with technicians and doctors adjusting the his screen, testing him out, turning on & off Reminded me that pic is a LOT like MM ... And I mean that in a good way!

Machine Man subscriber Chemical Rascal (#3964)

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "Don't read this. It's not relevant to anything. Go away."
Posted: 4811 days ago

I woke and reached for my beard and it was not there... [i]Have I been Shaven?[/i]

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