Give Copy Editors a Break
It’s not just me. Remember my first post on cleaning up your Word document in “Kindle Formatting for Novels I?” About not using Word like a typewriter? It’s not just if you’re planning on self-publishing; even for print publishers, it can allow your copy editor to get straight to copy editing, rather than cleaning up a mess of formatting.
Well, Carol Seller, senior manuscript editor at the University of Chicago Press, editor of the Chicago Manual of Style Online’s Q&A, and author of The Subversive Copy Editor, agrees.
It’s just that word processing is not what I came on board for all those years ago. I’m not trained to do it, I don’t enjoy doing it, and I don’t really know whether what I do is of use to the typesetter. Just once I’d like to receive a perfectly clean and coded manuscript that would allow me to spend all my time copyediting instead of in rodent control.
After expressing some frustration at “Checking for Squirrels” on The Subversive Copy Editor Blog, she posted a useful list of things writers can do to help in “Advice for Writers: Preparing Your E-Manuscript,” including a few of the things I mentioned:
Never use the Tab key or the Space bar to start a new line.
Never use the Space bar to indent anything. I’ll go further: never hit the Space bar more than once in a row.
I admit I’m sorta in love with copy editing. I adore both editors and copy editors, at least the ones I’ve come in contact with thus far. (One was incompetent, but I liked him anyway.) I read the Chicago Manual of Style for fun. I’m looking forward to the next edition. 
I need to review it again, though. You kinda have to spend some time maintaining the relationship.
The next Kindle installment coming soon!
Do you love reading style manuals? Do you enjoy copyediting? Do you clean up the “squirrels” before sending it off to a publisher?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
I normally don’t use the space or tab key, but sometimes when the paragraph indent doesn’t work (for no reason I can think of), I might have. I don’t think there’s any way I can tell.
In future, I will avoid those two keys as though hitting them would revive Voldemort.
ROFL, Edie! You always make me laugh!
I admit I hate copyediting and style manuals. And, alas, I guess I use the word processor like a typewriter. I don’t indent with the space bar but I was using the tab key for decades before I got a word processor. To be honest, until your blogs I never realized I wasn’t supposed to!
Really, Eric? I didn’t like them, and then one day I woke up and loved them. I have no idea what triggered the change.
Oh, man, I’m with Eric. To me, the computer is a typewriter. I tap the space bar 5 times each time there is a new paragraph. And, I’ll take it one step further…I still don’t understand how to do it differently. Yikes!
Robin! Say it isn’t so! LOL!
When you start your document, hit CTRL+A, then select “Paragraph Properties” in Word. Then, under “Indentation,” select what you want (usually 1/2 inch). After that, whenever you hit “Enter,” it will automatically indent the next paragraph.
But the formatting of a screenplay is completely different. And complicated, LOL!
“Do you love reading style manuals? Do you enjoy copyediting? Do you clean up the “squirrels” before sending it off to a publisher?”
Yep to all of the above. Of course, you knew that already.
Edie’s Voldemort comment is too funny.
Edie is a funny woman!
Yeah, I did know that about you, Kate! 
Can’t imagine using the computer as if it’s a space age type-writer. But, aren’t you supposed to leave a space between words? Otherwiseit’dlooklikethis. That said, how else does one space between words without touching the space bar?
A few years back I took an online class for manuscript formatting using MSWord. It was priceless, although the instructor never mentioned space bar use.
Kath, I think it’s never hit the space bar more than once. Once is okay.
Still confused. I hit the space bar between each word. What’s wrong with me? Or maybe the context is confusing. Or my reading comprehension skills are totally messed up.
It’s okay to hit the spacebar once in a row. Not okay to hit it twice in a row. So once between each word is good.
Ahhh So some people put more than one space between words and sentences, that’s what she’s talking about.
I am so dense at times… lol
You’re not dense! Typing teachers used to teach to put two spaces after every period and colon. And sometimes people use the space bar to indent, hitting it five or so times.
Got it! You know it’s been at least forty years since I took a typing class (learned on a MANUAL typewriter – OMG), so no wonder I was not seeing the light. The tunnel is so very long.
Urk! I hit it twice after a sentence-ending period. That’s what I learned in typing class in 1904.
LOL! I learned on a manual typewriter, too! I was eight or so. I had a blast! I worked through my mother’s typing book!
I love the term “squirrels”! Hilarious. I love copy editors too – I’m married to a fantastic one.
If you ever need an editor, he’s phenomenal! He’s doing editing work for a local Milwaukee arts blog, writes for Milwaukee Magazine, used to copy edit for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and also is doing some freelance work editing his college alumni magazine. If you ever need a new set of eyes, let me know! 
That’s awesome, Darcy! I will, thanks!
I also hate getting documents from people that I want to use for my own purposes that are all messed up like that. You hit the little paragraph button so you can see all the hidden characters and suddenly your page is a mess! Bravo to the author for pointing that out. Excellent!
Me too, Darcy! Isn’t that crazy!?
In a similar vein, we get people at work trying to put together resumes who don’t know how Word works. I do what I can to help them, but sometimes they’re just lost causes.
Where do you work, Lana? That must be hard!
Thank you, Natasha, for provinding this information. I’m making note of it for the future.
Barbara, thanks!
I’ve been thinking more and more that I’d love to copyedit for my job. I do some at work now and it’s my favorite part of the day.
Melanie, I love it, too! It is a blast.