Right now I’m working on the copy edits for ATTACK THE GEEK, the Ree Reyes Side-Quest (coming April 7th of next year!). It’s a shorter story, weighing in at about 1/2 the size of a normal Ree Reyes novel, so it’s making the revision steps go quite a bit faster.
When working through copy edits, the copy editor, usually a freelancer, will suggest changes to the manuscript based on house style, the series’ style sheet, and continuity. Copy editors are awesome. They do the kind of editing that I’m weakest at, the super-granular nitty-gritty stuff, and for that, they have my eternal thanks.
But since the series is so pop-culture-tastic, sometimes the copy editor doesn’t know what I’m up to, and they make changes based on Normal World grammar and style as opposed to Geek Word style (TM). Which means that when I go through the copy edits, I end up using STET (a typography term for ‘leave it be,’ and rolling back their changes.
Here are some of the funnier STETs from ATTACK THE GEEK:
- “STET capitalization of X-Man’s name” (Gambit)
- “STET use of gaming terminology” (Willpower check)
- “STET capitalization of Dungeons & Dragons spell name” (Explosive Runes)
- “STET omission of ‘friendly’ in 2nd sentence to match the military saying, ‘Friendly fire isn’t.'”
- “STET capitalization of World of Warcraft Race/Class combination.” (Troll Hunter)
- “STET for the comparison to the band.” (Violently-inclined Femmes)