Proofreader spotlight: Vixy.: seanan

Proofreader spotlight: Vixy.

I have a lot of people who work very hard for me in the salt mines of my fiction, laboring under a never-ending burden of misplaced commas, inaccurate blocking, this sentence no verb, and completely missing clauses. They are all wonderful. Both by default -- volunteering to proofread for me makes them wonderful -- and in the actuality of the awesome work that they deliver. Seriously, they rock me.

And then there is Vixy.

Most of my proofreaders sleep at night confident in the knowledge that I won't begin instant-messaging them with editing questions at eight o'clock in the morning. Not Vixy. Most of my proofreaders know that there's little chance of my showing up on their doorstep demanding clarification of an editorial point. Not Vixy. She puts her life on the line every day, so that I can turn in a better book.

Every proofreader has their own strengths and weaknesses, and Vixy is, without a doubt, the single best blocker I've ever had the pleasure of working with. She always knows where everyone is standing, and has managed to catch blocking errors that required me to get out a bunch of dolls and recreate the scene. Her tireless efforts and boundless patience are so genuinely peerless and incredible that there simply aren't words for how much I appreciate them.

Plus, she harasses me if I don't finish chapters. And that's a valuable service for everyone. All hail Vixy! All hail.

spectralbovine

October 13 2008, 01:42:22 UTC 8 years ago

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I am a terrible blocker, so I'm glad you have Vixy.

seanan_mcguire

October 13 2008, 01:44:16 UTC 8 years ago

That's why I'm so glad to have all of you. Because the person who's an amazing blocker may have terrible grammar, and the person with amazing grammar may have no head for continuity.

As a team, we're awesome.

sheistheweather

October 13 2008, 02:03:41 UTC 8 years ago

Hail!

October 13 2008, 02:50:30 UTC 8 years ago

*gives you cheese and cake*

October 13 2008, 02:52:21 UTC 8 years ago

Nom!

October 23 2008, 05:37:19 UTC 8 years ago

It brings the awesome, yes indeed.

miintikwa

October 13 2008, 02:37:32 UTC 8 years ago

Hail!

Where can I find a Vixy? Can she clone herself?

October 13 2008, 02:51:53 UTC 8 years ago

I found a Vixy through coincidence, chance, and mutual friends. Not a reliable method, sadly, but the only one I've got.

I'm afraid you can't have my Vixy. She's already tightly booked.

October 13 2008, 02:53:17 UTC 8 years ago

I know how that goes. I'll just have to pray that I'm lucky in my first readers. So far I have a good group. I am particularly blessed with grammar geeks. Grammar geeks FTW!

October 14 2008, 00:51:36 UTC 8 years ago

Oh, they are worth their weight in adjectives.

8 years ago

mirrorred_star

October 13 2008, 05:09:03 UTC 8 years ago

"This sentance no verb" made me laugh :)

Your proofreaders sounds seriously awesome. Like, all of them.

dornbeast

October 13 2008, 05:54:45 UTC 8 years ago

Have you ever read the list of fumblerules?

It's helpful hints for proofreading like:

Don't use no double negatives.
Avoid hyperbole: not one writer in a million can use it effectively.
Never use a large word when a diminutive one will do.

October 14 2008, 00:51:58 UTC 8 years ago

Yes. That list delights me like whoa.

October 14 2008, 01:27:05 UTC 8 years ago

I think I've seen some of those, but I'm not sure that I've seen a whole list of them anywhere recently.

October 14 2008, 00:51:45 UTC 8 years ago

I adore them so.

keristor

October 13 2008, 16:36:58 UTC 8 years ago

Plus she makes very good music!

BTW, what is 'blocking' in that sense?

October 14 2008, 00:52:49 UTC 8 years ago

At the beginning of the scene, I say that character A is standing in one position, holding object B, while character C is on the other side of the room. Then, without announcing movement, character C is taking the object away.

And then Vixy calls me on it.

October 14 2008, 09:21:04 UTC 8 years ago

Ah, I hadn't thought of that as a separate form of 'consistency'. Thanks for the term. Does it come from the theatre stage sense? It seems related (working out where characters/actors have to be).

October 14 2008, 14:14:36 UTC 8 years ago

It does, indeed. I view blocking as a part of continuity, but it's one that requires such a specifically visual approach to the scene that I try to have editors who specialize in the blocking part of things.