Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: grateful
  • Music: Brett Dennen, 'Ain't No Reason.'

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.
Tags: i love my editors, proofreading, vixy
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  • 27 comments
...go 1 level up... Expand

seanan_mcguire

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.

keristor

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).

seanan_mcguire

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.

dr_zrfq

October 14 2008, 18:45:02 UTC 8 years ago

FWIW, I learned the term in theatre myself and figured that's what it meant.