style sheets before submitting for copyediting?

[buyjupiter]

After reading Seanan McGuire's twitter feed over the weekend, where she is going through the copy edits of her latest book, she mentioned that she was adding things to the style sheet the next time she sent a book out for copy editing.

My understanding was that was a thing that copy editors do? They create the style sheet for their reference to keep things straight about the work.

Or do we authors go: nope, these are the way things are done within this book re: spelling/capitalization/sentence fragments/stylistic things? Because fantasy/SF are different from mainstream literature?

*scratches head* I've never seen one come to me, when I've edited books. And I'd never heard that was part of the process before sending one out either.

Any thoughts?

 

[cupiscent]

It can be helpful for both you and the editor for you to establish some key points, especially if they're things the editor is otherwise likely to want to correct. For instance, I wrote a story where I used the term "courtezan" for a particular type of servant, and that spelling decision was a very conscious choice, not a mistake. So I'd include that on my style sheet. You'd probably also include the correct spelling and conjugation for any original/made-up terms (names, locations, magical systems, etc) so that the editor has a point of reference when uncertain.

Some quick googling on the topic will give you some more examples and pointers from people with experience on both sides.

 

[MineOwnKing]

I don't know anything about this twitter feed, but I can explain to you how my developmental editor does a stylesheet.

A stylesheet, lists all people and places within the story alphabetically in order of appearance by chapter, and also includes a short summary of each chapter.

The document that I get back after the edit, starts with a list that goes:

Plot
Setting
Characters
Notes

Then it's People and Places, A to Z

Then,

Misc Facts and Chapter Summaries.

These are all important so as not to miss important details when patching holes in the manuscript before sending it off to be proofread.

That's all I know about it.

My developmental editor also makes a map, which can be very humorous to see. I've thought about including a TomTom with my next editing fee.