Manuscript Preparation Quotes

I revise the manuscript till I can't read it any longer, then I get somebody to type it. Then I revise the typing. Then it's retyped again. Then there's a third typing, which is the final one. Nothing should then remain that offends the eye.

But for me, being an editor I've been an editor of all kinds of books being an editor of poetry has been the way in which I could give a crucial part of my time to what I love most.

I write longhand and I type and I rewrite on the typed pages.

Writing books isn't a drastic departure from writing for the stage.

Research is a lifelong occupation so it's hard to factor it in, but I reckon most books take 5 months from start to finish.

I know that many authors say editors don't edit anymore, but that's not been true in my experience.

All novelists write in a different way, but I always write in longhand and then do two versions of typescript on a computer.

My mother was a cracker jack typist. And she would come in and sit at my house and type the final type script before I would then send it to the publisher. And it was nice for us.

When I'm writing the text for a book like 'Little White Rabbit,' I read it aloud, alone, in my studio, again and again and again - because the rhythm has to be exactly right. After I get my manuscript to the point where I think it is perfect, I begin to think about what I want the art to look like.

I think we are waiting for an e-book that even non-techies can be comfortable with. From my point of view, the biggest change is that I don't have to spend most of the day printing out and packaging a manuscript. I think I almost miss that.

Usually it takes me about nine to 12 months to write a book.

The draft that finally goes to my editor doesn't get into her hands until I have read it out loud innumerable times - sometimes into a tape recorder - to make sure that it sounds right.

I have to re-write a lot. I couldn't tell you how many drafts I write, but I know I've done at least twenty rewrites on each book.

I do write my manuscripts by hand, in pencil on legal pads. Then they are typed on a word processor by my typist.

The good thing about working on the books for 14 years before they hit the shelves is that I worked out most of the kinks long before they were published.

I've never envied the person who had to put my books together in one script.

I'm constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again.

It generally takes me about nine months from the point the book is conceived to the point my editor sends it off to be typeset.

The most painstaking phase comes when the manuscript is set in 'type' for the first time and the first proofs of the book are printed. These initial copies are called first-pass proofs or galleys.

I don't have a trunk of manuscripts.

I had already drafted the manuscript that would become my first book by the time I graduated from college, but I had no idea what to do with it.

Be wary of cutting and pasting research nuggets directly into your manuscript.

After I work with my editor to get the manuscript in good shape, I sketch and lay out a whole book loosely, usually in black and white. You learn things about your text when you have to think about pacing and page-turns.

I have a color-coded computer spreadsheet that divides things down to chapter fragments. Each character's point-of-view is a different color. The text of the manuscript is color-coded the same way. The last thing I do before submitting the manuscript is turn all those colors back to black.

Books can now be on the stands within days from delivery of a formatted manuscript, and often are.