[Forum] RE: Copy editing speed -- tips?

I share your frustration—I am also a perfectionist. Getting bogged down on a certain issue does eat up the time. I usually highlight these so I can go back later with a clearer head. You can post questions on this board—the folks here are very helpful. Or you can search Google Books to see how certa

[Forum] RE: Dialogue, Ellipses, and Punctuation

Ideally this issue should be worked out ahead of time because the old find and replace is fraught with peril. But when in doubt leave the spaces out I'd have to say despite how inelegant it looks. Solving this issue should be an X Prize for typography.

[Forum] Slashes, spaces, and hyphens

Here?s the phrase I?ve come across: [i]a centrally-located big box / grocery-anchored community center[/i] I?m assuming the author wants the slash to indicate that "big box" is interchangeable with "grocery". But the way they wrote it, it?s not clear. What would you all do?

[Forum] Formatting texted conversations

I'd really like to know any examples you have of how publishers prefer to format phone texting conversations within a YA manuscript. I've seen italics, bold, indenting, justification, line spaces, and colons all play a role. Nothing looks right to me. Thank you for your help.

[Forum] RE: price range

[quote='emmes' pid='6686' dateline='1345474995'] If I'm not mistaken, no spaces before or after the en dash.[/quote] You're correct, Emmes. :)

[Forum] RE: How to style a Q & A exchange in a MS?

I would put the question and the answer on separate lines, but if you're asking whether you should use a period, the answer is yes, IMO. You can see an example—and find support for "Q&A" as a closed term rather than one with spaces—here: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/

[Forum] Full Stop Spacing in the US

Hi I am proofing a manuscript to be published according to American punctuation - do you put two spaces after a full stop or one? Thanks to anyone who can help.

[Forum] RE: Spaces around slashes

Wow, I really don't like the look of that. I do not immediately see that the slash is trying to indicate two alternatives, or what the two alternatives are. What's wrong with just saying "His father was a man who was too often angry or drunk, and frequently both."? Can you gently suggest to the

[Forum] RE: asterisk

No, the comma separates the items, not the spaces. If you put the asterisk on the right side of the comma the reader will be confused.

[Forum] Spacing Between Sentences

The guide recommends one space between sentences and after colons, but I've seen other guides that recommend two spaces. What is the thinking on this? Are these truly just recommendations, or do publishers tend to have pretty strict rules about them? I would hate to have a manuscript rejected ove