From: Laban Hill <labanhill>
Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2005 18:22:48 -0400

As a writer of nonfiction, fiction and poetry for both adults and children, I've found that an editor who understands the subject is essential. Getting the information in a style and format that is appealing is extremely hard and my editors have been terrific in helping my text move past academic language. One thing my editor can't do is fact check, but the publishing houses that I've worked with have had excellent copy editor/fact checkers. The other thing I always do is get experts in the subject area to read my manuscript. I usually get at least two experts to go over my book during the editing process. I also find that when I'm writing nonfiction I'm processing and digesting a tremendous amount of information. For my Harlem Stomp book I read about twenty books for each chapter, took notes, and then internalized that information so that I could then write the narrative. While the book was in the editing process my copy editor checked my facts. Magazines also depend on good fact checkers. One embarrassing miss was I inadvertently wrote that Lincoln was born in Springfield, IL. Boy, did my face turn red when I saw that while rereading the first edition. That was corrected in the second printing.

A few years ago, I put together a series that did not get published, but it was about kids who were inventors. My tag line for the series was: "an adventure series about a gang of kids whose imagination is ten sizes bigger than their ability. These kids? inventions make Rube Goldberg contraptions look like seesaws!" Alas, the series wasn't picked up, but as I was researching I built a wind turbine out of a washing machine. I spent time with someone who builds wind turbines for places like Easter Island where there is no other energy source and then I proposed to a local school that we build a wind turbine. Together the kids and I built one using parts from a washing machine, an old swing set, and an alternator from a car. And it worked! The whole project was a blast. I would have liked to have done more science stuff but the series wasn't bought. The key however was that I needed to "stress test" every invention. The other difficulty was making sure that nothing was too technical. The kids had to be able to understand and follow the directions.

When I wrote The Spy Survival Handbook for Scholastic, I had a couple of science projects, including making a telegraph machine. One thing that I had to make sure was that the materials were cheap and easily available. The other thing I did was have my then 11 year old daughter put it together. If she could understand the science behind it and the directions I knew most kids would be able to. I did however include a note that parents should be supervising these projects.

This isn't always the case in publishing however. I know from working for a publisher years ago that they don't usually fact check. I worked for a publisher who published cookbooks and woodworking projects. They never tested the recipes and the woodworking projects. At times, they would receive irate letters about something not working. Then they would make changes for the next edition.

I hope my comments add to the discussion. Laban On 7/7/05 5:40 PM, "Megan Schliesman" wrote:

ren. ctual ok? nd ith tor rs of ving ren cy to nce n a ial I'm
Received on Thu 07 Jul 2005 05:22:48 PM CDT