Event review

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Event Review: Editing for the Video Game Industry

Written by Jesse Marchand; copy edited by Holly Conklin

What does the term video game mean to you? For some, it may conjure up memories of childhood and playing Pac-Man or Mario. Others might be more familiar with tile-matching games like Candy Crush. More still may be deeply involved in the world of video games through multiplayer role-playing games like World of Warcraft or first-person shooters like Call of Duty.

The genres of games are as varied as the roles within game studios. So what does editing for the video game industry really look like? In a recent talk at the Editors BC’s monthly meeting for April, Michelle Clough discussed the role of writing and editing in video games and what the work entails. Clough is a freelance video game writer, editor, narrative designer, localization specialist, and quality assurance tester for both big-budget and indie games, and as she showed at the meeting, she’s a very engaging speaker too. Here’s a rundown of some of the things about editing for video games that she shared at that meeting.

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Event Review: Lynn Slobogian’s “Abuzz with Networking” Workshop

Cartoon by Iva Cheung

Written by Amber Riaz; copy edited by Katie Beaton

Like the character in the cartoon by Iva Cheung, I actively avoid meetings—especially those labelled as networking meetings. The thought of engaging in awkward conversations to try to seem likeable enough for people to trust me with their work usually makes me want to run and hide under the covers!

The Editors BC monthly meeting for March, “Abuzz with Networking,” hosted by Lynn Slobogian, however, went a long way toward alleviating that anxiety. Drawing heavily on her experience with public engagement through her work for numerous non-profit organizations (before launching her freelance editing career), Lynn introduced the concept of networking to a room full of self-proclaimed introverts/editors. Not only did she put everyone at ease within minutes of starting her presentation, she also found a way to make networking a fun and engaging activity. Lynn led us all through the why and how of networking before asking us to actually network with each other.

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Event Review: An Introduction to Editing for Accessibility

Written by Ritu Guglani; copy edited by Maggie Clark

Iva Cheung, a certified editing professional and member of Editors BC, spoke to a room full of eager participants at Editors BC’s January 2018 meeting. Her presentation topic was editing for accessibility. While editors live in a world of nuances and judgment calls, Iva re-affirmed that it is always a good idea to use the basic principles of plain language to remove communication barriers for people with disabilities.

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Event Review: Academic Editing with Lesley Erickson

Written by Wendy Barron; copy edited by Katie Heffring

On Saturday, November 25, 2017, a group of 20 editors gathered at the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s downtown campus for Lesley Erickson’s seminar “Academic Editing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Lesley has more than 20 years’ experience as an author and editor in scholarly publishing and is currently a senior production editor at UBC Press. Her session provided a glimpse into the cultures of both academia and scholarly publishing. Throughout it, she offered strategies to address challenges both common and unique to academic editing and practical tips and tools for editors to give and get the best from the editing budget.

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Event Review: SEO for Editors by Lisa Manfield

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Written by Wendy Barron; copy edited by Maggie Clark

Whether you do business on the Web or edit for clients who do, understanding search engine optimization—SEO—is crucial to creating compelling web content and helping people find that content. On September 30, Lisa Manfield shared the principles of good SEO with 15 editors who were eager to improve the Google juice of their own websites and their clients’ websites.

SEO changes constantly, Lisa notes, and Google (which has the largest market share in the Internet search game) never reveals how its algorithms work or which elements of SEO are weighted more heavily than others. But the SEO practices that worked in the early days, such as keyword stuffing of metadata and content farming, can now reduce a web page’s ranking rather than improve it.

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Event Review: The Secrets of Syntax by Frances Peck

Written by Eva van Emden; copy edited by Rebecca A. Coates

On April 22, a roomful of editors got together to talk about syntax—the order of words in a sentence. This may seem like an obscure topic to spend a day thinking about, but consider how many memorable sayings stick in your mind because of a magic combination of word order, rhythm, and repetition. Would we be able to quote the sentence “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” if it didn’t use rhythm and repetition—syntactic elements—so effectively?

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Remembering Editor Ellen Seligman at the Vancouver Writers Fest 2016

Written by Nancy Tinari; copy edited by Maggie Clark

The Vancouver Writers FestOn the evening of October 18, 2016, three of Canada’s top writers spoke at the Vancouver Writers Fest to give a moving depiction of the late Ellen Seligman. Seligman, an editor with McClelland & Stewart for almost four decades, was esteemed for her work with many of Canada’s best-known writers, including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Jane Urquhart.

The panel discussion was moderated by Jared Bland; the writers taking part were Michael Helm, Steven Price, and Madeleine Thien. Seligman edited Helm’s and Price’s most recently published books (After James and By Gaslight, respectively) during the final year of her life, and she had previously edited Thien’s book Dogs at the Perimeter. These writers’ anecdotes about Seligman revealed an editor who, even in the face of mortal illness, remained unparalleled in her insights, devotion to her writers, and dedication to her work.

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PubPro 2016: Event Recap and Session Summaries (Part 5)

PubPro2016_scheduleIntroduction by Iva Cheung, PubPro facilitator

The fourth annual PubPro unconference for managing editors and publication production professionals welcomed participants from across Canada and the U.S., as it was, for the first time, offered as a workshop immediately before the Editors Canada national conference. Although not as many attendees came prepared with talks, all participants came prepared to talk, many of them stepping up to lead discussions on different aspects of publication project management. PubPro volunteers Connie Behl, Ellen Michelle Koehler, and Yvonne Robertson took notes and have summarized the sessions. Continue reading →

PubPro 2016: Event Recap and Session Summaries (Part 4)

PubPro2016_scheduleIntroduction by Iva Cheung, PubPro facilitator

The fourth annual PubPro unconference for managing editors and publication production professionals welcomed participants from across Canada and the U.S., as it was, for the first time, offered as a workshop immediately before the Editors Canada national conference. Although not as many attendees came prepared with talks, all participants came prepared to talk, many of them stepping up to lead discussions on different aspects of publication project management. PubPro volunteers Connie Behl, Ellen Michelle Koehler, and Yvonne Robertson took notes and have summarized the sessions. Continue reading →