“Writers think I’m out to destroy their prose,” says Atlantic senior copy editor Karen Ostergren. “Laypeople think I’m a human version of spellcheck. Neither is right.”
Yes, copy editors are responsible for fixing the grammar and spelling in a piece, and that in itself is an important function.…But the responsibilities don’t stop there. The Atlantic’s copy editors think of our role as standing in for the reader. Before a magazine piece gets to the copy desk, it has gone through days or weeks or months of trimming, expanding, and rewriting with its main editor. It has ideally also been read by one or more of the magazine’s top editors to address any glaring holes.
She goes on to describe her team’s copyediting routine, ending with what I think is the most important—and by far the most difficult: “Take a deep breath and learn to move on.”
