Article
March 29, 2018
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by Stephen

Happy Indexing Day! A Tribute to the Joys (and Tribulations) Faced by Indexers

 

It is that day to poke our heads up from our computers, shake loose the cobwebs of headings and locators which cling to our minds, and realize that hey! we are not alone in this business. (It is great to see you too.)

Indexing can be a lonely endeavour. Most indexers freelance, working from home or co-working spaces. Occasionally we will collaborate on a particularly large project, which will initiate a flurry of phone calls and emails, but even then we are usually doing the actual work by ourselves. Perhaps because of this seclusion, indexers tend to be extremely helpful and welcoming, whether on email groups, or at conferences or regional get-togethers. Even introverts—and most of us are probably introverts—need our social outlets. 

Being self-employed also means that you never really know what project will be offered next. Is that email in your inbox a dream project, perfectly aligning with your interests and expertise, or is it going to be a nightmare? I have to tell you, philosophy and literary criticism are not my strong points, unless it is a book with a title like Philosophy for Dummies (which I am still waiting to receive). There are other indexers with graduate degrees in philosophy and literary criticism. Please hire them instead. 

But still, our incomes depend on receiving a steady stream of projects. It can be tempting to take on those difficult projects, especially if there is a hole in your schedule or pocket. Sometimes you don’t realize that a project is going to be difficult until you start. Sometimes you just want to beat your head against the keyboard, you have no idea what the text is trying to say. Maybe the book would have made sense to that indexer with a graduate degree in whatever the subject is (and maybe that indexer is cursing the project that would have been perfect for you), but there can be a silver lining. I have gotten some of the most effusive praise from clients on the books I had the most difficulty with. Maybe it was all of the extra time I poured into the book, trying to read and re-read it, turning the text upside down looking for the hidden key that would grant me comprehension. 

Then there are the projects, of course, that are far easier than expected, or which are simply a delight to read. The emotional lives of trees, anyone? Simply reading that book was relaxing. A mental forest bath. Or the annotated translation of marriage law from the Yuan dynasty. So the text itself was a bit dry, but wow, some unique circumstances and prescriptions. My wife and I had fun imagining how our wedding and marriage would have been different had we lived in that time and place. Then there is one of my current favourites—business books. Why not learn how to improve my business while I am working?

So happy indexing day, everyone! Like any job, indexing has its ups and downs, its surprises, its moments of uncertainty and frustration, and its moments of relief and glee. It is truly amazing the diversity of books that I have indexed. It is truly amazing that I have survived some of the indexes I have written, not to mention the deadlines. My clients and colleagues have also been truly amazing, especially the ones I have been able to work with over multiple projects, and develop camaraderie with. Indexing may be practiced in solitude, but it by no means exists in isolation.

Article
January 10, 2017
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by Stephen

Book Review: Indexing Specialities: Medicine

Indexing Specialties: Medicine, ed. by Pilar Wyman (Information Today, Inc., 1999)

I have been curious about medical indexing since I heard Mary Russell from Australia speak on the subject at the Indexing Society of Canada’s conference in 2014. Though I don’t have a science or medical background, the way that Mary described the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of a medical index, and the logic behind medical terminology, made a lot of sense to me. Anne Fifer will soon be presenting a 3-part webinar through ASI on medical indexing (see here if you are interested), which seems like the perfect opportunity to further explore this area of indexing. First, however, I decided to finally read ASI’s book on medical indexing, which has been sitting on my shelf since last summer.

A slim volume at about 120 pages, including the index, I found the book to answer most of my questions as a newcomer to the field. It was published almost twenty years ago, however, and so I also often wondered while I read how relevant certain chapters still were.

The book is split into four sections. The first, Medical Indexers, consists of an interview with Frances Lennie, of Cindex fame, and Alexandra Nickerson, as well as a short autobiography by Shelley Greenhouse, who does database indexing. I found these interesting, the interview especially, as I felt that it gave a good sense of the different types of projects and situations a medical indexer might face, some of which I imagine is still relevant today. It would also be great to read an updated interview, to see if there is anything new in the current indexing climate.

The second section, Medical Indexes, consists of two chapters by Pilar Wyman, one looking at medical indexes which have been reviewed in The Indexer, and the other looking at award-winning medical indexes. I also found these chapters to be very helpful, as they give a good sense of the qualities that a good medical index should have, namely accuracy, thorough analysis, comprehensiveness, and usability. For me, this section is among the highlights of the book.

The third and most extensive section of the book, Medical Indexing, consists of a mixed bag of chapters on different aspects of medical indexing. The two chapters I found most relevant were Cynthia Bertelsen’s chapter, “Indexing Food and Nutrition Materials,” and Irving Conde Tullar’s chapter on all of the different issues that one might face, ranging from text structure to terminology to considerations for different medical specialities. These chapters are very much on the nuts and bolts of dealing with the content, and as such very helpful, if also a bit intimidating. I got the impression that Tullar is trying to discourage people from entering this field, and perhaps he is. As he writes, “I would not recommend that anyone think of specializing in medical indexing without first becoming a competent and time-efficient indexer. I also would discourage the indexer who contemplates devoting only a minor part of total indexing time to this speciality because it is the cumulative experience from numerous projects that prepares one to index at the requisite speed not only to meet the increasingly uncomfortable publisher schedules but to be adequately compensated for the effort and stress.”  You, and I, have been warned.

Also interesting and clearly written, though potentially less useful, are the two chapters on medical database indexing, a more general chapter by Max McMaster and a chapter by Helen Ochej on the MEDLINE database. My hesitation comes from hearing anecdotally from long-time indexers that most of their database indexing contracts have disappeared. Is this, then, still a viable field for new indexers to pursue? I have no idea, and I would appreciate clarification. Also, if database indexing is still a thing, is the technology used the same as described in these chapters? If not, then the chapters’ usefulness also diminishes, though you still get a good sense of the theory and purpose of database indexing.

Also interesting, though also possibly a historical footnote today, is Susanne Humphrey’s chapter on the MedIndEx Project, which was (is?) an attempt to automate aspects of medical indexing. Whether this actually worked, I have no idea. Googling it didn’t reveal much either, so I’m guessing it either now goes under a different name or the initiative failed. 

Lastly, there is a curious and short chapter by Gerry L. Messner on why nurses make potentially great indexers. I have no arguments with the author, and presumably this would be most useful for someone with a nursing background who is considering a career change.

The final section is on resources, consisting of another chapter from Cynthia Bertelsen and a chapter by Carolyn Weaver. I found these chapters, especially Bertelsen’s, to be helpful in knowing what types of resources I am likely to need, but given the age of the book I feel that I can’t trust these chapters to be up-to-date. I expect that I would need to do my own research to see what is still in print, if any of these resources are now available in a digital or web-based format, and what new resources might be available. Ditto for Weaver’s chapter on web-based resources, which I assume would now be much thicker.

Besides the periodic sense that material was out-of-date, I would have also appreciated more information on project workflow and schedules. A typical book for me now, indexing in the humanities and social sciences, is 200-500 pages, and I have 2-3 weeks to complete the index. How do you jump from what I am familiar with to working on a book that is say 1,000+ pages, or in multiple volumes? Tullar touches on this by saying that some projects can stretch out over many months and that he often receives books in batches of chapters, not always in order, but I still didn’t get a clear enough sense of how that worked in practice. How do you schedule your time for such a project? How do you invoice? How do you negotiate budgets or a schedule? How do you keep track of that much information? What is it like to receive disparate chapters at a time? How are long are typical indexes? Any tips for editing such a large index, so that nothing falls through the cracks? I feel like this could take up a chapter in itself, or at least a significant portion of a chapter.

For a contemporary edition of this book, I would also want to know about embedded indexing, or other forms of digital or web-based indexing. Are they now common for medical texts? Are books expected to be outputted into digital or web-based formats? I know that my previous family doctor primarily used her smartphone during consultations to check my medical records and other information. How does today’s technology affect how doctors access medical information, and how does that in turn affect indexers? Is there anything about the indexing process that is particular to medical indexing? Besides understanding the subject matter, do I also need to learn new technical skills?

I am also curious about name indexes. In theory they sound easy, and I understand that they are often subcontracted out to other indexers, but if the book is 1,000+ pages long, that is a lot of names, which could magnify problems by virtue of sheer volume. So, are name indexes common in medical texts? Any tips for compiling both a names index and a subject index for a book? Any conventions that I should be aware of? Common issues?

Despite my reservations, I do highly recommend this book, especially as there does not seem to be any competitors. There is mention in the references to a book published in 1995 by the Society of Indexers in the UK, Indexing the Medical and Biological Sciences, but that appears to be out of print. I also checked the index for The Indexer, and it appears that the last time The Indexer published an article on medical indexing was in 2009. I don’t have access to Key Words, so I don’t know if any recent articles have been published there. So beyond Anne Fifer’s new webinar, which seems a most timely addition, this book is it for resources. There is still much of value here. I also sincerely hope that ASI will consider publishing an updated edition, which can only improve upon the strengths of this book.

Article
December 15, 2016
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by Stephen

Cutting the Index: Tips for Trimming to Meet Space Limitations

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The words I dread the most from a client are, “You only have x number of pages for the index.”

Those words put me on notice that I will probably have to censor myself as I write the index. Instead of thinking, “How can I make this information most accessible?” I start to think, “Of the access points available, which should I use and which can I do without?” I start to triage potential entries and subheadings, labeling some for potential deletion, while others may not even get included in the rough draft. This approach is the opposite of how I want to index, which is to be comprehensive and inclusive. I want the information in the book to be fully accessible. Not surprisingly, my indexes tend to be on the thick side. 

But, sometimes there are limits. Maybe the client can’t afford to add an extra signature or half signature. (Books are printed in blocks of pages called signatures. See here for more information.) Or maybe the full index will only fill part of an extra signature, and again, it just isn’t worth the extra cost to only fill an extra page or two. Publishers generally don’t like empty pages at the end of a book. In some cases, the client may have a pre-established notion for how long the index should be, perhaps based on a formula to calculate the length of the index. But I would suggest that every book is different. A formula can give you a rough estimate, but it doesn’t take into account the content of an individual book. For these clients, a longer index might be acceptable if you can justify it. 

So, step one, if told that there is a space limitation and if you have examined the proofs and are leery of the page limit being enough, is to ask if the limit is negotiable. Because it might be. Maybe you won’t be able to get the full number of pages you want, but you might get a few more.

If you find with a particular client that you often have trouble with the space they allot, you might also want to contact them to discuss the issue. They may be unaware of the problem, there may be factors for the length of the index that you are unaware of, and having a frank discussion about the index length may lead to happier times on future projects. At the very least, raising the issue shows that you are engaged in the client’s books and in doing the best job you can. If nothing changes, that might also be an indication that you should fire the client and find another client or two that share your indexing vision.

But even if you do decide to eventually move on from this client, this particular index still needs to be finished. You know it is too long. How are you going to shoehorn it into the allotted space?

I always start by prioritizing what I want to keep. This may seem counterintuitive, because the immediate goal is to make the index shorter. But it is still important to keep the ultimate purpose of the index in mind, and that is to make the information in the book accessible. So what, out of all of the entries, absolutely needs to be in the index?

The metatopic is a good place to start. What is the book about? Are there specific people or case studies that the author discusses at length? Concepts that carry the argument forward? Let’s call these the core entries, the entries that lead the reader to the meat of the book. These entries get the comprehensive treatment, and I will do my best to leave them unscathed. 

The rest of the information I prioritize in decreasing importance. Think of it as concentric rings around the core entries. When I start cutting, I start with the outermost ring–the least important entries–and work my way towards the core. The goal is to get the index to fit while inflicting the least damage. 

How do I do this? There are three aspects of the index I focus on.

As I mentioned, I sometimes label entries as I index. One type of label is for entries that seem minor or tangential to the main subject of the book. Some of these might be considered borderline passing mentions, and I pick them up in my first pass through the text in case they are discussed more fully later on. In a comprehensive index, I would probably include most of these entries. If the index needs trimming, these can be a good place to start. Since they are labelled, it is pretty fast to find and cut. 

Another easy cut is to get rid of subheadings. My usual rule of thumb is to add subheadings if there are more than 6 locators per entry, but if space is tight, I might increase this limit to 8-10 locators. Another option is to combine subheadings. This way the subheads are not as precise, but there will be fewer of them. The importance of the entry is also a factor in deciding how to deal with the subheadings. Where on those concentric rings does the entry lie? If it is close to the core, I am less inclined to heavily modify it. If it is more of an outlier, I’ll cut deeper. 

I also earlier mentioned reducing access points to the information. One common way to provide multiple access points is to double-post, say under both an acronym and the full term or name spelled out. Another is to have the information as a stand-alone heading and as a subheading (or two) under the relevant umbrella terms. You can also think of multiple access points in terms of an event, for example, the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and then the different people, organizations, and concepts involved in that event. By providing these multiple access points, the reader can search using whatever term they want and will still, ideally, find the relevant information.

But maybe there isn’t enough space for all of these access points. So you have to think, what are the most important access points? Instead of double-posting, what is the reader most likely to look for? Is it better to have stand-alone entries or to consolidate entries under umbrella terms? Can nested entries be used to concisely delineate the metatopic, instead of scattered entries? Can cross-references be used judiciously to steer readers to the one and only access point? The goal is to still make the information accessible. The access points can’t disappear entirely. You just have to be a little more creative on how to make those access points pop.

You may be wondering, how do I decide which are the most important access points? How do I prioritize the information and entries? I admit that it is not an exact science. You will have to make a judgment call while knowing that someone else might make that call differently. You might also find that you need to change your mind as you cut. Those subheadings that you were holding onto? The index is still too long, so bye-bye subheadings. Those people who played a relatively important role in that event? Well, they now need to be reassessed as relatively minor, and cut. Cutting the index like this feels like intentionally dulling a sharp knife. Sometimes that is what you have to do.

Throughout all of this, try to be consistent in what you cut. If you decide that acronyms need to go, then take out all acronyms, unless there is a very compelling reason to keep one or two. When I cut, I still want the final index to look thoughtfully structured. I don’t want the cutting to be random, or for a reader to wonder why one entry is present and another term, identical in type, isn’t.

It isn’t fun trimming an index that you already consider to be print-worthy. Especially if you have to cut deep. That hurts, seeing your hard work reduced to something less than what it was. But if you do have to cut, have a plan. Keep the ultimate purpose of the index in mind–making the information in the book accessible. Understand the structure of your index, and understand how that structure might have to change as you cut. Figure out how to prioritize the content of the index. This will make it easier to identify, out of the hundreds or thousands of entries, what can be cut. Do all of this–a controlled cutting process–and the end result should still be a usable index.

What are some of your favourite ways to trim an index? What do you cut first?

 

Article
October 3, 2016
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by Stephen

Decolonizing the Index: Indexing in Indigenous Studies

REDERMORRAJULY16colonial-problemIf you have indexed for long, you have probably been asked what areas you index in. You have probably also asked yourself this question when trying to market yourself more effectively. Is there a niche topic in which you can stand out?

Personally, I’ve had mixed results trying to market myself with specific subjects. It might be a foot in the door, but once I’m in I can end up being asked to index anything and everything. For example, an academic publisher who publishers in Asian studies and religious studies, two areas I am interested in, is also likely to publish in sociology and African studies, for example, and if they like me as an indexer I am just as likely to get any of the above or something else entirely. It really depends on what their next book is. So while there are particular areas in which I feel uniquely qualified or have a special interest in, I’m open to indexing almost anything within the social sciences and humanities. That seems to be as narrow as most of my clients are willing to pigeon-hole me. It might be different, though, for subjects such as law or medicine, which have their own dedicated publishers and conventions.

All that said, in this post I am going to briefly discuss a niche that I inadvertently discovered and have had opportunity to reflect on, most recently in The Indexer, the international journal of indexing, which is a wonderful publication and a must read if you are an indexer.

Indigenous studies is an area I first grappled with as an indexer when writing my award-winning index for the book Strange Visitors. I go into more detail about that book and winning the Purple Pen Award here. For now, as a recap, it was my first introduction to the contested language that so often surrounds Indigenous issues in North America, as well as the emotionally charged tensions that surrounds colonialism and the ways in which we tell these stories. I also found this topic difficult because I am myself a white settler. In the story of colonialism, I am the bad guy, to put it simply. How do I deal with that when indexing a book that is angry at people like me?

In other ways, however, is Indigenous studies really all that different from other disciplines? If Indigenous history, how is that different from other types of history? If Indigenous literature, how is that different from, say, Chinese literature? I think this is a good point to make: the type of content and how it is indexed may not be so different from other disciplines. What is different is how contested and emotionally charged the material can be, which includes my own personal involvement in the issues by virtue of living in a country in which colonialism and reconciliation are contemporary realities.

I was able to first explore these issues in a short article I wrote last year for Geez (Fall 2015, issue 39), a Canadian magazine which bills itself as “contemplative cultural resistance.” Then, earlier this year, Maureen MacGlashan asked me about writing something for The Indexer. Bouncing ideas back and forth, I mentioned the Geez article. Maureen liked it, asked to reprint it, and asked if I could expand my reflections, so The Indexer version (just published in vol. 34, no. 3, Sept. 2016, and also available online here) contains a postscript which is longer than the original article.

Now, I don’t want to claim that I am an expert just because I have some published thoughts on indexing in Indigenous studies. At the same time, I’m no longer a complete novice in the subject either. I think I can claim an edge when it comes to indexing Indigenous studies. Let’s call it, then, an edge in process. I hope to continue indexing in Indigenous studies and increasing my knowledge and effectiveness. I hope you have a chance to read my thoughts, in either Geez or The Indexer. If you do, perhaps send me a note or leave a comment below. I’d be glad to hear your thoughts on this subject as well.

And, for those of you curious, below is a list of Indigenous studies books I’ve indexed so far.

Teach, Learn, Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures, edited by Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2016)

The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada, by Lisa Monchalin (University of Toronto Press, 2016)

From Treaty Peoples to Treaty Nation: A Road Map For All Canadians, by Greg Poelzer and Ken S. Coates (UBC Press, 2015)

We Are Coming Home: Repatriation and the Restoration of Blackfoot Cultural Confidence, ed. by Gerald T. Conaty (AU Press, 2015)

You Will Wear a White Shirt: From the Northern Bush to the Halls of Power, by Nick Sibbeston (Douglas & McIntyre, 2015)

Strange Visitors: Documents in the History of Indigenous and Settler Relations in Canada from 1876, ed. by Keith D. Smith (University of Toronto Press, 2014)

Conversations With a Dead Man: The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott, by Mark Abley (Douglas & McIntyre, 2013)

We Are Born with the Songs Inside Us: Lives and Stories of First Nations People in British Columbia, by Katherine Palmer Gordon (Harbour Publishing, 2013)

Article
September 14, 2016
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by Stephen

Book Review: Indexing Tactics & Tidbits, by Janet Perlman

indexing-tactics-and-tidbits-7.gifMy review of Indexing Tactics & Tidbits, by Janet Perlman (Information Today, Inc., 2016). The review first appeared in the ISC/SCI Bulletin, vol. 38, no. 2, Summer 2016. This issue of the Bulletin is currently only available to ISC/SCI members, in the Members Area, but will soon be freely available, along with all of the other back issues, here.

Indexing Tactics & Tidbits is well named, and the title reflects both its strengths and weaknesses.

Following the lead of Hans Wellisch’s classic, Indexing from A to Z (which I have not read), Perlman’s book is organized by topic in alphabetical order, starting with Aboutness and ending with Work Methods and Workflow. The format invites browsing, and I enjoyed picking up the book, opening it at random, and seeing where the topics and internal cross-references took me. The structure also lends itself well to easily searching for and focusing on specific topics that you may want to find. Information is clearly labeled by headings and subheadings, and sections are at most a few pages long.

The breadth of information covered is impressive, with several sections covering the business and techniques of indexing, including getting started, negotiations, and bidding on projects. I was glad to see sections on quality and elegance in indexes—elegance being an intriguing approach to a document that otherwise needs to be precise and readily useable. There is an interesting discussion of mashups, and, being Canadian, I was glad to see that the Professional Societies section included societies beyond ASI (though society newsletters, including the ISC Bulletin, did not make the cut under The Literature of Indexing). I also found Perlman’s discussion of her indexing workflow, as well as her interactions with clients, to be informative, as hearing from others often is. There is much in this book that justifies the Tactics in the title, which I define as a reasonably extensive discussion of the topic.

On the downside, a number of entries fall under Tidbits, which seems to me to provide insufficient discussion. Of course, a short entry alone does not indicate lack of information. I thought the four brief paragraphs discussing certification to be adequate, though some expansion on the Institute of Certified Indexers could be helpful. History of Indexing and Marketing, however, should be expanded on, and the information under Function Words could be better integrated with Prepositions or the entries for And and On.

The Tidbits feed into another aspect of the book, which is that Perlman extensively refers the reader to additional resources. In a way, the book functions as an index to the pre-existing literature, and the reader is perhaps best served by having the other resources on hand too. I think this approach is fine so long as Perlman does provide adequate discussion of the topic, along with the references. Where it falls short is when Perlman primarily refers.

I would recommend this book as a great introduction to indexing. It might be particularly useful for someone who is unsure if indexing is for them, as the format is accessible and the information presented in bite-sized chunks. For the committed or experienced indexer, there is good food-for-thought here too. Browsing might lead to rethinking an aspect of your business or craft—I am already rethinking my use of prepositions. Then again, if you already have a well-stocked indexing library, the topics covered here might be repetitious, and your existing library sufficient.

Article
August 31, 2016
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by Stephen

Plotter vs. Pantser? The Indexer Edition

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If you read my previous post on genre, I’d understand if you think that this is another post inspired by the When Words Collide writing festival that I attended mid-August. This post, however, was actually inspired by Larry Sweazy’s keynote address at the joint ASI/ISC indexing conference I attended in June. Summer is a great time for conferences.

You fiction writers may already be familiar with the terms plotter and pantser. They refer to how an author approaches the process of writing a story. Do you first plot out the story before writing, or do you start with a blank page and write by the seat of your pants? Larry Sweazy, who is both an established indexer and an award-winning fiction writer, adds a twist to this concept by applying it to indexing.

Pantsing an index is to read through the text and simultaneously create and input the terms into your indexing software, without prior reading or planning. To plot would be to read through the text, either the whole text or by chapter or section, mark it up so that you have an idea of what terms you want to use, and then create the terms in your indexing software based on your notes and rereading of the text.

There are excellent indexers who fall on both sides of this divide (just as there are excellent writers who swear by both). Pantsers say that they can always revise and finalize the index later, during the editing phase. Plotters take the view that they produce a better index, and have less editing to do, if they can first understand the text.

My take? I think a lot comes down to experience, though certainly work styles and how you process information are important too. When I first started to index, I would plot out the index, chapter by chapter. Eventually I started to pants. Part of my decision to change my indexing approach was from learning from other indexers that this was an actual, viable option. Time was also a factor. I was getting more work, feeling crunched, and wondered if pantsing would speed me up. The biggest factor for me, though, at least in terms of successfully transitioning to pantsing, was experience. I had indexed enough books to have a rough template in mind that I could use when indexing blind. I was confident that making a decision, and then revisiting that decision during the editing phase, was sufficient for creating an excellent index. Plotting added an extra step, in that I would make a decision while marking up the text, and then revisit that decision twice, while inputting the entry into the index, and again while editing. I decided that extra step wasn’t necessary.

Still, I sometimes do get a particularly difficult book to index, and for those books pantsing is not as effective. For those I may decide that I do need to do some plotting. Perhaps not pre-reading the entire book, but certain key sections that illuminate the whole.

I have also increased the number of notes I make for myself while I input the terms, which I skim when I am ready to begin editing. These are to remind me of potential trouble spots that I will want to revisit during the editing phase, or these notes serve as brainstorming of alternative terms, or of similar terms I am seeing in the index and want to mull over for which is best to use. I also sometimes use mind maps to help me organize and understand what I am reading. I find visualizing the relationships between terms to be a quick and effective way to understand the structure of the text and hence the index.

For the pantser, I think plotting can still play a role in certain circumstances. The trick is to recognize those circumstances, and adapt your indexing strategy accordingly.

Now as a writer, do I plot or pants? I have to admit that I usually plot. I can often get away with pantsing short works of nonfiction, but fiction is another story. Right now I am experimenting with different plotting techniques, seeing what works best for me. I wonder if this will change too as I gain experience.

And Larry Sweazy? A pantser all the way, in both writing and indexing. That man has it figured out, or, better said, doesn’t, but knows how to finish the project regardless.

 

Article
August 18, 2016
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by Stephen

The Uses of Genre

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I am currently recovering from a wonderfully exhausting four days at the When Words Collide writing festival in Calgary. If my notes are correct, I attended eighteen different panels and workshops, made new contacts and got to know previous acquaintances better, and had the world of genre publishing in Canada blown wide open for me. It was amazing. I am so thankful that members of my writing group in Edmonton mentioned that they were attending, so that I could learn about this festival and attend too.

One of the overarching themes of the festival, for me, is this question of genre. In the workshop on writing popular fiction I attended with Eve Silver, we were asked, what genre do you read in? The question stumped me. I have always read widely, across genres. Alright, so I rarely read romance or paranormal fiction, so I can broaden my horizons a bit more, but still, the thought of reading exclusively in one genre strikes me as boring.

What about literary fiction, which can be seen as a genre in its own right. If you are a Canadian writer, you want to win the Giller or Governor-General prizes, right? The Pulitzer, if American? Attending When Words Collide, which in some ways was a bit of a culture shock, I realized that my past exposures to literature have mostly been on the literary side of the publishing world. I have a BA in Creative Writing (and Political Science) from the University of British Columbia, which is definitely literary in its leanings. I also spent a year working for the academic journal Canadian Literature, which does review some genre fiction, from what I recall, but is far more in tune with “literature.” Professionally, working in publishing, I primarily work with nonfiction books, but the fiction and poetry presses within the same circles of the publishers that I am familiar with are also all literary. I was surprised that there were Canadian publishers at the conference, like Tyche Books, ChiZine Publications, Bundoran Press, and Five Rivers Publishing, that I had never heard of before. I guess in my arrogance I thought that I already knew who all of the Canadian publishers were.

I also wonder if my childhood in Taiwan had anything to do with my knowledge, or lack thereof, of genre fiction and its fans. I certainly read a lot of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and mysteries–whatever the school library had–but I did not have access to the fan bases that these works inspired. Living in Taiwan cut us off, in some ways, from North American culture, or at least made it much more difficult to access, and my parents did not have the inclination or time to pursue and introduce us kids to pop culture trends. Every so often I become aware of blind spots in my cultural vision which I attribute to this isolation. Case in point, beyond an Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon version of Batman, which we could borrow from the school library (the library had an eclectic collection), I did not grow up with the DC and Marvel universes, and so the hype over the superhero movies that have been coming out over the last few years mostly leaves me cold. I will watch the movie if it has a good story, but you are not going to sell me on the nostalgia. Japanese anime, on the other hand, usually makes sense to me in a way that Disney and Hollywood so often fails, because anime reflects a world far more similar to what I grew up with.

But back to genre. As I clarified for myself over the course of the conference, I view genres and their conventions as tools for telling stories. Some characters work better in a mystery setting. Or being on a different planet or a space station makes it easier to explore certain themes. But I am not interested in genre for the sake of genre. I know that some readers and writers love those plot lines, and a good writer seeking to speak to that audience would do well to adhere to the conventions, but that is not my only interest.

As Jane Ann McLachlan forcefully argued at the festival, and others as well, one definition of good writing, regardless of genre, is that it speaks to what it means to be human. Put another way, to quote the late Doris Betts, “Deny the metaphysical and the trivial will triumph.” These are the stories that resonate and make you question your beliefs about how the world works. These are the stories that I want to read and that I want to write.

So it sounds like all of my stories will be in the literary realm, eh? Character driven, idea driven, asking the big questions of life. Well, yes, I want all of that, but plot is important too. I just finished a mystery novel which sucked me in with its characterization and setting, but the plot reveals in the last chapter were a real letdown. I probably will not be reading that author again. As I wrote above, I see genre as a tool, and my favourite genre titles are the ones that marry the conventions with speaking to the human condition.

I also want my writing to be accessible to a wider group of people. This is not to say that literary fiction is never accessible–some of it is and some of it is not–but it does have a  reputation for being out of reach. Working at Canadian Literature I could see how some writers, who were also scholars, did seem to be primarily writing for other writer-scholars, and that created a rarified, closed world. That is not the world that I want to be part of. Even if it means foregoing a chance to win the Giller or a Governor-General award, I want to have a wider appeal, and genre fiction seems to be a way towards that. The attendees at When Words Collide were so much fun, out to enjoy themselves and enjoy good literature. I felt like I was finally starting to find my literary home.

Will jumping between or blending genres make it harder for me to sell my stories? Perhaps. Genre is primarily a marketing tool for agents and publishers to sell books, after all, and for readers to find more of what they want. But while it sounds like publishers do not always know what to do with mixed-genre works and authors, readers do not share that problem. I met many authors, traditionally published, hybrid, and indie, who share a similar vision with me and who are doing just fine.

First things first, though, is to hone my writing craft and get those stories written. I’ll keep you updated.

 

Article
August 1, 2016
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by Stephen

Surfing the Schedule, and Those Damn Easy Projects

pexels-photo

It has been a busy year.

I had projects waiting for me when I got home from Christmas holidays, and the work hasn’t stopped since.

It has been pretty tiring at times too. Working evenings and weekends? Check. Working on two indexes at once? Check. Have projects that take longer to finish that anticipated? Check. Have books arrive either earlier or later than scheduled? Check again.

Book publishing is definitely dynamic. Each book has its own production schedule. Each production schedule involves multiple editors, proofreaders, designers, and even, sometimes, an indexer, not to mention the author. Each editor/proofreader/designer/indexer is themselves most likely working on multiple projects at once, or at least has the next project lined up for when the current one is finished. The system is ripe for schedule slippage, for deadlines overlapping, for projects banging into the next, you eyeing the calendar and the clock trying like hell to put this baby to bed so that you can get on to the next project, with its own increasingly looming deadline.

It gets chaotic. With multiple schedules piling up, I feel like I am surfing, trying to stay ahead of the wave, reach the shore in one smooth movement, before heading back out to sea to catch the next wave. What can happen instead, though, is that I lose my balance, the wave knocks me off my board, I get buffeted around in the surf for a while before I can surface and breathe again. At that point either the next wave has already passed me by or it is right on top of me.

So, schedules. They are important.

I have been learning this anew these last seven months, the busiest winter and spring I’ve had so far as a freelancer. But it is important to note, however, that there are two types of schedules at play. The first, which I have already mentioned, is the production schedule that each book is on. This I have very little control over. If the schedule doesn’t suit me, I can ask my client if the schedule can be changed. Sometimes the client is able to accommodate me and sometimes they can’t, at which point either I change my schedule or another freelancer gets the project.

The second schedule, which I do have more control over, is my personal daily/weekly/monthly work schedule. This kind of schedule is important too, if I am going to efficiently and effectively complete the indexing and proofreading projects that I have accepted. It has been this type of schedule that I’ve been learning that I really need to tighten up.

Specifically, here, I want to write about scheduling in what I call the easy books. If you work in publishing, you probably know the type. For me they are usually trade books, sometimes coffee table style, heavily illustrated. The subject matter is often engaging, and written in a fairly light manner. It usually isn’t long, maybe 200-250 pages, and the index won’t be long either.

I really enjoy these books. I enjoy many of the dense, academic books I get to index too, but after a dense book these short, trade books are just so fun and refreshing in comparison. They can be a good pick-me-up after slogging through a heavy 400 page tome.

I figure I can usually index the easy books in 10-15 hours, sometimes less. Surely I can find time for 10-15 hours over the course of a couple of weeks, right?

That is what I thought too until I started to notice a pattern over these last few months. When schedules got really tight, I found that I was focusing on the most difficult indexes first, because those where the deadlines I was most scared of. I wasn’t putting the time I needed into the easy books until the last minute, usually, at which point it was a mad scramble to finish the index. The “fun” indexes weren’t so funny anymore. They became a source of stress, feeling like I had taken on more work than I should have.

Was it really too much work, though, or was it a scheduling problem? A month ago I had another of these easy indexes to complete, and I decided to focus on my schedule. I still had a larger, more complex scholarly book to index as well, which I knew was going to take the bulk of my time and attention. But instead of spending all of my time on the scholarly book, I decided to take the first hour of work every morning and devote it to the easy book. It wasn’t much, an hour. I indexed maybe 20-30 pages in that time. But as I discovered, it was enough.

I chose to index the easy book in the morning so that I wouldn’t be tempted in the late afternoon or evening to push it off because I was tired from the hard book. Because I wasn’t indexing at the last minute I actually got to enjoy the easy book, which was a large part of why I had accepted it in the first place. I still had the whole rest of the day to work on the more difficult book. When it came time to edit the easier index, I still scheduled a full day to do that as I find it easier to edit in one long go than to break it up with another project, but scheduling one day is a whole lot easier than trying to squeeze in multiple days at the last minute. In the end, both the easy index and the more difficult index were finished on time and fairly stress-free. Success!

Is there anything else about my personal work schedule that I can change? Probably. I’ll take another look and perhaps write about this again. I think that work is more enjoyable and productive in a relatively stress-free environment, and schedules are certainly part of that equation.

In the meantime, what scheduling tips do you have for managing tight deadlines and multiple projects? I would love to hear.

Article
May 14, 2016
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by Stephen

Five Things I Learned Last Month from Indexing

pexels-photo-38136You know those days and weeks when it is one project after the other? The content from one book starts to blend into the content of the next? Occasionally my mind will draw a blank when my wife asks me at the end of the day what I’ve learned from my indexing and proofreading work. My mind is so bloated with information that I don’t know where to begin.

That is crunch time in publishing. Just seems to be part of the business.

But I do actually learn from the projects I work on, even if I sometimes need to decompress a bit before I can remember and articulate. I recently thought it would be a fun exercise to write down five things I learned from my last few projects. So, in no particular order, here are five things I have learned from books I’ve indexed and am indexing in the last month or so.

  1. Reading studies is an actual discipline in the social sciences.
  2. Ancient Tamil poetry is amazingly gorgeous, complex, and dark. I feel like I could get lost in the worlds those poems depict.
  3. The grand narrative of the Japanese-American experience is much more rigid than I realized. If your family settled in Hawai’i and California, experienced internment, and tried to be a model minority (at the risk of oversimplifying it), you are part of the Japanese-American narrative. If your personal experience is different, chances are literature on and recognition of your experience is sparse. I wonder how this compares to Japanese-Canadian, or Chinese-American/Canadian, narratives.
  4. Saying the phrase, “death and dying,” in that order, is strange, when you think about it, since dying is the process that occurs before death. Still, I have to think a moment before I can say, “dying and death.” Something about the ordering of the syllables?
  5. Trees communicate! Through smells, electrical signals, and root and fungal networks. Sure, we are doing a pretty good job of disrupting their communication through our managed, lumber-based forestry practices, but if we let them grow old and wild enough, trees communicate! Makes me question again my summers working as a tree planter.

What interesting things have you learned recently from your work?

Article
April 23, 2016
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by Stephen

Metaphors for Writing an Index

construction-work-carpenter-toolsI am often asked, “How do you write an index?” This is often followed by, “Do you actually read the whole book?”

Yes, actually, I do read the whole book. I need to know and understand the content that I am to direct the reader to. A computer search function may be able to pick out words and phrases, but only I, as the reader, can figure out (hopefully) what the text means.

But leaving aside the question of how an index is written, I’ve been thinking recently about the experience of writing an index. What kind of metaphors are used to describe an index and the indexing process? Though an index is a concrete object (or as concrete as a digital object can be, if the index is in digital form), the idea of an index and the creation of an index can seem pretty abstract.

Many indexers compare an index to a map. This makes sense in that both an index and a map are supposed to help you find what you want, or where you are going. Both try to identify and highlight the information that is most relevant for its audience, making the information more readily comprehensible. The indexer, then, becomes a mapmaker, and writing an index mapmaking.

When I first started indexing I thought of it as piecing together a puzzle. This soon evolved to piecing together a 3D puzzle. There was something about the layering of information in an index, through subheadings, nested entries, double-posts, cross-references, and learning how to deal with the metatopic that, in my mind, added dimensionality to the index. The puzzle part was figuring out how all the different components and pieces of information fit together in a coherent, searchable format.

More recently, I’ve been thinking about indexing in terms of building a house. The initial reading through the text and creating entries is like the unearthing of the building materials, and arranging these materials in the place where I think they should go. But until I get to the end of the book, I don’t know yet what all of my building materials will be, nor do I have a firm blueprint. Once I start editing the index, I can finalize the construction of my index/house. I can decide that yes, this is where this 2 x 4 is supposed to be, and hammer it into place. Or, maybe I realize it needs to be adjusted or moved, and I can do that and then hammer it in. It is immensely satisfying hammering a board into place.

What kind of metaphors do you use to describe indexing or indexes?