Before I start this post,
allow me to preface by saying that by no means am I an authority on writing and
editing. However, I've learned many tricks of the trade in the last few years,
so since aspiring and new authors always ask, I decided to write a blog post about my process.
Before I wrote my first
novel, I used to be a proofreader for several publishing companies. So when I
sat down to pen the next great American novel—insert laughter—I thought,
"I got this!"
I mean, I did this for a
living. I had edited theses for graduate students, dissertations for
doctorate students, blog posts for highly-respected speakers, and proofread
nonfiction books for authors who held PhD's, and of course, hundreds of fiction
books.
But, man, was I wrong!
The problem is...like looking over my girlfriend’s shoulder while she plays
chess or Scrabble, it's easy for me to spot her next move, whereas she’s so wound
up in the overall game, she might not see the issue right in front of her.
As the writer of our
manuscripts, we will read right over our mistakes, because we are the ones who
made them. We know what we meant to say. But give me someone else's
novels--yes, even those NYT best sellers--and I assure you, I will find their errors, as most authors can.
That said, when my first
novel was published, even though there was an editor from the publishing
company, even she missed many little things.
So, I went back to the
drawing board, wondering why I couldn't edit my own writing and decided—as I do
with everything—to come up with a process and a plan, and then stick to it.
Before we begin, let me step back a tad. This post isn't about grammar and punctuation rules. If
you don't understand the basic writing rules, this post won't help you. I'm
simply offering you the process of how I've managed to ferret out snafus
that pop up in all writing: missing words, incorrect words, run-on sentences,
and such.
First
check...
As I would guess every
writer does, I run my first spell-check via Word. Please note, this only works
if you go into the proofreading mode and recheck the document, which
will recheck previously ignored words.
Next
stop, Grammarly.
Grammarly doesn't
just check for misspelled words, it checks syntax, recognizes common mistakes such
as its versus it's, incorrect usage of articles, and one of my favorites, it even
recognizes overuse of the same word within a paragraph. Grammarly has many other benefits; I'm just pointing out a few.
And
then, Ginger.
While Ginger does many of
the same things that Grammarly does, it still seems to catch different issues.
For some reason, Ginger seems to catch a missing word and a greater range of
homophones.
It may seem like overkill
to pay for two spellchecker apps, but believe me, the first one-star
review you receive, and you'll wish you would have purchased them. The good
news, both of them have trial periods, and Ginger even has a free mode. (Quick note: a well-written novel will not save you from a few one-star reviews. No one can please everyone, but hopefully, at least an unhappy reader won't ding you for grammar mistakes.)
Nope...not
finished! This is my favorite step!
This method beats all editing software and even hiring a professional editor, unless she
uses this method, which most don't, because it's time-consuming. I'm here to tell
you, my friends, nothing beats
good old-fashioned listening to root out errors. Reading aloud is great. But
even when I tried that method, I'd get tired and would find myself reading over words. But when someone is reading to
me, my ear can immediately pick up an
error. No matter how many spell-checkers and line edits I use, once I do my final read through when I
actually listen to it, I always find at least twenty or so errors. In fact,
recently, I was a beta reader for a friend of mine who’d paid a top-notch editor
from a respectable editing company eight hundred dollars to edit her
manuscript. All I did was listen to the novel while I drove around town running
errands, and I found close to one hundred errors. Not…hmm…should there be a
comma here errors, but real errors. And my friend is an award-winning, best-selling
writer. But it doesn’t matter how well you write, you simply need a third eye…or
four. J
The app I love is Voice
Dream. I've spoken with the creator, and last I heard, he was working on an
online app, but right now, it's only available on iPhone and iPad. And before
you ask, I'm not an affiliate for any of the companies I've mentioned, the reason I didn't post links. Matter of
fact, Grammarly has offered--along with offering many authors, I assume--to proofread
one of my blog posts in exchange for a gift card. Well, I didn't want it,
because I wanted to offer my honest opinion on all products, without my readers wondering if I was receiving compensation.
Now...I
know some of you are asking, "What about hiring an editor?"
Of course, you should
hire an editor, especially if you've never written a novel. If you want the
best product you can get, though, you should have your manuscript as clean
as possible before it goes to the editor. It is not an editor's job to rewrite
your novel. An editor can do a much better job if she's not stopping to insert
a comma every sentence, rewriting passive sentences, and constantly tripping
over silly errors like their versus there, and other novice mistakes. An editor
should be able to spend her time looking at the big picture, catching plot
errors, wordy and unnecessary content, and removing the fluff that the
author thinks has to be there. She should have the time to take your okay novel and make it a great story!
Oh...you
thought we were finished? Not so fast, tiger!
One more step, and it's
probably the most important step. After all, I don't care if anyone disagrees
with me on this point, as I truly believe that a great story can save a few
grammar mistakes, but a well-written novel won't save a boring story. You must
have a beta reader! Preferably several, but at least one. Some of my stories,
I've only had one or two, but one of them, I actually had TEN! And I swear,
every one of them saw something different. Of course, that's why I had so many.
I loved the story, but the content was a little questionable, so I wanted to
make sure I made it believable and tasteful.
Well, thank you for
reading. I won't keep you from your writing any longer. I hope you found at
least one thing you could use. Remember,
though, these are just my opinions and shouldn’t be taken too
seriously. If you have questions, please feel free to leave them
in the comment section, and I promise you I will answer.
I love talking
about all things books, so if you
want more posts on writing, marketing books, new releases, and giveaways, please leave your email
address here. I only send out a post once or twice a
week at the most. :) If you're curious about what I write, please visit one of
my author pages. I'll even give you a free book, just for stopping by. Oh, and
if you find an error, please feel free to come back here and tell me about it.
I'm not proud.
Until next time, happy
reading and writing, my friends!
Carmen
If
it isn’t available free in your area, use…
This is so true! I write with my Chromebook, convert to ebook, and have Google's Read Aloud feature read to me. I've nicknamed the British voice Celia. But when Celia reads, I get jolted to hear what works and what doesn't. I also have beta readers and one just helped me in a major way yesterday. Thanks for writing this.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, Cait. And for a new toy! I must check out Chromebook! I paid to upgrade the voice in Voice Dream to Will. He does a great job with all my stories. Amazing how far along these text-to-speech apps have come. :)
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