Over the last few years, I’ve chatted with other authors and
followed them on twitter and their blogs to learn more about the craft.
There are so many ideas on how to self-edit and proofread,
so I’m going to share a few with you that have worked well for me. Keep in
mind, it’s not a perfect process, and there are still a few minor errors, but
around 80 – 90% of mistakes can be caught by using these methods.
These are in the order I usually do them, but you can do
them out of order and it would still work.
·
I write my stories in Scrivener, so I first
scroll through the entire document and look for anything underlined in red,
blue or green. Make the necessary corrections.
·
I switch the document over to Word, and do the
same. Sometimes Scrivener and Word disagree on how to spell certain words or on
what’s okay and what’s not in terms of grammar. If that happens, then I’ll
refer to my two favorite resources: The
Elements of Style by William Strunk and The
Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. If they don’t have the answers
then I turn to online reputable resources like Grammar Girl, for instance. Make
the necessary corrections.
·
Let it sit for a week or more if possible. At
least 3 days minimum. I can usually get away with this because I have Dory’s
memory (sorry, I have kids, so you may find occasional Disney references in my
blog posts ;D).
·
Put it into an e-pub and read it out loud on my
phone to myself with my laptop in front of me and the story up on Scrivener. I
make changes as I read along. If I’m out and about and reading it, I avoid
reading it aloud, but I do note changes, highlight and bookmark what I need to fix
and then the adjustments are made once I’m home. I think this is the most
critical step because I need to see my story the way my readers’ are most
likely going to view it. They’ll probably read it on their phones as well. It’s
amazing how many mistakes I catch this way, and how I’ll find clunky phrasing
or poor dialogue. The flow can be improved because when I’m reading it
objectively this way, I’m thinking
about how a new reader might take the story and how it might sound to them. I
also find weak spots that maybe need more, so new sentences and paragraphs will
develop, along with previously wordy ones, limited or eliminated altogether.
·
Let it sit again if possible. A week is good
here, too. Even better would be two weeks to a month if I have the time to do
this.
·
Reread it again on my phone and make the last
few changes required and if possible, this is when I try to keep myself from
constructing a whole slew of new sentences or paragraphs, since those might
possibly have more mistakes.
Now it should be ready to send to an editor.
I know this might sound extreme, but it’ll save your editor
or proofreader from finding minor mistakes you can get rid of on your own,
which hopefully means a faster turn-around time for you to get your product
back.
Hope this helps. Looking forward to sharing more tips in the
future!
Crystal
