Copyediting, or, how did I miss that?

[TheWritingGroup]

On a current WiP, I begin with the sentence, "The sun was shining right on her face."

Except, on about 12th look, I suddenly realized it said "The sun was be shining right on her face."

The advice to have text-to-speech read you each story before you publish: validated.

-Annie

 

[TheLobster]

It do was be like that sometimes.

 

[StillStunned]

On a current WiP, I begin with the sentence, "The sun was shining right on her face."

Except, on about 12th look, I suddenly realized it said "The sun was be shining right on her face."

The advice to have text-to-speech read you each story before you publish: validated.

-Annie

For a couple of recent stories I skipped it. I'd been over the text so many times, I reasoned, but mostly I couldn't be arsed.

Of course there are some glaring mistakes in them. TTS isn't perfect, but it would have caught those mistakes.

I never skip this step with my professional editing of course.

 

[Jorunn]

I use free Grammarly to run my first check, pulling up my original with what is on the Grammarly screen. I manually edit my original based on what Grammarly finds. It is good for repeated words, spelling, and tenses. And better than Word at finding examples like yours. Grammarly finds a lot of other things, but I usually re-write only a few if the sections it flags.

And before submitting, I do a final slow read looking for omissions. I add missing character descriptions and insert a few adjectives.

I haven’t used text to speech but will add that based on what I have heard on Author’s Hangout. Thanks!

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Looking at it now, I should remove "right" from that sentence. It makes sense in context, but it isn't necessary.

-Annie

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

For me, I like to multitask when doing my TTS editing. Doing laundry, washing dishes, outdoor walks with the dog, etc. Ideally, I have a notebook nearby so I can note where to make an edit when I get back to my computer (which is not convenient with soapy dishwashing hands!)

 

[NotWise]

Looking at it now, I should remove "right" from that sentence. It makes sense in context, but it isn't necessary.

-Annie

It isn't necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Removing it is one option. Another option might be to emphasize "right." You could do the latter to cultivate the narrator's voice.

 

[MetaBob]

Looking at it now, I should remove "right" from that sentence. It makes sense in context, but it isn't necessary.

-Annie

What that leaves you is still passive and lacks anything to prompt emotional resonance: "The sun was shining on her face."

"The sun shone warm on her face" seems better.

"The sun shone warm on her face, reminding her of [better times|some specific memory]" might be better still.

If this is the first line in a story, it should lead somewhere, not just take up space.

 

[NuclearFairy]

"The sun shone warm on her face" seems better.

That makes it sound like the sun was warm, but wasn't having an affect on her, whereas "The sun shone warmly on her face." evokes the feeling of the warm sunshine slowly waking her up in a good mood.

Then you have what Annie actually wrote;

On a current WiP, I begin with the sentence, "The sun was shining right on her face."

Which evokes a feeling of "Get this annoying sunshine out of my face."

To the actual topic of this thread, I have to make do with going over it repeatedly, and having my SO edit. I've a seventy percent hearing loss and perfectly healthy ear drums which means I need the expensive hearing aids that the insurance companies won't cover. So for the past decade I've been having to mostly get by with reading lips so I can't do text to speech. Although he has occasionally found spots where it seemed like I forgot to type the entire middle of a sentence. Because I sometimes type slower than I think.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

My stuff tends to be too long for TTS, but I end up reading everything at least four or five times, sometimes more, and it's amazing to me that no matter how many times I go over something - even waiting a few days to let it leak from my head before I go back and edit again - that there will inevitably be some kind of goofy ass typo that should have been obvious that my brain just kept glossing over.

I had a nightmare the other night that I submitted a story and then went to read it the morning it posted, and half the first paragraph was gibberish because I'd fucked up the editing.

Dreaming about fucking typos. /sigh

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Which evokes a feeling of "Get this annoying sunshine out of my face."

The next line is about how it woke Liz up from sleep, so ....

-Annie

 

[NuclearFairy]

The next line is about how it woke Liz up from sleep, so ....

-Annie

Sounds perfect as is then.

 

[MetaBob]

"The sun shone warm on her face" seems better.

That makes it sound like the sun was warm, but wasn't having an affect on her

Does it?

Sounds perfect as is then.

Except that Annie wanted to change it.

Four ways I do copy editing:

1. Read it in a different environment. I write and edit in Apple Pages, then paste it into Lit's draft editor in preview mode and review it there, making changes to the source text and re-uploading it periodically. For me, this can go on for weeks. Of primary importance is tightening the text, removing unnecessary commas, dialog tags, words, and phrases like "that", "just", "and then" (usually be removing "then"), and adverbs, just as Annie wanted to remove "right", and rephrasing passive voice to active.
2. When I think I'm satisfied, I'll put the piece aside for a few days before returning to it with fresh eyes while also remaining open to any new ideas I might have and making appropriate targeted alterations.
3. Have text-to-speech read it aloud, or reading it aloud myself. This is less about copy editing and more about reviewing flow.
4. When I've gotten to the point that I can review the whole piece and hardly want to change a single thing about it, I'll upload it to Grammarly Free. This is a pain since ~95% of what it finds is crap, but it will catch things like the occasional doubled or misspelled word (ex: to to -> to do, and too -> to).

Repeat until satisfied. 8 days after reaching a rough draft state, I'm at step 2 of my 2nd editing cycle on chapter 3 and started writing chapter 4 this morning. I will probably write half of chapter 4 before submitting chapter 3 for publication in a week or so, in case something in chapter 4 requires accommodation in earlier text.

I lay out my editing process in more detail here: https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?p=92166492

 

[NuclearFairy]

Does it?

It's more about the feel of the words. To me saying the sun shone warm makes it feel like you're only describing how the sun shines and not at all describing how it made her feel. Where the ly suffix adds more of a feeling of it affecting her. So "warm" is just, "Yeah it's warm, I don't care," and "warmly" is more, "It's warm and this generates emotions."

I'm just one person though, and I don't know how other people feel about such things.

 

[MetaBob]

It's more about the feel of the words. To me saying the sun shone warm makes it feel like you're only describing how the sun shines and not at all describing how it made her feel. Where the ly suffix adds more of a feeling of it affecting her. So "warm" is just, "Yeah it's warm, I don't care," and "warmly" is more, "It's warm and this generates emotions."

I'm just one person though, and I don't know how other people feel about such things.

We are both writers and not all writers express themselves in the same way (nor should they), so agreement on every detail is not necessary.

In this case, we both seem to have adopted "The sun shone" rather than Annie's original "The sun was shining", so at least we (seem to) agree on that much.

 

[MelissaBaby]

On a current WiP, I begin with the sentence, "The sun was shining right on her face."

Except, on about 12th look, I suddenly realized it said "The sun was be shining right on her face."

The advice to have text-to-speech read you each story before you publish: validated.

-Annie

I have a tendency to fall into passive voice in my first drafts, then edit to a more active voice in editing. As a consequence, I really have to keep an eye out for just that kind of error.

 

[Rustyoznail]

On a current WiP, I begin with the sentence, "The sun was shining right on her face."

Except, on about 12th look, I suddenly realized it said "The sun was be shining right on her face."

The advice to have text-to-speech read you each story before you publish: validated.

-Annie

It's perfectly fine for a pirate story.

"Arr matey, the sun be shining right on the fair lass's face."

 

[Rob_Royale]

The advice to have text-to-speech read you each story before you publish: validated.

-Annie

Oh yes. It's my last editing pass. Without fail.

 

[NotWise]

I have a tendency to fall into passive voice in my first drafts, then edit to a more active voice in editing. As a consequence, I really have to keep an eye out for just that kind of error.

As a self-training tool, you can try writing without using any form of "to be." I don't think it's possible or desirable to eliminate all uses, but removing some makes the text more active. You get a different perspective on your own style.

 

[designatedvictim]

On a current WiP, I begin with the sentence, "The sun was shining right on her face."

Except, on about 12th look, I suddenly realized it said "The sun was be shining right on her face."

The advice to have text-to-speech read you each story before you publish: validated.

-Annie

If I had a nickel for all the times I've read and re-read something only to find either a word was missing, or an extra left in, like that... I'd have an awful lot of nickels.

I do that when I change things as I type. No, this works better! Then I never properly remove the offending bit.

Another is when I change tenses, mid-type.

I've never done TTS, though. Not sure if I have the patience for it and I'm not sure I want what I've written thrown back at me like that.

Haven't tried Grammarly, or anything like that, either. That might explain the commenter who wanted me to 'Please learn to craft a proper sentence.' (He didn't like my use of commas, it seems. At least I don't go all 'Bill Shatner' on it.)

TTS must be awfully weird with any sex scenes.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

In case anyone cares, the story now starts, "The sun shining on her face face woke her."

-Annie

 

[MetaBob]

In case anyone cares, the story now starts, "The sun shining on her face face woke her."

-Annie

"face face"?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

"face face"?

Hey, I've only edited that paragraph 13 times, now.

-Annie

 

[TheLobster]

In case anyone cares, the story now starts, "The sun shining on her face face woke her."

-Annie

Ah, I see what's wrong. You need a hyphen there, to get "face-woke".

face-wake (v) :: to wake something or someone with, by, or in such a way that it relates to a face

 

[Dearelliot]

I wonder how I can get TTS...I worry about what I download...