Editing, spell checking, and grammar

[MelanieShaman]

I've been super prolific lately, and mostly happy with the results, except, I actually do go through and reread and edit, but somehow I still miss a bunch of stuff. So once it's published I go in and read it on the site and I see all the errors... am I just editing too quickly, possibly glazing over stuff because I know the story?

Any advice to avoid all those types of errors? Or some sort of software that might help? I use free grammarly a little, but if course it doesn't really pick up much.

 

[NuclearFairy]

You'll always miss things, but I've heard that using read aloud can help.

Or having a third pair of eyes. I had one chapter of a story that I've gone over countless times, my SO went over it twice, and then I asked a beta reader look at. Somehow we'd missed the misspelling of the word "archly" even with it's red squiggly line. But then I can't use read aloud, and my SO likes to talk with me while editing... So yeah, read aloud, or having another extra pair of eyes, and then another to look over your stuff.

 

[iwatchus]

Three possibilities to mention quickly

* use a read aloud to listen to the story. Most word processors now offer this capability. You catch different things.

* change the size of the font by 3 or more points. It will change the line spacing and change the way you read it.

* change the spacing between paragraphs to 100 pts+. Again, you will see different things.

Beyond this. look at all the advice in the self editing for authors pinned thread (in the blue section at the top of the board.)

 

[MelanieShaman]

Reading aloud is a great idea. I did that when I wrote my novel years ago and it really helped.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I've been super prolific lately, and mostly happy with the results, except, I actually do go through and reread and edit, but somehow I still miss a bunch of stuff. So once it's published I go in and read it on the site and I see all the errors... am I just editing too quickly, possibly glazing over stuff because I know the story?

Any advice to avoid all those types of errors? Or some sort of software that might help? I use free grammarly a little, but if course it doesn't really pick up much.

I like the Immersive Reader view in Word. It reads the story back to me, and your ears are a very good editor, often much better than your eyes.

Love your avatar BTW. Nice underboob.

 

[MelanieShaman]

Oh cool, I'll look into it.

And thanks! I'm pretty proud of her. Took me a very long time to create what I consider to be my "signature character" for my comic book universe.

 

[IWroteThis]

I'll jump on the Read Aloud bandwagon, but I'll also suggest putting it aside for a bit and work on something else. You'll see it fresher when you come back for another editing pass.

 

[dirk2024]

... am I just editing too quickly, possibly glazing over stuff because I know the story?

The quick and easy answer is...yes. You're human, I'm human, we're all humans (mostly, we suspect a bot or two) so we get used to what we've written.

My first story had a stupid mispelled word in the FIRST SENTENCE that I missed every time I re-read the story before publishing.

So I use Read Aloud and I also will set aside the story for a few days (some here have recommended up to a month which is so... to me).

Beta readers can also be helpful. They can be hard to come by though since many of us are toiling away. But forming relationships here can help with that.

 

[Abbafan]

Take a little time away from what you've written. I think that helps. it helps you put a little distance between you and your writing.

 

[ronde]

I've been super prolific lately, and mostly happy with the results, except, I actually do go through and reread and edit, but somehow I still miss a bunch of stuff. So once it's published I go in and read it on the site and I see all the errors... am I just editing too quickly, possibly glazing over stuff because I know the story?

Any advice to avoid all those types of errors? Or some sort of software that might help? I use free grammarly a little, but if course it doesn't really pick up much.

The first rule I learned, actually here on this same forum, is to write a story and then let it sit for at least a week. Two weeks is better. The reason is the human brain is very adept at self-correction of errors. Your brain remembers what you thought you were writing and corrects the errors for you when you edit.

An example of how good your brain is at correcting errors is this misspelled quote from a very famous person.

"7H3 M345UR3 OF 1N73KK163NC3 15 7U3 481L17Y 70 CH4N63" - 4L83R7 31N5731N

See what your brain can do with spelling errors? The actual quote reads: "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change", and is from Albert Einstein, but your brain doesn't have many problems interpreting it. It will do exactly the same thing with your own spelling errors.

Waiting a week or two gives your brain time to "forget" what you were thinking, and the errors will be a lot more evident. That's why you see them once your story has been published.

 

[Thanatos_X13]

Another thing you can do, if you have a real hard time with missing errors, is read each line right to left. Because your brain is designed to fill in sentences and words based on expectation and experience, when you read backward your brain is having to actually focus on what is written. This along with reading aloud yourself and listening to a text-to-speech reader gives you three editing passes, so you're much more likely to catch stuff. Walking away for a while is good, too, but I don't have the patience for that. lol

 

[StillStunned]

How I go about editing and proofreading my stories here on Lit:

1. Read Aloud.
2. It's not the end of the world if I miss a few typos.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

2. It's not the end of the world if I miss a few typos.

Then why did the world end yesterday, huh? Answer me that!

 

[HelenL]

Then why did the world end yesterday, huh? Answer me that!

Again? Damn.

 

[StillStunned]

Then why did the world end yesterday, huh? Answer me that!

Don't blame me! I haven't published anything for a month, with or without typos.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Don't blame me! I haven't published anything for a month, with or without typos.

Hah! I published six stories in the past month.

Granted, it took me almost a year to write them, so my overall productivity might not be that great, but ....

 

[SyleusSnow]

If your writing tool doesn't have text to speech, Balabolka is a stand-alone reader for Windows. Looks ugly but works great and it opens MS Word and other formats directly. It's possible to get it to use natural voices, but I find the default robotic ones make errors stand out more.

Another old trick is to change the font when proof-reading. A typewriter typeface, Comic Sans... anything other than what you're used to can help make errors more visible.