As this series draws to a close, here are a couple practical exercises you can do at home to learn and practice your own seamless self-editing. Cutting word usage in half, and a proofreading exercise will assist you in learning more about how to edit your own manuscript. Because our object is to become “publish-ready.” #amwriting #publishready #seamlessediting
We all want our manuscripts to be the best they can be. In the past, we’ve relied on unskilled critique partners, groups, and professional editors to do our work for us. But, [bctt tweet=”Prospective authors must learn how to edit their own work to the point where a publisher will consider it as it.” username=”@a3forme @donnalhsmith”] #amwriting #publishready
Writers write because we love to use words, but let’s face it––even though we say we write for ourselves, we all want to be published and have many others read what we’ve written, for the mutual benefit of ourselves and our readers. That’s why self-editing is important. [bctt tweet=”We must do everything we can to get our manuscripts ready for publication.” username=”@a3forme @donnalhsmith”] #amwriting #publishready
Getting published traditionally is difficult. Small publishers are more likely to accept a manuscript from a previously unpublished author, yet they are the ones who require “publish-ready” submissions. [bctt tweet=”Self-editing is a challenge to improve our own writing. ” username=”@a3forme @donnalhsmith”]#amwriting #selfediting
Let’s get our manuscript “publish-ready.” Refer to last month’s post for my definition. This time, we’ll look at basic proofreading. [bctt tweet=”Spell check in Microsoft Word or whatever word processing program you use—is simply not good enough.” username=”@donnalhsmith @a3forme”]. #amwriting #publishready #selfediting
Catching Typos
Use spell-check, but don’t rely on it: heals vs. heels, etc.
Read it out loud: our eyes skip over things too quickly. When we read it aloud, we slow down, reading every word.
Print it out: Even though a computer simulates the printed page quite well, there’s just something about actually seeing it on real paper.
Proofread backward: I’ve never tried this, but it sounds interesting.
Catching Inconsistencies
Chapter Titles and Numbers: Especially when adding or deleting chapter, make sure they’re in proper order. Use your search or find function on your word processor.
Paragraph Indents: Generally, most manuscripts ask for a half-inch indent. When you end a scene with either a # (hashtag) or * (asterisk), make sure you’ve taken out the indent for that paragraph alone.
Hyphens, dashes, and ellipses: I always consult a grammar website or the text listed here. Here are a few pointers to help you discern. An ellipses (…) is used for fragmented speech, i.e. confusion, insecurity, or uncertainty. An em dash (—) is for a break in thought or interruption. An en dash (–) is used for consecutive numbers such as 1–10.
Apostrophes and quotation marks: usually font-controlled. Any fonts associated with old typewriter styles usually has the straight marks, such as “ when most publishers would like them curved, like “. One note: if you’re using an em dash at the end of dialogue, put the end quotes in first or it will look like this: “Hello. Are you––“ Quotation marks are backwards. “Hello. Are you––”
[bctt tweet=”If we learn to catch these simple things ourselves, the overall appearance of our manuscript will improve, and give us a better chance. ” username=”@donnalhsmith @a3forme”]#amwriting #selfediting
How about you? What proofreading secret has helped you the most? Leave a comment and let me know.
Last month, we talked about what “publish-ready” means. This time, we’ll look at basic proofreading. Spell check in Microsoft Word or whatever word processing program you use—is simply not good enough. #amwriting #publishready #selfediting
You hear it more and more these days. [bctt tweet=”Your manuscript must be “publish-ready” in order for it to be considered. ” username=””] What does “publish-ready” mean? How can self-editing help? #amwriting #publish-ready #self-editing
For the next few blog posts, we’ll look at this and how you can improve your raw writing into something closer to “publish-ready.” I’ll be using several resources for this.