Eva Pasco's Blog - Posts Tagged "proofreading"

An Indie author who foregoes the latest “editing” tools, preferring to rely on my own analytic powers, I came across the grandmaster of editing apps the other day.

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2018/07/how-...

“More than just a grammar and punctuation checker, it’s also a writing coach that can point out your weaknesses and help you turn them into strengths”—such as—and, I’m slapping myself silly:

“The editing tool reports on issues that most human editors wouldn’t be able to easily track, such as readability level, inconsistencies, sticky sentences, sentence length, repetition, strong or weak tenses, unique words, transitions, and much more.”

And, the issue of “pronoun overload”. Brought out: 15% of the words in published writing are pronouns, and fewer than 30% of sentences begin with an initial pronoun. Since writing that relies too heavily on pronouns can sound stilted, the editing tool shows if your work has higher percentages than these.

Mind you, I don’t doubt the effectiveness of any “writer’s wrinkle z-app-er”. However, like Botox, heavy reliance can induce “stiffness of sentence” and detract from the writer’s unique voice.

In that regard, I’ll continue to exercise my own critical judgment in assessing the effectiveness of grammar, punctuation, and use of pronouns. Steering clear of artificial intelligence, I’ll persevere by writing and editing without intervention.

In the capacity of a writer approaching the light at the end of the tunnel for publication, I’m at the third and final stage of reading through my manuscript. Far be it from me to notice, post-publication, a missing end punctuation mark or some other pesky oversight. Hope not!

So, I’m splitting hairs checking and rechecking dicey areas, such as:

One word or two?

For instance: backyard or back yard?

According to grammarians, backyard (one word) may be used as a noun, or used to function as an adjective.

Back yard (two words) can be used in the role of a noun when referring to “the back part of a yard”.

While both spellings are acceptable, backyard is preferable in both contexts.

Yes, back-yard (hyphenated) in the adjectival sense also exists, but it seems to be less prevalent.

So, I am proceeding accordingly as I split hairs roving my eyes from the prologue to epilogue.

On a note of farewell: goodbye or good-bye?

*May each of us writers polish and perfect our works in progress with an eye out for the reader.

My sincere appreciation to you for reading this far.

Eva’s Authors Den Page: http://www.authorsden.com/evapasco