Editing Check List

[Ann]

Do you have things you search for during final edits, stuff you always get wrong?

I'm terrible at knowing where my commas and full stops need to go in speech :x

I'd like to know :]

[James]

I find I use commas too much. There are often too many multiple and subordinate clauses in my writing as well. The first thing I do is go through and boil these down to as many simple sentences as possible. I also keep changing my mind as to paragraph sizes.

I've just finished proof reading my third book ( a novella actually) that is out next month - it has supposedly undergone a check by my editor - I just had to agree with the changes- I found so many small mistakes it's taken me four days to make sure everything is okay. I can't believe these mistakes passed me by. I think the problem with going through your work again and again without a break is you stop seeing the mistakes after a while- you need to set it aside for a little time first.

[Emma]

You know, I don't have one, but I probably should, hah! I'm in the process of editing my first bigger piece (a novella) right now and I think one of my major problems is just using too many words sometimes. I mean, I'm not aiming for a "minimalistic" writing style but I find I can scale back or simplify in a lot of places. And my sentences get a bit long sometimes, too.

[Brian]

I have found through the editing process that I like to use the same words over and over. I have to pull out my favorite dinosaur to fix. A thesaurus is something every writer needs.

[Cassandra]

I have a spreadsheet. This should come as no surprise because I have a spreadsheet for everything. I have a whole section on find and replace items, like paragraphs ending without punctuation, my strange practice of writing can't' or don't', extra spaces, etc. I run through that before my first edit and after my final edit. The rest is mostly missing or misused words. I try to edit in different formats. I will start working in front of my computer. Then I will print it out. Then I make an ARC and send it to my tablet. I cycle through that way for at least a dozen reads. I agree with James that you need breaks in editing or you miss things.

As for commas. The rules on commas are very strange and ever changing. If you have 3 people read the same paragraph and ask them if the commas are placed properly, you will get 3 different answers. Most readers won't care. When I make comma decisions I read out loud. What I want to know is did I pause where I think a comma may need to go. Even two English teachers will argue over whether you should use a comma most of the time.

[Brian]

@Cassandra my general rule for commas is that if I need more than 2 in a sentence then I can probably word it better without the commas. I tend to prefer a minimalist approach with my writing though.

[Claire]

@Brian, as a whole I agree with this. I hate it when you're reading a really good book and you come to a paragraph which is one run-along sentence. By the time you're finished, you have to go back to see where the idea started and that pulls you right out of the story.

[Cassandra]

@Brian I totally agree with you on that. I try hard to avoid long sentences with multiple commas. I've read some long sentences that were really well-written, but I've read more that were confusing.

[Carl]

I'm a lousy editor of my own writing. Thus, after a story has been workshopped and I've done my edits, I pay a colleague where I teach to use her skills as a former copy editor in my behalf.

[Ben]

I am writing my first book so still have a lot to learn about editing. My problem is that I get too excited by what I am writing and then when I come to take a breath, I have a 500 word long paragraph!

[David]

Dangling modifiers! I am the king of DMs. I have to do a separate edit just to clean up the mess. Sometimes these edits turn into a complete rewrite.

[Dionne]

I tend to have problems with commas and repeating words. I make it a habit to go back and make different words for those repeating ones. Usually those repeaters are my favorite so I have to control myself to stop overusing them.

[Ron]

One thing I learned in the editing of my book was to not have words like was, were, has, had, etc. repeating in the same paragraph.

hope it helps

[Ann]

Today I learned that I really don't understand the difference between affect and effect.