Proofreading
be overwritten and it is not
uncommon for a writer to spill
everything they have out onto the
page, in the belief that is it
ALL necessary.
when writing and how you achieve
this is by consciously writing to certain
rules, with regards punctuation and
grammar. You also need to ensure
that your writing is tight and you are
not going off on tangents.
has a different process when it comes
to writing. Some of you will have stuck
to your preplan, others will have written
freely with an idea of that plan in the
back of their minds.
the intention of using your story map,
but in the end just wrote what came
into your head.
issue when it gets to the end of your
story, if you haven’t been keeping a
track of it, is that you have ended up
with a far bigger word count
than is necessary.
than 1,000 words and no less
than 100 words.
not count if you are submitting a
poem or a thought – there is no
minimum word count for you.)
have reached the end and you are
300 words above the cut-off point!
This is where editing comes in.
unnecessary copy and every writer
must learn how to do this.
your work to your publisher, you need
to have ensured that it is of the highest
standard. That you have read and
reread, deleted unnecessary sentences
and double-checked that it flows.
lot of writers do not find it easy.
This is because they cannot see how
else to tell the story, once they have
written it a certain way and to a
certain length.
healthy and vital for all writers to learn
how to edit their work back.
– To avoid boring the reader with
pointless information.
– To keep pace.
– To ensure a satisfactory read.
– Pinpoint an area in need of editing.
– Consider the language used.
– Ask yourself – how can I get this
across better?
– Identify any awkward phrases
and rewrite. Are you making a point
but could do it in a much tighter way?
Are you repeating certain words?
Remember your synonyms.
description. Get to the point and
if you see that you haven’t,
bullet point what you were
trying to say on a separate sheet,
delete the paragraph in
the story and rewrite based on
your bullet points.
Did you describe your lead character
as having red hair at the beginning
but then tell your reader that she
“tucked her long, black hair under her
baseball cap,” later on?
The final step in the process is to
proofread – when you read back
over your story with correcting
spelling and grammar in mind.
Because no one wants to, should
have to or even will read copy that
is badly written!
— Spellcheck – this seems obvious
but so many writers fail to do it, and
in doing so fail themselves on
submission.
wrong spelling and grammar and
is a great way to start your proofread
– but do not rely on it solely.
(Note: Always ensure the spellcheck
is set to UK English for Ireland
and the UK.)
a great way of really seeing
your story. Read it with fresh eyes
(i.e. after you have been away
from it for a while) and use a red pen
to mark out any changes or
corrections needed.
seem like a funny piece of advice
but it’s a trick that…well, does the trick!
It focuses your mind and is a great
way of identifying wrong spellings.
wrong with this one. On it, have
characters’ names and place names
for example, as well as things like font
and numbers to double-check in copy.
aforementioned done,
you are ready to submit your copy
(see our final lesson, next).
Well done – you are
almost there!
To develop your editing skills go to
Week 3/Exercise Sheet 1 and to work
on your proofreading download
Week 3/Exercise Sheet 2.
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