My manuscript is fully written. But, if only it were perfect—almost there;
almost the best I can possibly do on my own. In prior posts, I described how I
edit for content, and then how I line edit for hard-to-see errors. Done that;
and now it’s time for my hard copy check.
Prior Posts
I’m soon embarking for an out-of-town convention. Carpooling, I’ll have five hours each way to ride in the passenger seat—and read
through my hard copy. Never mind, the colorful trees, architecture, or counting out-of-state license plates in my view out the car window.
Instead, this is
what I’ll be looking for:
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| Photojenn |
1. TONE
Having the right tone can be tricky --
you've got to be aligned with your overall distinct voice.
For example, your voice may be one of an
encouraging tone ... but you’re caught infusing harsh, snarky words. Make sure
you're course-correcting on those elements so your message doesn’t sound out of
place, or worse yet—fallible.
When you're proofing, most tone
issues should already have been worked out in previous editing rounds. Still,
it's possible that a few parts may stick out like a sore thumb—it's your job to
notice and fix them.
2. LOGICAL
FLOW
Make sure each sentence is followed by one that makes sense. This also
holds true for paragraphs, too. Smooth flowing transitions are the goal.
If you find there's an illogical leap from one sentence or paragraph to
another, that's when you know you need to make edits to those transitions.
3. GRAMMAR
and SPELLING
Even the best writers can have grammar
mistakes slip through. We know
to use "their" instead of "they're" but somehow it slipped
by. We know our sentence should
have the word “my” and “me” and should read,
“Her car has my luggage in the trunk,
and will get me to Tennessee.”
Yet, somehow it now reads “Her car has
by luggage in the trunk, and will get my to Tennessee.”
Hyper-vigilant is key to detecting
grammar and spelling mistakes.
When correcting grammatically incorrect
sentences, it’s quite possible to inadvertently introduce new errors. So when
you fix a problem, take time to read that new sentence or paragraph carefully,
particularly for misplaced words and subject-verb disagreement.
As problem areas are revealed, I will
highlight, and chicken-scratch, and take notes in my binder. However, whatever
works best for you to draw attention to areas to fix, go with it—it needn’t be
my way. If I’m inclined to rewrite a part immediately, I will; and if not, I’ll
make a point to fix it later. Either way, the key is to reveal problems.
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| Photojenni |
BONUS:
Text to Speech
You can have your hard copy in front of
you and try this idea out. In Microsoft Word, a function exists for a male
voice to read aloud our words. I’d think this is likewise possible in many of the
word processing programs—for example, the popular Scrivener has it built in. I’ll
show you how to add it to Microsoft Word
2016.
1. Next to the Quick Access Toolbar, found in the top ribbon (see screenshot below),
click Customize Quick Access Toolbar.
2. Click More Commands. (Found left center).
3. In the Choose commands from list, select All Commands.
4. Scroll down to the Speak command, select it, and then click Add.
5. Click “OK”.
6. When you want to use the text-to-speech
command,
a. Click the icon on the Quick Access Toolbar. (See screenshot
below—in the top darkened ribbon, I’ve circled it in white).
b. Highlight the text you want read.
c. Listen
d. And read along—this is important to
catch errors mentioned above, from tone to flow, to grammar and spelling.
If you’ve been following at least a few of my blog posts, you’ll
understand this is a big project for me, and a first for me. I dabble in
smaller projects, like local anthology submissions, and even a few magazine articles.
(but) None of those top out past 4000
words. This big project is over 100,000 words. It’s a biggy. In essence,
as I learn from my mentors—through lectures, on line classes, podcasts, blogs,
etc., etc., I am sharing with you what works for me.
Individually, we are alone in our writing
spaces. Collectively, in sharing our techniques, we can make our communities
and world a better place by giving them something great to read. Please share
in the comments if you’d like to weigh in on anything.
I’ll keep you posted in my progress. ‘Til
next time, I wish you the best and hope these tidbits help you.
-Elle-
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