Self-Editing and Other Misteaks

Self-Editing and Other Misteaks

You’ve finished writing the great American novel, or at least a pretty decent short story, magazine article or poem.  Spell check found several errors and in the second read you even found where you put a semi-colon where you should have used a colon or something like that.

You print a copy or do a cover letter and use the piece as an attachment and send it on its way.  All you have to do now is to wait for the check and the accolades to flood in.  Right?  Maybe. But then again…

What about where you meant to say “think” and instead you wrote “thing.”  Spell check didn’t catch it because “thing” is a real word.  Your brain didn’t catch it because you knew what you meant to write and your brain gave you a pass on the word.

Even worse, you use the piece in your next writing workshop and hand out copies for the group to read.  A hand goes in the air and asks if you really sent this off with this many mistakes in it.  You stammer and stutter…but…but…I read it twice…no three times and…

The problem is that YOU read it.  You can’t find your own mistakes.  I write both novels and screenplays.  When I have a script ready, in my opinion, to hit the market, I send it to my manager in Los Angeles.  I’ve come to realize that no matter how good I think it is, he will find mistakes in spelling, punctuation or something.  The story is sound, but the mechanics are the little things that keep us from being published or produced.

In my screenwriting class on the first day, when the students arrive, on the board is the following sentence:  There going over their to pick up they’re stuff.  Although it’s not a first year English class, I know some of the students see no problem with the sentence.  They read it and it sounds okay.  I also know that during the semester I will see the same thing in some of their writing.

So…what do you do to combat such mistakes?  There are several programs for writers that will help you find mistakes.  I use one that tells me if I use the same word too many times.  It has sixteen things it looks for to include foreign word, profanity, adjectives and other things I’m not even aware I do.  If you find a program that you like and works for you, it will show you just how many times you use the word “just” or “simply” or some other word that you feel you just simply can’t live without.  You can just simply trust me on this.

If you don’t want to add another program to your computer, here are a few suggestions that I have heard other writers do.  Cover the text on the page and read it one line at a time. Read each sentence backwards.  Read it aloud to someone who knows nothing about the story, or have them read it to you.

If you want someone to send you a check, you’ve got to stand out in the crowd.  Do the best job you can and don’t steak minakes.