Editing and Proofreading

Repeated Words

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

How do you know if you are using a word to many times? #writetip Check out Wordle. I’m probably the last to know about this, but it’s cool. Wordle creates a word cloud in which your words get bigger the more often they appear in the text.

I uploaded my first chapter of my third novel and what I got back was a visual of the words. I found out that my protagonists names was used the most – it was the largest. The names of characters got smaller as their importance in the story reduced.

This is just one more way to validate you are doing the right thing. How fun is this writing business? I learn something new every day.

Is your novel too long?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Has your agent/publisher asked you to shorten your novel by thousands of words? #writetip

Here’s what I did when my agent, Margaret Hart, suggested I pick up the pacing near the end of my first novel. I ended up cutting 6,000 words, but this technique will work for more/less words.

I re-read each scene and asked myself why I wrote it? Was is critical to the story? In no, I removed it. If yes, what was in the scene that I needed? In one scene I was revealing a piece of critical information. I added that information to another scene and cut the original scene. Poof, there went 1,000 words.

Next I analyzed each minor character. Could I combine two characters into one? This worked for cutting about 500 words.

Following that, I re-read the narrative and made notes on how I described characters or setting. By making notes, it enabled me to see where I had repeated myself. Another 500 words gone.

You can see I started big and worked my way to the little cuts. I think it made my novel a better story.

Any suggestions on how you do this?

Can you see every mark on the page?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

It’s harder than I thought. #writetip. I like to use tools of the trade to help me perfect my work. I happen to use pages, but any good word processing program will help you check all marks on your page.

When you are checking details during a final proofread, turn on the “show invisibles” function of your software. I view the document at 200% or larger, set the colour of “invisibles” to a dark red (assuming your text is black), and then look at each character.

At this phase I’m looking for:

– one space only after each period.

– no spaces after an opening quote or before an end quote.

– no spaces after a paragraph or page break.

– no double spacing between words.

– etc.

This might seem like I’ve gone too far but I think it makes a manuscript a professional product. It takes time and makes your eyes tired, but in the end, it’s worth it.

What sense do you use to punctuate?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Some people hear a comma, some see it, and others follow the rules. #writetip What’s right for you?

For me, it’s a combination of all three. When I write my first draft, I like to hear the punctuation. Somehow it makes writing flow easier. I don’t worry about whether it’s right or wrong at this stage. I think this lets my natural style come out.

When I review the first draft, I pay attention to how punctuation looks. Does the page look too cluttered? Is my eye distracted by the noise? If it is, I check to see if I’ve overused any punctuation marks.

During my final proofread, before sending the novel to anyone, I check whether my punctuation follows the grammatical and syntactical units of my style guide. If it doesn’t, then I decide if I want to break a rule or follow it. I want my voice to come out, not that of the rules. I also don’t want to make glaring errors.

Like most things in life, punctuating a novel is a balance.

Editing Online

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Pages or Word have functions that allow you to edit a manuscript online. #writetip I’m working on a friend’s manuscript and am doing it over the internet. Since I’ll be traveling for the winter, it’s not practical for me to work on a hard copy. Yesterday I started reading the manuscript and decided to use two methods for editing online.

The “comments” functions allows me to  insert comments on the margin of the document. This is where I put things like, “Where did the garbage bags come from?” I made this comment on a scene where a group is on the run and they are about to jump off a train and into a lake. They packed their things in garbage bags before jumping. There had been no mention of garbage bags to this point. I use this function to mention anything that doesn’t make sense.

This is also where I mention what I like. It’s just as important to tell an author what you do like. They need to hear what’s working in their novel.

The “track changes” function allows me to correct typos, and punctuation or grammar mistakes. The author can then accept or reject the changes without too much effort.

On a side note, if you like my blog, you might also like to read Jennifer Eaton’s. She has some interesting things to say about what to look for in a manuscript.