A Word on Proofreading

Why have I never seen a mansucript cross my desk with no errors or typos in it?

Why do books have mistakes in them?

Why are there typos in printed books?

The answer is simple -

Proofreading is not an exact science.

I have a perfect final-draft in hand. I have gone over it four times and don't believe there can be anymore errors, until I read it again.

Here is what I do...

I finish the final proofread on the computer. I feel the digital format allows more freedom than the printed proof, but only when working on the last draft.

I read novels when editing a manuscript. Especially, works written by a minimalist authors like Robin Cook. (Congo, Airframe) Reminding the muse that their greatest inspiration has fallen short of perfection, and that even great authors make mistakes, is good motivation. It creates an invisible teacher who stands over my shoulder.

Sometimes, enlarging the font to 13 or 14 helps me focus on the words and edit - as apposed to reading the story. I don't like 14, because it makes the font boldfaced.

Sometimes, changing the font between Courier New, and Times New Roman can help force your eyes to see what is there - not what you expect to be there.

My preferred method is to stand up when reading a manuscript that I have read before. I often take one-step backward. I read out loud, stopping at the end of each sentence. This forces me to read the words, not the story.

Sometimes it can take two hours to strip down a couple of pages and rebuild them. Editing is not always painless, quick, or easy.

However, you must keep in mind, that you will never create a truly perfect copy.

I've also torn a sentence down, more than fifteen times, rearranging it, playing with the punctuation, the verbs, the word placement, placing it on different parts of the page. Not stopping until satisfied. This is not unusual, I know several writers who can easily spend fifteen minutes perfecting a single sentence. But, most people only put this much effort into the first 50 pages... after that, the reader is hooked and more interested in the story than the grammar.

It works.

The difference between my first book, and the second, is unmeasurable. The second novel looks like I took years to finish writing it. I didn't.

They say that writing a novel is 10% telling the story and 90% editing. This is true. If you don't like to edit - you will have a hard time writing a great novel.