38
votes

I write a daily piece and have been doing so for over 8 years. I think my writing has gotten better, but I still find mistakes at times, or more likely, my readers find mistakes.

Does anyone have good tricks for self-editing? Any tools? I spell check and use Word for grammar checking, but it doesn't seem to work so well and the pace of writing makes it hard to use anyone for editing on a regular basis.

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  • 1
    I don't think there are any "tricks" involved. It boils down to a talent you're born with, a skill you develop, or sheer discipline in approach. IMHO. Nov 18, 2010 at 22:55
  • 1
    The question is asked and answered already, but "tips and tricks" questions aren't on-topic for StackExchange sites. I think what you're looking for is a process, and @StrixVaria kinda laid that out. Nov 19, 2010 at 4:06
  • Given that time is the great leveller the logical thing would be to take two weeks off from editing/submitting, but not from writing. Then your daily tasks are: 1. Edit what I wrote two weeks ago 2. Write my article for two weeks time. and 3. Final review and submit on todays piece. Of course if the piece has to be super timely that won't work...
    – One Monkey
    Mar 1, 2011 at 15:04
  • 1
    Are you asking about proofreading for lapses such as spelling errors, or proper editing to restructure ambiguities, run-on sentences and the like? Some techniques work for both, but some are more specialised to one or the other. Aug 21, 2019 at 16:16
  • 1
    As far as what I was looking for, a little of both. Certainly help with spelling/basic grammar, as sometimes spell check misses things (there/their issues), but also just mistyping (of for on). If there are good techniques for the latter, better ways to examine for ambiguities,etc., maybe those can be a pass before or after the basic stuff. Right now I try to stay a week ahead, but with other items, sometimes I'm scrambling a bit
    – way0utwest
    Aug 22, 2019 at 14:12

11 Answers 11

33
votes

While it's not possible for your specific predicament, the question you actually ask is much broader than that.

Put the writing away long enough to forget your state of mind while you were writing it, then re-read it. For some people this could be as short as a day, but I have to wait closer to a month before re-reading what I've written for all the subtle things I could have done better to stand out.

I know that professional author Stephen King says he adheres to a strict schedule when writing. He writes all morning, then reviews all of the previous day's work that afternoon. This way he has plenty of time and other writing-related activities between writing and revising that piece of his story.

3
  • Thanks, if I can get more than 2 days ahead, I have tried this and it has helped.
    – way0utwest
    Nov 19, 2010 at 0:04
  • 1
    I've heard as long as six months for the advised wait before looking over a manuscript and revising it, in the context of scientific writing. Jan 17, 2011 at 10:36
  • I wish I had that time. Right now (quite a bit since posting), I am about a week ahead most times, so I write and leave things, then I re-read before loading and scheduling, then often re-read again before the final deadline.
    – way0utwest
    Aug 22, 2019 at 14:13
23
votes

Print your work.

I've found that proof-reading a hard-copy is much more effective than proof-reading off a computer screen.

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    Agreed, though I'm always amazed this works so well, and horrified at the wasted paper.
    – MGOwen
    Nov 18, 2010 at 23:48
  • Nice idea, I'll try this. I do a podcast as well, so I "re-read" this on a teleprompter twice (practice/live) and that has helped.
    – way0utwest
    Nov 19, 2010 at 0:03
  • As a scientist, I'd say that most colleagues are the same in printing out anything that needs to be read. Either their own work for editing/improving, or other's work for reading. Feb 6, 2011 at 13:17
  • This absolutely works, but my boss can get carried away: he prints out all his emails! ;-) Feb 24, 2012 at 0:30
18
votes

You can read the story aloud. Some errors are better found when you hear them.

You can also record your own voice and listen to it later.

Next, is to have somebody else read the story.

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    Somebody else reading it isn't exactly "self-editing"
    – StrixVaria
    Nov 18, 2010 at 21:07
  • The schedule prevents me from getting timely feedback from others. Also, it's a burden on others, so I was hoping for other ideas. The self recording is interesting.
    – way0utwest
    Nov 19, 2010 at 0:04
  • 1
    "Somebody else" can be a text-to-speech feature on your computer. Mar 2, 2011 at 17:02
8
votes

Read it backwards. That's what many newspaper editors do. You overlook mistakes, because your brain knows what there should stand and put it together correctly. You have to fool your brain. If you read backwards, the words do not make sense and you read more accurately.

3
  • Do you mean read the words backwards or read the last sentence, then the next to last, etc.?
    – way0utwest
    Dec 6, 2010 at 20:09
  • 1
    etc, last to next the then, sentence last the read or backwards words the read mean you Do. @way - If you are really good, try: cte, tsal txen eht neht ... ;) Dec 6, 2010 at 20:13
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    I found this helpful in the bad-old-days before spllcheck. These days, I tend to read sentence-by-sentence backward and trust the computer for the spelling. Witch wont all ways work. Feb 23, 2012 at 22:52
8
votes

I'm an editor and I agree with the previous posts. Printing hard copies is a terrible waste of paper, but it's an excellent way to identify mistakes that we miss on our PCs. Taking time away from the piece also works.

In addition, I eliminate all distractions. I used to listen to music and reread my writing at the same time. Not anymore! I unplug the phone or let it go to voice mail, and will only proof important documents when I'm feeling alert. Maybe there's a particular time of day when you are more alert than others.

Also, often I magnify my screen up to 150 or 175 percent. It's downright embarrassing, but helps me to catch a lot of little errors. And I will spell-check the document in several places. Maybe I will check it once in my e-mail reader and again in Word. Sometimes things slip past me in Word that are picked up elsewhere.

Good luck. Sigrid

PS Don't accept all of the suggestions by the spell-check in Word. It can often be wrong.

7
votes

One trick I just recently learned was to change the font before editing. This kinda "tricks" the brain into seeing the writing differently. Milage may vary in the long-term, but it works for me.

2
  • This works for me, from Times to Courier is one way, I added a layer to it be changing the background color. I learned from architecture that Blue is good for creativity and red is good for spell-checking, so I write on a blue screen and edit on red.
    – Stephan F-
    Apr 25, 2011 at 22:20
  • 2
    Changing the font and the size of your text might help. I use Google Docs and I find that doing this makes it easier to identify typos and other errors. Aug 15, 2019 at 20:10
5
votes

I recommend the text-to-speech feature on the Amazon Kindle (or an equivalent device), with the read speed set to "slow".

When you read your own work, your mind tends to jump ahead of your eyes (because it already knows what the text is going to say, if only subconsciously). Because of this, you tend to read even the incorrect sentences and words correctly. Missed or duplicated if's, the's, ands and of's for example, are often overlooked.

Newer text-to-speech software are advanced enough to read in a narrative tone that is only slightly mechanical. When I used this approach for the story I'm writing these days, I found dozens of errors of all kinds in every chapter. And I had edited and cleaned up those chapters multiple times before that.

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    I tried this and it absolutely works. One tip is that the Kindle text-to-speech (at least) does a poor job of handling kerning and hyphenation, so it doesn't pay to run a document though LaTeX and copy it as a PDF for this purpose. Mar 2, 2012 at 1:50
4
votes

I wrote this article that gives you five good steps to editing your work. To summarise:

  1. Target overused word
  2. vary your sentence structure
  3. Eliminate cliches
  4. vary repeated words and phrases
  5. brainstorm using existing ideas

I think it gives some constructive steps that might help you.

3
votes

I edit a number of times, each with a different goal. I will look at a piece once for readability and to eleminate clunky phrases, once for grammer and punctation, etc. Focusing on just one type of reveiw at a time seems to help when I edit my own writing.

0
votes

Self-editing is challenging, as it is difficult to gain the necessary perspective from your work to be “objective.” Or at the very least clear-eyed enough to spot those niggly errors that we so often find AFTER we push the publish/send button. I used Grammarly – which is quite useful in picking up contextual spelling errors, and its grammar check is quite good. If you subscribe to the service, it does have a broader range of “document types” like short-story, or article – which narrows the focus of its checks to be specific to those types of document. You can find more information here: https://www.grammarly.com/

I do also like the idea of printing something out to work on a hard copy – but when this isn’t practical, I save the file as a PDF, and open it in that format. It must do something cognitively because when it is not able to be edited on the fly, and I’m forced to see the work as a whole thing, errors sometimes jump out.

I do also find doing things like changing the font when I re-read something changes the way my eyes skim over lines that I might know quite well. Changing the font forces my re-read to be slower – especially with a slightly difficult to read font. I think this might be best for shorter pieces though – or sections.

As others have suggested – I find examining each word in a reverse order useful for finding spelling errors. But it is time-consuming and can be fatiguing on a longer piece of writing. I find this less helpful for grammar. Reading out loud helps find those difficult sentences.

The main thing I do to condition my self-editing reflex though is to read lots of other things and try and notice the things I would change if it were that my piece of writing – and thinking about why I would do that. This helps me to figure out what is unique to my voice and also trains me to notice the things that jar me when reading. Hopefully, that means I can see those things when writing for others as well.

I hope that’s helpful!

0
votes

Use Medium editor with grammarly extension installed on chrome or use grammarly directly for editing.

It would solve most of your grammatical and punctuation errors. If you are a professional content writer, go for a premium account, as it improves the choice of words and provides better-built sentences.

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