Many confused
writers rest under the delusion that an editor at Whichever Publishing Inc.
will wave a magic wand and fix all their mistakes.
No so.
Editors exist, but
each faces a massive workload (unless you hire a private editor, which proves expensive—I
charge sixty an hour). You, the author, face the responsibility of a polished
piece.
Authors,
unfortunately, represent the worse people to edit their own work. An author
knows what she meant to write and—funny trick of the mind—she will often see
those exact words regardless of what
she actually wrote.
I can’t begin to
recall how many times I discovered a horrible typo in my work that I somehow
passed over and over again but never noticed.
Many writers
experience this problem. I find it one of countless reasons why a writer needs
a writer’s workshop.
Other authors
possess the knowledge of proper writing, but they can review you work without
familiarity to it. They serve as fresh eyes.
I learned, in many
books, classes, and workshops, different methods to filter your eyes so that
you read the words you wrote, not the words you meant to write.
1) Read backwards.
I don’t personally
use this one (it gives me a headache), but many other writers swear by it. If
you wrote the following, glorious piece of literature:
“Puberto remained suspicious of cats ever since one framed his dog for vehicular homicide. Puberto worked as an exotic dancer and, when the weather
permitted, a dentist. Christmas carolers made his gladiator pit hum annoyingly.”
—you would, while
you edited, read the sentences backwards.
“Christmas carolers made his gladiator pit hum annoyingly. Puberto worked as an exotic dancer and,
when the weather permitted, a dentist. Puberto remained suspicious of cats ever since one framed his dog for vehicular homicide.”
This keeps you
less involved in the story and more concerned with the actual words. You thus stand
more likely to notice spelling or grammatical errors.
This strategy
offers a downside. It removes you from the story, itself. You will likely miss
opportunities in character and plot development while you use this method.
You also won’t
know how the sentences sound when
read in proper order.
If you use this
method, also edit your work in correct order to get the best of both worlds.
2) Develop
multiple personality disorder.
Read your work
through the persona of other people. Use their voices and facial expressions.
Remember that you, as this other person, never before set eyes on your work.
Read your work
aloud as your mother, your grandfather, that college professor who hated everything you ever wrote, that
bubbly girlfriend (or boyfriend) who gushed over everything you did.
Read your work as
a disappointed father, a barely literate person, a person unfamiliar with
American phrases, a critic, a drunk, a little girl who worships unicorns, a
person who sarcastically reads your work in an effort to publically embarrass
you.
Read your work in
a southern accent, a French accent, Japanese, Wookie.
Read your work as
someone who just suffered a severe heartache, a person whose lifelong dream
recently came to pass, a depressed person, an overly excited person who downed
a lot of espresso, Mister Ed, someone who violently disagrees with your moral premise.
Read your story as
the characters in it, each of which never before knew the details of the scenes
that didn’t include them (this one's my favorite).
3) Final Draft
I consider Final
Draft one of the best programs for
people who want to write scripts (though you can download a really good, free
program called Celtx).
Final Draft offers
a lot of cool features. You can even assign voices to the characters in your
script and allow Final Draft to act out your script (though most of the
“actors” sound like Charlie Brown’s mother).
Paste a questionable paragraph from your novel into an otherwise blank
“script” on Final Draft. Request the program to perform it. You can sit back,
listen, and let your ears catch everything your eyes missed.
Note: Final Draft wouldn’t
make the Top Ten Cheapest Computer Programs list, so don’t buy it just to
ear-edit to your novel. If you happen
to already own a copy of Final Draft, or if
you happen to also write scripts, then consider this option.
I publish my blogs as follows:
Tuesdays: A look at the politics of
the entertainment world at EntertainmentMicroscope.blogspot.com.
Wednesdays: An inside look at my
novels (such as Daughters of Darkwana, which you can now find on Kindle) at
Darkwana.blogspot.com
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