Summer
Reprise Series #9: Not Quite Random Thoughts on Revising What You’ve Written
First published August 25, 2015
I
have been writing a long time, certainly since 1st-grade in 1956. I
consider myself to be a good writer. Three publishers agree with that
assessment enough to publish books I authored or co-authored. Two of those
asked if my manuscripts had been professionally edited before I submitted them.
I
was in a quandary. What answer were they looking for?
I
answered truthfully, “no.”
They
seemed to be impressed.
I
took their response to mean I’d done all the editing I need to do.
WRONG!
I
recently pulled two of my CreateSpace books down while I re-edited. I found
HUNDREDS of typos, etc… in each. I was embarrassed. And, I vowed it will
not happen again.
Since
that humbling experience, I have been much more conscientious with what I think
is finally edited. Recently, I have included one of my good friends who enjoys
“finding glitches” when she reads in my acknowledgements. She now reads all my manuscripts
before I do my final edit.
Just
last week, Laura Vavz, an outstanding blogger who did a review for The Observers,
posted a blog: 5-Writing
Apps I can’t live without. I read the article. I downloaded one
of the Apps she recommended: Hemingway.
I
tried it immediately. I will use it on all my manuscripts before considering
them finally edited.
This
software does NOT edit for you. It does provide color-coded segments of your
text with issues: passive voice, adverbs, difficult reading, very hard to read.
It also provides a Grade Level approximation for your text.
The
spelling checker works better in "Write" mode than in
"Edit" mode. When you edit in the APP, then copy/paste back to your
manuscript, you have to reformat the text because it’s HTML. While each of
those characteristics are a bit of a bummer, the benefits far outweigh the
negatives in this APP.
The screen shot here is of the first half of a novella I'm working on.
The file uploaded for this screen shot is 10,000 words long.
I also use the free version of Grammarly with regularity. It works from your browser. It also has a download version. It catches things I often miss. Here's a screenshot of my grammarly use.
 |
| Each icon is a specific piece of text that was run through Grammarly. Red numbers indicate the number of issues I've chosen to ignore.. |
What
using these two programs has done for me is to SLOW ME DOWN. I have evidence of
manuscript issues that are clearly marked. Not changing them—or at least
considering changing them—is very bad authorship on my part.
I
have learned since the first posting of this blog that I can’t blindly make all
the changes marked by Hemmingway. I want some of those “issues” because they
are in dialog, or I just prefer what I’ve written to their option.
I
am a finisher. While that trait has served me well in life, it’s
not the best trait for an author. Editor is the trait I’m now
striving for. Followed of course, by finisher.
The
last Summer Reprise is next week. It, too, focuses on editing.
Next
blog: Story Telling VS. Writing A Story
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