19 July 2012

Editing Tips For Your Draft


It’s Grammar Time!

I've been reading more posts about how we process revisions on our manuscripts. Well, I don't have a manuscript yet because I've been procrastinating for the past 5 years! However, I do have many short stories, blog posts, and essays which have had their share of "polishing".

In the past 3 years, I've received much feedback from my critique groups and my instructors at Gotham Writer's Workshop, but I’ve also learned to critique with what I call my 5 Scans.

1. I scan for ' you'

Notice the space before. My intention is to find all instances of "you", "your", and "you're" without picking up words like “bayou”. When you write, I'm sure your mind isn't on every single use, or misuse, of words you may have typed. This is why it's important to do this scan. I cringe whenever I see these types of mistakes published, so I'm sensitive about finding them in my own work. And, I do find them!


2. I scan for ' the'

Notice the space before. I do this because my intention is to find all instances of "their", "there", and "they're". However, I don't want my word processor to highlight "bathe". I do this for the same reason I do the first scan above. If you don’t understand these first two scans, please email me.


3. I scan for 'ly '

Notice the space after. My intention here is to find and eliminate as many of the "ly" adverbs as I can. My instructors hated them, and now, so do I.


4. I scan for 'start' and 'began'

If written in past tense (obviously I will scan for 'begin' if I had written in present tense). There are so many times we want to write things like:

It started to rain.

Well then, did it stop right away or did it continue? If it continued then it didn't start to rain, it obviously rained.

Likewise:

He began to sing and his voice was heavenly beautiful.

He sang, didn't he? If you heard him sing and his voice was beautiful, then he didn't just begin to do it. He did it. He sang!


5. I scan for ' that '

Notice the spaces before and after? How many of these irritants do you think I found in the last critique I did? 82!

If you're referring to an object, switch it out with "which" and if you're referring to a person, switch it out with "who" or "whom", whichever applies. Better even, if you can eliminate it altogether and make it more active, do it.

The blue boat is the one that won the race
The blue boat is the one which won the race
The blue boat won the race.

He was the one that met me at the park.
He was the one who met me at the park.
He met me at the park.

This is the dress that I wore to the prom.
This is the dress I wore to the prom.

So those are the 5 scans I do, no matter what I've written. My drafts always have these basic mistakes, but I don't want to worry about them while I am compiling and being creative. However, I don't want them to slip through the cracks, causing me a great deal of embarrassment.

Do you scan your work? And if so, what words do you scan for and why?

27 comments:

  1. I read and amend my posts sevsral times usually giving hours or days between review. My books are edited by my Sister-in-law who rarely misses an error.

    I am saving this post and will use your edits as I am probably guilty of many off this kin off erors to. All thought my righting is usualy flyless.

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    1. Yeah, when I right, I look for that two. :)

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  2. My problems are with active tense, but I think many folks have trouble with that. Great post Diane, like always.

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    1. Thank you! Active vs. Passive would be an awesome blog post! :D

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  3. I'm amazed by how many of these things I find in my drafts. I know they're wrong, yet when I draft, I'm in a zone and I type without thinking. The English teacher in me screams a lot during revisions. :)

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    1. Me too. I didn't want the list to get too long, but I also scan for "it's" because I'm always wanting to use the apostrophe when I'm not supposed to! :)

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  4. Thank you for this! I'm in the editing phase of my writing and I'm positive I do all these things. lol I'm going to print this off so I can do my own little searches. :)

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    1. :)

      I enjoy being helpful. I enjoy writing. Writing and being helpful is such a wonderful combination. Thanks for the feedback, Vicki!

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  5. I do a name scan as well. Since I write scifi and fantasy, I sometimes have a lot of names that are made up and are flagged as misspelled by Word, which is fine as long as they are misspelled the same way. So if I see Mragarath and then Margarath, I have to decide which one is correct, then search for the other example and change. For a last edit I set the page size to small (about 50%) and just scan, let my eyes go over the page without really reading and look for red and blue underlines. When I hit one I look at it and see if that was really something I wanted there. Most times it is, but sometimes I find a mistake that way.

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    1. That's a lot of work, but seems thorough. With names like Mragarath, I would be afraid of misspelling it a hundred different ways! lol

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  6. I do a lot of beta/editing and I find the word "had" everywhere and more often then not it can be eliminated. Great post I will have to scan for some of these, my authors will thank you

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    1. Thanks Sharon! Adding that one to my list. Another one which can always be eliminated is "really" but it's my favorite word.

      I really like her.
      I like her.

      But the ones I never remove are when I use it for humor and tone.

      Really? You're going to go there?

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  7. I began thinking that the post was really good when I swiftly read it.

    Sorry-- ha ha--I couldn't resist! Great post, Diane. These are all things I forget to look out for. I'm glad you brought them up because I will now search for them in my own draft!

    Thanks for the insight! :D

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    1. LOL!

      Randi is the one that started to read my post and liked it. Hmmm, I'm really, gloriously happy that you stopped by! Their is no greater reward than to have you stop by and give you're generously thought out feedback.

      :D

      That was fun.

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  8. Great yet simple tips we can all do. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks for your feedback, Lena! I'm getting more ideas from others and really great editing tips, so this was well worth sharing.

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  9. I like your tip of putting the space before "you" and "the" (and kind of curious how many times "bayou" comes up in your writing ha).

    I'm a big offender of "start," "began," and "that," so maybe I'll have to start using this scan technique! (There's the "start" again - Bollocks!)

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    1. Bayou came up only once, but it irritated the bejeezies out of me! lol

      I started to write "me too", but I didn't. DOH, I did!

      Haha, thanks for the feedback, Susan.

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  10. I'm sure I violate every rule of grammar so I will print this out for a reference.

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    1. I violate more than my fair share too! That's why I enjoy rewriting more than writing. :)

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  11. Well I am definitely remembering this post! I definitely look for that as a word to eliminate. It's a dangerous, dangerous word that tends to overcome any chance of decent stories. So brutal. Also the ly words.

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    1. You made me think of two more.

      " as "
      " while "

      I try to remove any simultaneous actions if they are not needed.

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    2. I typed more as I clicked "publish" and somehow "Thanks for stopping by, Nicole!" didn't post. lol

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  12. I also scan for "ing " and "ingly ". Pauline

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  13. I just found your blog. Wow, it is full of amazing info. My routine checks include looking for 'actually' and 'amazing.' i really like amazing. You would think I don't know any other words.
    I am looking forward to exploring your blog archives for more great posts!

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    1. Thank you, Dixie! I look forward to your feedback.

      It took me the longest time to make myself stop using the phrase "most definitely". :D

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