Proofreading

[Carrack]

What's your method? I am not a stickler for grammar, but bad grammar can break up the rhythm of the story, as the reader tries to decipher what you meant, and detract from the overall story. For me, sitting at a desk typing away at a computer strikes me as too closely resembling work, boring work at that. So instead, I type my stories out on the notes ap of my phone, while I wrestle grizzly bears underwater, :) and do other non work related things. My notes ap doesn't have the best proofreader, so I reread my stories looking for the many mistakes. I always reread a story in its entirety once before posting, and every time I write more of the story, I reread what I have written so far. The end result is I end up with more mistakes in the last part of my stories than the first. I'd be interested in hearing about other methods, so I can maybe learn a better way.

[Teetengee]

Copy paste to word.

Use word grammar/spell check.

Profit.

(I just use google docs, which do a good enough job most of the time for me, and then I don't need to worry about moving things around or saving.)

[JeffTibbetts]

I write copy for a living so I spend a lot of time proofreading.

 

First and best advice for grammar: read it out loud. If it sounds wrong, it probably is. Plus, you'll catch run-on sentences, repeated words, etc. Frankly, sometimes you'll find out you're droning on or getting sidetracked as well.

 

Second, for spelling, read it backwards. This prevents your brain from correcting it for you. This one sounds weird, and feels weird when you do it, but it works pretty well.

 

These two things are great skills to work on if you're serious about writing. My specific style of writing is to really pare everything down. If there's a simpler way to say something that's what you should do. Of course, that applies more to marketing email than fiction, but you'd be surprised...