Yet another proofreading question.

[ElenaV]

I am fairly new to writing. I usually perform 6-8 revisions on my chapters before going trigger happy on the publish/schedule button. Here is what I usually do,

1. Write a chapter, jot down words as they come.
2. Manually read through the chapter once I finish.
3. Run what I wrote through Hemmingwayapp.
4. Copy the corrected contents in SH editor, and run it again through grammarly (the browser addon.)
5. Again manually read through the contents.
6. Publish or schedule for publishing.

Yet in spite of all this, I always had this feeling that my chapters would require more proofreading. Yesterday I received my first productive feedback from a reader. (Thank You, kind Sir/Ma'am.) The comment confirmed my fears. I need to divert more energy to proof reading.

Hence I turn to you, O noble scholars, How can I improve my proofreading process?

 

[SailusGebel]

Find a text-to-speech app.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

The comment confirmed my fears.

What was the comment?

 

[ElenaV]

What was the comment?

The comment read,

"

Thanks for the chapters you may want to proofread your work.

"

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I am fairly new to writing. I usually perform 6-8 revisions on my chapters before going trigger happy on the publish/schedule button. Here is what I usually do,

1. Write a chapter, jot down words as they come.
2. Manually read through the chapter once I finish.
3. Run what I wrote through Hemmingwayapp.
4. Copy the corrected contents in SH editor, and run it again through grammarly (the browser addon.)
5. Again manually read through the contents.
6. Publish or schedule for publishing.

Yet in spite of all this, I always had this feeling that my chapters would require more proofreading. Yesterday I received my first productive feedback from a reader. (Thank You, kind Sir/Ma'am.) The comment confirmed my fears. I need to divert more energy to proof reading.

Hence I turn to you, O noble scholars, How can I improve my proofreading process?

Pfft im pretty good at writing a draft that already has few spelling errors. I look it over ONCE when I'm done, and maybe once or twice after i public it. If i still miss some, I'm not going to worry.

These aren't professionally written works. I;m not with some publishing company. The story needs to be legible, that's all. I may have a certain standard i adhere to, but I'm not going to be perfectionist about it. Im anal about errors in dialogue, but only that

 

[Cipiteca396]

The comment read,

"

"

If you're putting this much effort in already, you won't be able to improve alone. You need to find someone else who's willing to read your work, point out errors, and offer solutions. In other words, hire an editor, get a lover (That's what those are for, right?), or show it to your English teacher of choice.

 

[TheTrinary]

You could try reading it aloud. I find that's helpful.

 

[whitesculptor]

Personally started by reading lots of books, and gradually you start comparing what you write with what you read.
Sometimes your brain automatically fills the rest of the sentence from one of them.
Soloist wise without reading good stuff, do English grammar exercises, copy texts with hand writing, and slowly check new words so the text doesn't get repetitive, grammarly as you mentioned has an extension that helps with that.
Cheers~☆

 

[Echimera]

Which kinds of errors are left after your standard procedure?
Spelling-errors should be gone at that point, and Grammarly should take care of most of the other big errors, at least on the language side.

That really only leaves errors in the story itself, as far as I can tell. That's also the hardest to get right on your own.
As you as the author probably have more information than what is presented in the story, so you're going to miss stuff like small plot holes (where information you intended to provide is missing, making it look like stuff happens for no logical reason).

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

I am fairly new to writing. I usually perform 6-8 revisions on my chapters before going trigger happy on the publish/schedule button. Here is what I usually do,

1. Write a chapter, jot down words as they come.
2. Manually read through the chapter once I finish.
3. Run what I wrote through Hemmingwayapp.
4. Copy the corrected contents in SH editor, and run it again through grammarly (the browser addon.)
5. Again manually read through the contents.
6. Publish or schedule for publishing.

Yet in spite of all this, I always had this feeling that my chapters would require more proofreading. Yesterday I received my first productive feedback from a reader. (Thank You, kind Sir/Ma'am.) The comment confirmed my fears. I need to divert more energy to proof reading.

Hence I turn to you, O noble scholars, How can I improve my proofreading proce

If you've proofread it so many times, perhaps the comment found something wrong/weird about your writing style?

 

[TotallyHuman]

I don't think anybody will care much for a small spelling mistake. Nobody's heart is going to break over amistake

 

[Cipiteca396]

I went and read the first comment on the first chapter, which was complaining that the author should look up the definition of epilogue. Most likely the problem is using entirely wrong words, rather than spelling or grammar errors.

 

[ElenaV]

Thank everyone, especially @SailusGebel, the text to speech app was an incredible suggestion. I did a test run with a few chapters and I now realise the wisdom behind your words. Sentences that appeared fully rational while writing does indeed seem somewhat convoluted when i had them read with a speech reader. So I could guess how the readers would have felt.

I will probably take the time to rework.

 

[trinitys_gadget]

It's always very hard to proofread your own work. If you can find some poor sod to give your work a once over and catch the most egregious errors, that's alway best, but if you must proofread your own writing, write your chapter several days ahead of when you plan to post it, then read it after two or three days have past. Be alert at that time (do not attempt to proofread after 9 p.m. your local time).
Check for:
Homophone errors (spell checkers don't catch those and grammar programs are spotty at it)
Tense errors
Rewrite every sentence you can to remove verbs ending in -ing.
Rewrite every sentence into the active voice unless there is a very compelling reason not to.
Do not use pronouns for objects when refering to people (e.g. who or whom, not which)
Do not use any phrase or word choice you found in a translated LN.
Always know the definition and connotation of the words you choose to use.

Keep those points in mind, and you should do well. The other best piece of advice was given you by Whitesculptor (who also gets mad props for the DD avatar): Read a lot of works published in print.

Best of luck,
Trinity's Gadget

 

[Snusmumriken]

While I would agree that a passive voice is not something a new writer should dive into, outright dismissing it would also be unfair. Passive voice can have a lot of impact on the story, as long as it is used correctly.

So are the verbs ending with -ing. Present Participle or Past Continuous (depending on which tense you are writing in) are very useful. Gerunds doubly so.

While they could be avoided, if the person is still unfamiliar with them - they do allow much greater flexibility with the timing of events and easier flowing sentences. Cutting these outright might make your writing excessively stilted.

 

[trinitys_gadget]

While I would agree that a passive voice is not something a new writer should dive into, outright dismissing it would also be unfair. Passive voice can have a lot of impact on the story, as long as it is used correctly.

So are the verbs ending with -ing. Present Participle or Past Continuous (depending on which tense you are writing in) are very useful. Gerunds doubly so.

While they could be avoided, if the person is still unfamiliar with them - they do allow much greater flexibility with the timing of events and easier flowing sentences. Cutting these outright might make your writing excessively stilted.

As I said, the active voice should be the default. Certainly, you'll find times when the passive voice is prefered or even necessary. A clever author could, indeed, capitalize on the counterpoint between active and passive speaking, but make sure your use of the passive voice is judicious and dliberate.

-ing verbs are ridiculously useful, to the point they get used with reckless abandon in places they don't belong. Again, I'm recommending a default diction, not a never use. I find my writing improves greatly in clarity when I eschew -ing verbs, even though I often have to juggle words and pay close attention to sentences to make it happen.