On one of the forums I visit they talked about editing and
people wondered if you can over-edit. I guess you can, but there comes a point
when you have to say that you need to move on.
Right now I’m busy with editing my latest novel ‘A Matter of
Integrity’. Since I’ll be publishing it myself I am the editor. I want to make
certain all the errors have been fixed. I’ve read the story now five times. The
first time I looked for inconsistencies and other errors. I fixed those. I also
fixed obvious mistakes, like spelling errors and using the wrong words. The
second time I looked for more mistakes. I also ran it through the Spelling and
Grammar program of my Word processor. I don’t rely on that one too much,
because it is itself riddled with errors. It will suggest using ‘I’ instead of
‘me’ for instance, and there are other suggestions that are simply wrong. I
only use it as a tool to help me find obvious errors.
I am always amazed that I can still find blunders in my
manuscript after reading it several times. The fourth time I read it, I did
quite a bit of rewriting, like awkward sentences and bad dialog. I added and
changed dialog. After I was nearly done with the story I changed the name of
one of the characters. I used Spell check to change the name throughout the
whole manuscript. Now when I read it for the fifth time, I actually found on
two occasions where the original name of that character popped up. I never
noticed that in the first four readings. Our minds are wonderful but also
deceptive. They will automatically insert words that aren’t there, just like a
computer program. However, this time I didn’t find many errors
It is important to read a manuscript without too many
interruptions. The ideal way is to read it in one session without too many
breaks. The only problem with that is that our minds and our eyes get tired. We
will overlook even glaring errors. Another problem I found this time, I read a
sentence and I think: Didn’t I use this same sentence somewhere else in the novel?
So I went back and searched for it, only to discover that I remember reading
this sentence from a previous reading.
It would be nice to have someone else read the manuscript,
someone who may also be a writer, but not all of us have that luxury to have
someone who is actually interested. Most writers are busy with their own works.
They have no time to read and correct somebody else’s book. Unless they do it
for a living. But I don’t want to spend the money to hire somebody like that. I
guess if one uses a publisher, then that service is free, but it still doesn’t
guarantee a book free of errors. Even professional editors are human and prone
to overlook the same things I do. And they don’t want to rewrite another
writer’s novels. I’ve been reading my older published books and I was in a way
alarmed when I found so many errors. I wish I could edit all of my books and
republish them, but I’m not really interested in that. I’ve spent enough time
with those stories when I wrote and edited them. Now I want to write new things, experience
new adventures through my characters.
So when is the
editing done? That is up to the individual writer, but eventually one has to
make a decision and say: “I’m done.”
I believe I’m almost done. Perhaps one more reading, but it
will for sure be the last one, because on this fifth reading I found few
errors, just minor stuff, and I know I’m close. Then comes the formatting, the
blurbs, and the personal stuff at the end of the book. After that comes the
hard job of finding an attractive and fitting cover picture.
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