#copyediting
Short story you want to submit to a publisher? Important essay you have to write?
I also do editing now!
Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. ProWritingAid,a 2022 NaNo sponsor, helps you turn your rough first draft into a clean, clear, publish-ready manuscript. Today, Hayley Milliman, Head of Education at ProWritinAid, shares some tips on how to successfully copy-edit. For more in-depth explanation, catch the webcast on Wednesday, February 23!
The Writer’s Goal: keep your readers immersed in the world, characters, and story you’ve created.
Your imagination, understanding of story, and ability to write to the human experience will help you achieve that goal in part. Your work also needs to be reader-friendly, clear, and free of errors.
Why Do I Need to Copy-Edit?
Clunky, error-filled work sabotages your efforts. Readers will give up if they keep having to untangle unclear thoughts or stumble on grammatical errors or poorly structured sentences and phrases.
Remember, “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Use it not just to create characters and their universes, but for copy-editing those universes and giving your reader a rich, engaging, un-put-downable experience.
Follow these 10 tips to help you through the copy-editing process.
1. Checking Grammar (and More!)
A worthy grammar checker will catch those grammar mistakes you might not even know you made! Grammar can be tricky, but producing grammatically accurate work doesn’t have to be when you recruit the help of a reliable grammar-checking program.
The best program won’t stop at grammar mistakes. It also alerts you to problems with sentence structure and style, repeated words, usage errors and more. Once you’re ready to refine your work, the program can take some pressure off you during the editing process.
2. Let Your Brain Reset
The period–full stop–at the end of your completed draft should also signal you to stop thinking about your work.
If you’re operating under a deadline, and most are, set aside time in your schedule for putting your work away and allowing your brain to reset. Doing this will give you more energy and a fresh perspective when it’s time to edit.
3. Do a Swift First Read-Through
Give your draft an express-version read through. Focus on discovering big-picture issues you need to adjust; don’t worry about fine-tuning every sentence just yet.
Here are some questions to answer:
- Do you have extraneous information slowing down the pace of your work–details or descriptions that may be beautifully expressed but contribute little to your character development or plot?
- Do you have inconsistencies in style or voice?
- Do your paragraphs flow smoothly from one to the next?
As you observe, take notes! In those notes, identify the problem. If you have an idea for a solution, include that too. Your notes will guide you through your revisions later.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Delete
Use your mighty pen (or delete button) to strike that story-slowing content! Words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs are all potential offenders, but your delete key can stand up to them all. Every word you include should have a purpose.
You may have written a beautiful sentence. But it might not be the right sentence for this work. You don’t have to let go entirely. Create a document where you collect these “misplaced but fabulous” sentences. Maybe they’ll have a place in your next project.
5. Read Your Work Aloud
Better yet, have someone else read your work aloud to you. Someone else doesn’t know your intentions and can only read the text as it appears. Sometimes, what we mean doesn’t match what we write.
Sometimes, what sounds like a perfectly executed phrase in our brains turns into word salad on the page. Listen carefully, and note where you need to make adjustments.
6. Fact Check
If you’re including sources or historical events, make sure you’re representing them accurately.
Don’t stop there–check your own “invented facts.” The facts of your characters, their lives, and the world they live in must be consistent throughout your work. Loose ends and facts that don’t fit will leave your readers confused and frustrated.
7. Read Your Work Again
After you’ve made big-picture changes and deletions, worked out inconsistencies and made other needed adjustments, read your work again, this time with an eye for every line.
This is a good time to put your grammar (and more) checker into action. Your eyes, paired with the program’s electronic eyes, make a productive, thorough team.
8. Learn as You Edit
Learn about yourself as a writer from your own editing observations and the feedback from your grammar checker.
I think it’s safe to say every writer has bad habits. Observe yours. Do you repeat “pet” words to a level of distraction? Do you overuse adverbs? Do you use “filler” words (really, very, etc) that don’t add value to your sentences?
Once you recognize those habits, you can change them. Use your copy-editing time as an opportunity to improve not just your current work, but your future efforts.
9. Respect Copy-Editing as Part of the Writing Process
Writing is physically, emotionally, and mentally strenuous. It makes sense to want to be “done” after creating your characters and their world, and writing their story. But you aren’t done.
Editing is as important to the writing process as creating and drafting. Don’t treat it as an afterthought and don’t just edit once. Give your work the careful editing attention it, and your readers, deserves.
10. Finalize your Format
Know your publisher’s formatting requirements and follow them. By respecting those guidelines, you show respect for your publisher’s process. First impressions matter! Present your finished (or ready for fine-tuning) work so the focus is on the content, not incorrect formatting.
What Comes After Copy-Editing?
With that, you’re done. Well, almost. Once you’ve completed your own copy-edit, it’s a good idea to turn your work over to a professional editor to help spot the things you might have missed.
If you can’t or don’t want to work with an editor, don’t worry. But do seek out opportunities for others to read your work, and listen to their feedback. Doing this after your copy-edit will help them focus on your ideas and storytelling—not the typo you made in the first line.
And, remember, editing software is always there to help you out. It won’t do the hard work of editing for you, but it will help you notice patterns and avoid unnecessary mistakes. Happy editing!
As Head of Education at ProWritingAid, Hayley focuses on building engaging, helpful learning content for the millions of users who rely on ProWritingAid to make their writing clear and effective. Hayley has a robust writing portfolio and has written for dozens of publications on topics related to education, marketing strategy, history, entrepreneurship, and more. She has also published several books related to writing and history, one of which hit the Amazon bestseller list. When not working, Hayley loves hiking, skating of all kinds, and correcting people on Star Wars trivia.
Every day means every day
As a copyeditor and Wangxian fan, I feel I must address a famous MDZS line:
In English, it should be “Every day means every day,” not “Everyday means everyday.”
“Everyday” is an adjective meaning “ordinary” (“in everyday life”). “Every day” is an adverb phrase meaning “daily.”
The sex in question is meant to happen every day—daily. It is not meant to be ordinary and commonplace, or so we hope.
The widely read fan translation of MDZS likely did say “everyday means everyday.” But it appeared not to have gotten a thorough proofread by a native English speaker, so while it is an amazing labor of love that I personally could not replicate (given I cannot translate from Chinese), it shouldn’t be taken as 100% technically accurate.
❤️
