Anyone else ever feel like the Queen (or King) of Typos?
I’m always amazed at the number of typos I am capable of reading over. Multiple times. Even when I know they are there. After working through the manuscript I recently offered up for critique, I’m almost surprised my test readers gave me any credit for having a functional knowledge of the English language. (Okay, its not nearly that bad, but still…)
It takes a word-by-word analysis with a sentence recap, helped by using a mono spaced font, for me to see most of them. A grueling, mind-numbing process, best repeated several times to insure a clean product. I’ve found nothing else that works. I shudder to contemplate it, yet push through because I must. I don’t even attempt it until I am at the final version of the story. The process is not something that bears unnecessary repeating.
I dedicate this thread to the misery of proofreading.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
I'm glad I have the ability to read over typos. Of course, I also have the ability to turn that off at need...so there are no real downsides to it for me Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :
HA--I am the queen of typos. LOL
Sheesh, I make a lot of them. I was amazed when my agent sent me a list of pages with typos on them. I even found some he missed, and then had a hard time finding some he saw.
One thing that works like a charm--
read the lines backwards
backwards lines the read
Trust me--you'll find all of them this way.
Shawn
Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :
I have a tendency to omit small, everyday words like "the" and "are." I think it comes from thinking faster than I write/type, and from the way I take notes, using suspended dots for "the" and a simple "r" for "are," and so on. I think I've trained my brain to scan over those sorts of words. (Ooooh..."scan" )
Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :
Somebody recently recommended reading your manuscript backwards as a good way of spotting them. I can't remember if that was here or somewhere else....
Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :
hmm, look two posts up same thread--and I did recommend it on another thread here as well.
LOL
Shawn
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Okay, exactly how are you supposed to read your manuscript backwards?
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
Start at the end and read the words in reverse order.
When a word is in context as part of a sentence, your mind will tend to overlook spelling errors because it knows what the word is supposed to be.
With reverse reading, your mind is no longer seeing the words as part of a flowing sentence, so it becomes easier to catch misspellings.
However, the technique is not as useful for catching other types of mistakes involving context, syntax, or word flow.
Posted by GZ (Member # 1374) on :
I haven't tried the reading backwards thing, but I do share Eric's doubts about it catching some mistakes. Since my biggest problem is things like typing "the" for "he" and "A" for "An" and leaving bits of old versions of a sentence dangling about after editing, I'm not sure I would be able to see those very well out of context. It would certianly slow one down reading wise, which I think contributes greatly to my problem. It's very easy to read quickly over familar text, even when you don't mean to, and fill in what you think should be their. One does seem to need to read at a reaonsable clip to catch flow problems. Slow word-by-word anaylsis makes everything seem choppy and strange, at least to me.
----
Okay, I just tried reading bakwards with this post. Reading backwards officially messes with my head, and all I see is each word as a lone critter. That would only help me see complete misspellings, but not misspellings that have become other words, but then spell check catches complete misspellings without messing with my head. (I love spell check. It's the painless, although very limited, typo/spelling patrol. And a valuable tool for improving spelling, thanks to all that instant feedback.)
[This message has been edited by GZ (edited November 20, 2003).]
Posted by Balthasar (Member # 5399) on :
I'm not sure what the problem is. You have to have layers of rewriting/editing. Your first few times through your manuscript you should be focused entirely on the unity and coherence of the story. Correct spelling and grammatical errors as you see them, of course. Your last few times through the story is when you focus on your words and sentences.
Reading a manuscript backwards has never helped me, and neither has reading it outloud. The best I can say is this: editing, like writing, is an skill you must develop.
Somehow you must force every aspect of your mind to shut down while reading for mistakes. In my experience, I've never been able to properly edit anything without turning on my "editing conscious" while turning off my "reading conscious." Further, I can't edit more than five or six pages in one sitting. The faster I want to finish a manuscript, the more editing "sessions" I have each day.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited November 20, 2003).]
Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :
I have found reading out loud to be helpful--but *only* if I'm reading to someone else. If I go off to my room and read out loud, I might catch a few errors, since it slows me down a bit, but reading to one of my kids helps me a lot more. Maybe it's because reading to someone else slows me down more than reading to myself. If that's the case, then this method will only help if you don't read to the other person too fast. Almost everybody does, including me most of the time. You have to think about *acting* your story, use slightly different voices for the different characters, and so forth. If that doesn't slow you down enough to notice the typos, then either there's no hope for you, or you're a lousy actor.
Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :
The reading backwards works for typos--even ones spell check doesn't catch for one reason or another--and that was what this thread was about at first--finding typos.
Shawn
Posted by Marianne (Member # 1546) on :
GZ, I read your last post backwards and found three typos...did you check it before posting? The sentences will have no sensible syntax backwards, but it sure helps the manuscript look more professional if you catch the typos. I can't imagine reading a whole novel backwards but if it helps to catch the typos I am willing to try. Word is a great tool, but it is amazing the things that it misses.
Posted by GZ (Member # 1374) on :
Marianne, actually I didn't check very closely because I was rushed by a real-life thing.
I don't mind that there are stages of editing. Most of them I enjoy. But the proofreading stage is the only one I hate out of the whole writing process. Hence my whining
[This message has been edited by GZ (edited November 21, 2003).]
Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :
I'd rather read backward than have a letter from my agent saying: ah, Shawn, here is a list of pages with typos on them.
I sat in my office with my face turned hot with embarrassment--I am an editor for Pete's sake, I ought to be able to see typos!
Then someone suggested the read backward thing--I found typos my agent missed. It was a great feeling to have the ms proclaimed "clean and ready to pitch."
It's worth the work.
Shawn
Posted by Marianne (Member # 1546) on :
The best thing about microsoft Word is the spell check because I am a terrible speller and I hate having to look things up so often...even if I know how to spell it, my typing is even worse than my spelling...ack! The editing is indeed the most tedious part of the writing process but necessary. No one said it was an easy job. Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Okay, I still don't get how you're supposed to read a manuscript backwards. Is there some software that rearranges all the words or something?
Posted by Kolona (Member # 1438) on :
