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 Proofing manuscripts

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alice
dkchristi
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dkchristi
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dkchristi


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Location : Florida

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PostSubject: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyMon Apr 11, 2011 8:52 am

Blow up the font. I have a large screen monitor. Believe me, the errors show up large! Additionally, get talking software. While you look at the manuscript in large font, you will hear it at the same time. I also find that reading it out loud also shows up glaring errors.

What's your best proofing idea?
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alice
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alice


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Age : 76
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyMon Apr 11, 2011 9:03 am

Have someone else look at it. I miss my own errors.
I see what I want to see--not what is there.
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Al Stevens
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyMon Apr 11, 2011 9:36 am

I get other eyes into it as Alice says. They not only find editing errors, they can say what doesn't make sense, what needs more explanation, less, and so on.

My wife has always proof-read all my work. She is very good at spotting the small stuff. "You call it a two-bedroom apartment here in chapter 31, but in chapter 2, it was a one-bedroom apartment." Nothing dares go any further without a Judy-scan.

For my own proofing, I load the manuscript onto the iPad as an ebook. For some reason, I see the errors better there than I do at the desktop. Then, before publishing, I load the pdf page proofs onto the iPod and do another reading.

But the best way to find errors is to publish. That's when you see all the ones that got past you and everyone else.
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alice
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alice


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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyMon Apr 11, 2011 10:06 am

Thank you, DK,

I just took your advice and edited some of my posts.

Blowing up the text does help.

My eyes are not what they used to be.
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Pam
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 5:44 am

I use all the suggestions you have here, plus a couple of others. One is to read through the text with a ruler under each line. The other thing I do is to read it backwards. I'm often amazed at what shows up when I do it that way, and I think it's because my brain finally gets jarred from seeing what it thinks is there to seeing what is really there.
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RetiredName
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 6:43 am

I put finished manuscripts away for six weeks then I'llr ead i over, then give it to my wife to read over. Between us we usually catch most errors. I never read out loud. I hate, hate my voice. Bad enough when I have to go on the air at work and talk.
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alice
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alice


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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 7:17 am

Pam,

I like your sugestions. I will try them.


Zizban,
I finally figured you out.
You do not like yourself.
You don't t like your looks or voice.
No wonder you say what you do.

Start liking yourself now.
No more negative talk about yourself.
Only speak of positive things.
You have good qualities. You are persistent-- you never give up or quit.


Last edited by alice on Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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RetiredName
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 7:38 am

Wow, you just saved me so much money in psychotherapy.Funny lady.
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alice
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alice


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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 8:06 am

Good!


Start by leveling with us.

Admit you are cturkel and don't try to fool us or youself. As you gain self-respect, your honesty will increase

As your honesty increases, our respect for you will increase. You wil be happier and so will we.

On your blog, say only the truth and the good truth.

Today, do those things--tomorrow there will be more! lol!


Last edited by alice on Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:13 am; edited 2 times in total
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RetiredName
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 8:11 am

I never denied I was cturkel. I changed my user name pretty publicly a while back.
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alice
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alice


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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 8:14 am

zizban wrote:
I never denied I was cturkel. I changed my user name pretty publicly a while back.

.. and why was that?
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RetiredName
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 8:24 am

To match my user name on other boards. Less for me to remember.
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alice
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alice


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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 8:54 am

zizban wrote:
To match my user name on other boards. Less for me to remember.

Thank you for your honesty.This agrees with your stated reason at the time. You could change everyhing to cturkel and have no more to remember.

How many places have banned ctukel?
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RetiredName
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 8:59 am

Actually using zizban predates even my use the web, back in my BBS days. None have banned cturkel (to my knowledge).
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alice
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 10:47 am

Proofing manuscripts 67296 I apologize, DK.
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dkchristi
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 11:52 am

That's okay - people may still post their favorite proofing technique.

Another is to read every other paragraph so the words are out of context.
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RetiredName
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 11:56 am

dkchristi wrote:
That's okay - people may still post their favorite proofing technique.

Another is to read every other paragraph so the words are out of context.

Really?

That'd give me a headache.
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alj
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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 1:47 pm

I use Pam's reading backwards technique. It finds many errors because you are forced to look at each word separately. It is less a help when the error is a legitimate word.

Multiple readings is the tool I keep coming back to. It's annoying to keep finding new errors when you think you read it carefully the last several times, but it's a good idea to accept the fact that you need to go over it lots of times.

Anal retentive friends are one of my best sources. I sent a .doc file of a draft of A Myth in Action to the one-time head of the Audie Murphy National Fan Club, a man whom I truly believe was toilet-trained at gunpoint. Every few days, he would send me a horrified email telling me he had found another typo. I believe he found a total of about 15 or 20 in the 270 pages of the book. The man just could not believe I was such a careless writer.

What really got him was that I told him I wasn't going to correct Murphy's spelling errors in the letters he sent home during the war. He was appalled by that, and quite sure that Murph's ghost would never forgive me for "outing" this embarrassing imperfection in our hero.

Ann
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alice
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alice


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PostSubject: Re: Proofing manuscripts   Proofing manuscripts EmptyTue Apr 12, 2011 1:57 pm

Great topic, DK
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