Novelist Rachel Carrera had this awesome idea to collect editing tips from authors and share them with the world. Check out her blog for tips from me and other authors. Thanks Rachel.
A while back, I posted a call to all writers who wanted to share their editing tips, and Kristina Stanley volunteered. If you don’t already follow Kristina’s blog, you’re missing a real treat. So without further ado, here’s Kristina:
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Please share one to three tips or tricks that you use when editing your work, how specifically you use them, and why they work for you.
I have the computer read the words out loud to me. You can also do this with your eReader. I use this method to find where I tend to repeat words. When I read, I don’t hear the words as well. This also works for finding small words that are incorrect. It’s hard to see ‘if ‘versus ‘of’ but I can hear the difference. The computer also doesn’t allow you to skim, so you have to focus on every word.
I keep a large spreadsheet, so I can check…
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Creative Story Editors 
Usually any word ending in “ing” isn’t as strong as a different ending.
When words end with “ing” there may be better choices.
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Lovely interview and great advice. I find the suggestion to get the computer to read it back interesting. I’ll have to check out how to do that. 🙂
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Norah, you can also use an e-Reader to read back to you. Sometimes I do this when we’re on a long drive in the car. For me, this is the best way to find typos. On an aside, in my second novel BLAZE one of the main – and are I say one of my favourite- characters, is called Nora. Spelled differently, but I really liked the name.
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Hmm. Interesting. I’ll have to check it out. Do you need a special program to enable reading back?
I’m pleased you like the name Norah. I used to not like it. I told my mother so when I was in my teens. She wasn’t happy about that as she had named me after a special family friend. I guess I have become used to it now and quite like it as there are not many Norahs, however it is spelled!
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Hi Norah, On my keyboard (I have a macbook) I hit ALT ESC after I’ve selected the text I want to have read to me. I think word and scrivener also have this function. I don’t know how this works on a PC but there must be a way. It’s funny how often we’re hard on ourselves and don’t like our name, or hair, or eye color, or whatever it is. I’m glad you like Norah now – because it is such a lovely name.
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