Before you begin, consider creating your own, personal style sheet that you can use to self-edit all your stories—not only the one you're currently writing, but also all future stories. There are hard-and-fast writing rules, such as which numbers should be spelled, but there are also rules, such as unique words, that you'll set for your own writing.
You'll use your style sheet as essentially a self-editing checklist to search-and-replace specific punctuation marks, words you tend to overuse, and so on. Since every writer has their own personal style and preferences, build your style sheet however it best works for you.
You can download a sample style sheet I've used on my website (https://www.rachelaukes.com/extras). Use this as a start to building your own—as I've built it from working with several editors over a dozen novels and a couple dozen short stories. For the industry standard style guide, the current edition of The Chicago Manual of Style contains every rule regarding style, usage, and grammar. The book is hefty, and it's offered in an online format (subscription required). For a simpler guide, see Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, which is a wonderful pocketbook reference.
You shouldn't attempt to recreate The Chicago Manual of Style in your personal style sheet. Rather, your style sheet should contain a list of reminders on how to handle certain types of words and punctuation marks, so you don't have to look up how to handle them every time you use them.
All professional editors are familiar with style guides and style sheets. If you share your personal style sheet with your editor, not only will you save them time, but they may also help you update it for future use. Trust me, you'll never regret having your own style sheet. Your personal writing style sheet will save you hours upon hours and will ensure consistency across multiple books, especially if those books fall within the same series.
If you'd like additional support to make things go even faster, there are third party software tools you can use, many of them with free options. I use ProWritingAid as a secondary check. Other software programs include Grammarly, Auto Crit, Hemingway Editor, and many more.
For an easy win (Little Up!) run Microsoft Word's spell and grammar checks, with the caveat to not trust everything they recommend. The checks are notorious for misidentifying correct grammar as much as identifying errors.
Whether you use a professional style guide, a personal style sheet, software tools, or all, you'll look at your story with an eye on two things: style and snags. While I've broken the pair out in this book, you can address both at the same time as you step through your manuscript.
To conduct this round of self-edits, open your document and have your personal style sheet as a reference at your side. Your style sheet should include all important details related to your writing style and common snags to fix. I explain the two categories next.
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