So, this chapter was requested specifically by someone who wanted advice on how to catch spelling errors throughout their story! I might do a whole chapter about proofreading and editing processes in general, but for this requester particularly, I'm going to focus on spelling and proofreading tips.
Now, spelling is one of those core things in stories. I think I speak for most readers when I say that if I see lots and lots of spelling errors in stories, I find it really hard to continue reading. Heck, when I was a kid, I would read through restaurant menus to spot those pesky little errors, and you bet your donkeys that I wouldn't order any meals that were spelt incorrectly.
But also. I make spelling errors all the time by accident. I always write "every" instead of "ever" for some reason. Help me. I will never have a happily every after.
Now, sometimes, spelling can be subjective -- be careful of that! Realise and realize, colour and color, theatre and theater, Eminem and M&M. The list goes on. It's important that, if you come across a 'spelling error', you make sure it is actually a spelling error before you yell at the author.
Before we launch into the advice, let's go through some examples!
Find the incorrectly spelt word in the following sentences (that are purposely bad):
1. On the morning after it rained, it was rainy outside and I frowned at it being so rainy all the time. I chuckled to myself. Darn whether!
2. I tripped over a large pocket of hydrogen atoms on my kitchen floor and bashed my jaw into the corner of my bookcase, which had three shelfs of books and was made of faux wood veneer. After I applied cold compresses and stanched all the bleeding and bruising, I drove to school, but they must have moved the school building across the city. I chuckled to myself. Darn school moving people!
3. At the end of the day, Harry Styles came to walk me to my car. His chest was no where to be seen. Probably at Banana Republic or out hunting mountain lions again. I chuckled to myself. Darn chest!
How'd you go?
Anyways, whether you are a spelling bee whiz or you are struggling to work out there vs their vs they're, here are some tips that will hopefully help you!
Please note: some tips will not help you. As people, we all have different learning styles. We all do things differently, and it's important to recognise that some of these tips just won't work for you!
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO IMPROVE YOUR SPELLING IN GENERAL:
1. Play some word-related games!
Find a friend (or make some imaginary ones up in your head if you're desperate like me), and force them to play some games with you! Instead of sudoku, snakes and ladders, or strip-your-clothes-off-truth-or-dare-that-only-really-appears-in-wattpad-novels, focus on some good ol' word games.
I suggest Scrabble (there's even a similar one on messenger that you can play virtually), crosswords (which also help with vocabulary), and the new but insanely popular Wordle. It exposes you to more words in a fun way!
2. Movies/Shows with some subtitles!
Watch your favourite film or some addictive shows, but turn on some subtitles! It'll help you see the spellings of some words that you may never have heard of before, or it'll consolidate knowledge you already have. Trust me. Pretty Little Liars didn't just make me think that teacher x student relationships could work; they also taught me how to spell 'mechanism'.
3. Read!
Duh. You see more words. You are forced to look up words you're unfamiliar with.
I think I've yelled at my readers to read more books in every single chapter of this story. I am so sorry. But also, I'm not.
Read more.
Imagine being a freezer and wanting to keep the ice cream cold. And then imagine being that same fridge, but not having any electricity to actually keep the ice cream cold.
You, the writer, are the fridge. Your book is the ice cream. The electricity is reading.
Read.
IF YOU HAVE WRITTEN SOMETHING, AND YOU WANT TO PROOFREAD:
1. Read your story aloud.
And yes, we all cringe at the idea of this. But if you're reading it, you actually need to focus on each word individually -- because you need to say them -- and you're more likely to catch any errors.
If you are scared of reading aloud, even if you're alone and locked up in your writing dungeon, just imagine all the walls and stuffed animals are naked. Works like a charm.
2. Use a word to speech setting.
So, instead of reading it yourself, the audio robot person is reading it for you! That way, they read it in the most objective way possible. As you listen, if something sounds really weird to you, you can then check the manuscript to see what happened!
This tip has saved me through many university assignments, where my eyes are too tired to do any reading.
3. Take a break from your work!
If you're proofreading, make sure you take long breaks between writing and actually editing over it. Then, take another long break before you edit it again. Writing is a lot of paid leave, except you're not paid. And there are no insurance benefits.
It just helps keep your mind fresh, which means that you're not unconsciously filling out errors in your brain because you know what was meant to be there.
4. Make the text easy to read.
Whether this includes double-spacing your work, or even making the font bigger than the heart of that fantasy novel protagonist who saves the day with her goodness and selflessness -- try to make your text easy for you to read! Clumping it up in tight paragraphs that are very wordy and require magnifying glasses and lots of carrots for your vision is... yeah, don't do that. Keep it big. They say size doesn't matter but...
(; It does. (;
5. Use proofreading software!
Use anything available! Microsoft Word sometimes highlights incorrect words, or even the Wattpad account app itself. harrystylesismylover. See? You can't see it, but I can see this giant red line underneath that. Why? Because it's incorrect. Tom Holland, though--
Anyways. Microsoft, Wattpad, Google Docs, even Grammarly has had some good feedback! There's a lot of other ones. Personally, my favourite thing to do is stick my manuscript in an email, using Gmail, and see where all the red lines pop up.
A shout-out to all fantasy protagonists who always have their names underlined because, apparently, Ashworthynne Salivarious-Glandentine is not a common name or whatever.
6. That being said... Don't rely on the software alone!
They are prone to missing things! They are also prone to pointing out things incorrectly. While they are a good place to start, make sure you, with your own eyes and understanding of the novel, have a thorough look over your work.
7. Print a physical copy!
And make sure you recycle it. For the trees.
This doesn't work for everyone, but sometimes, printing it out and grabbing a red pen is immensely helpful for finding things that stick out to you!
8. Proofread multiple times.
One day, keep count of how many times you touch yourself. Touching your face, your hair, your limb, or even sitting in a position where your foot is touching your other leg. Include the times your thighs touch each other.
That is how many times you should be reading over your novel.
(I don't actually know how many times I do this, but I presume it's a lot.)
9. Know your common mistakes.
It's best to know your weaknesses. If you know that punctuating dialogue is a common error you make, then make sure you look over your dialogue more intensely. If you know you commonly misspell your and you're, make sure you keep a keen eye for those!
It's so much easier to edit when you know the mistakes you make a lot. When I edit someone's novel, and I realise a common error, I always let them know. I also know to look out for it more!
10. Read backwards!
Reading backwards sounds weird, but hear me out. I don't mean to reverse sentences to the word. However, what I mean is that, instead of reading it like this:
My name is Glucosilia Mitochondrialler. I like hairy chests. I fell in love with hairy chests on the day that I tripped over a galvanised steel cart and ripped open my ovaries. A hairy chest jumped to the rescue -- grabbing me by my narrow, chiselled shoulders and teleporting me to the hospital.
You read the sentences backwards, so it looks like:
A hairy chest jumped to the rescue -- grabbing me by my narrow, chiselled shoulders and teleporting me to the hospital. I fell in love with hairy chests on the day that I tripped over a galvanised steel cart and ripped open my ovaries. I like hairy chests. My name is Glucosilia Mitochondrialler.
It seems like a mess, but that's good! Because, what's happening is that the writing loses substance. Though, in this example, there wasn't much substance to begin with. I mean, come on, it's about a hairy chest--
Anyways, it strips away context and cohesion from the story, so you're less likely to fill in the blanks. Instead, you're more likely to read the story a bit more objectively, word by word.
Of course, it doesn't work for everyone. But it may work for you!
11. Place a ruler underneath the sentence you're reading!
It just helps block out words underneath, which hopefully make it easier to focus on the individual words you are trying to proofread. It just ensures you aren't too distracted by what is coming up next.
If you don't have a ruler, find other things that are straight. Like, well... not half of us!
12. Be aware of when you are most alert!
Are you more focused in the morning, or at night? Are you better at proofreading when you're in the library, or at home, or at a café, or on a roller coaster?
You want to be focused. When you proofread, it's not supposed to be something you do while laying down and watching The Bachelor. Your manuscript is a toddler that needs your attention. Except, you don't need diapers for this one.
Though, if you are buying diapers for your novel... Man, oh man, what happened there?
13. Reread your changes!
Don't just fix any errors and then never look at it again! Make sure you actually proofread the changes you read (after some time). These might also have errors, or may just be a bit awkward and out of place. Give them some love, too!
14. Get someone else to read over your stuff!
Preferably, someone who is experienced when it comes to writing and editing. I can never ask my mum to read over my stuff because she literally, bless her, thinks it's okay to txt lik dis m8. She doesn't really know how to use a comma. And if I ask her what a semicolon is...
Wait, let me ask her.
Me: Mum, what do you think a semicolon is?
Dad, interrupting: A full-stop and comma. Up and down. Up and down.
Mum: Yeah. That.
Me: Okay, but when do you use it?
Dad, ever so helpful: Every time.
Mum: Let me think... I'm putting my thinking cap on. [I can literally see her typing on her phone and doing a google search LOL]
[minutes later]
Mum: I'm still thinking.
[after twenty minutes of me wanting to hurry up and upload this chapter]
Mum: It separates email addresses on emails!
Okay, she's technically right. But also. This was such a fun activity. I want to do this more often. I dare y'all to also ask your parents!
But, anyways!
You want experienced readers to look at your story with a fresh eye, and point out things that seem incorrect to them. A second set of eyes is immensely helpful, and it's why so many authors make sure they have editors!
15. Practise!
It's a skill! You need to practise it, the same way some Justin Bieber practises singing while his technicians practise tuning him with autotune!
I'm kidding, I do think he is a very talented individual.
Anyways! Line break time!
I love doing requests, so if you have any requests at all, please let me know so I can get to it as soon as possible!
Of course, I hope these tips are new to some of you and will prove helpful in your years to come! In the next chapter, I will be talking about starting a story. Tips? Advice? I'm open!