Editing

Printer-friendly version

Taxonomy upgrade extras: 

Hi Everyone...

I'm a relatively new writer and learning something new each day.   I use a spell checker and will often set a finished story down for a few days (or longer) to review it for type-"O's".   Problem is I never seem to catch it all. Always mistakes of one sort or another.   I hate it.   I really do and my question....

Anything out there free or otherwise that can catch the basics?   An editor of any sort?   Even something crude would be helpful.   I have used an editor (person) and they've helped but have not found anyone to stick with me.  

Any advise or information would be appreciated.

Hugs

Mary Beth  

Editing software

erin's picture

The spelling in grammar checkers in MS Word are about as good as anything out there. Word even warns you about a few of the homonym problems.

The task of copy editor/proofreader does not break down cleanly into programmable sub-tasks; context is way too important. Still, I think a better attempt could be made and perhaps someone has. Anyone else have any knowledge on this?

- Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Hugs for the response Erin.

Hugs for the response Erin. Actually, I've decided to break down and upgrade to MS anyway.

Hugs
Mary Beth

One minute your tying a shoe lace, the next closing a strap. I've always felt sorry for boys who cannot imagine being girls.

Editing

MS Word is extremely good but sometimes too good.
It flags sound-alikes, passive sentences, end of sentence prepositions, etc..
Sometimes it can be annoying but unless you'r extremely sure that you can manage without it, get used to it!
You can customize what it flags if you're confident on things like sound-alikes.

Editing

Occasionally Word goes a bit too far. This is a few years ago now, but PC Magazine had a piece in their humour page that turned "comulation", a misppelling of "computation", into a sexual act -- automatically without knowledge of the user. This was in a report to a supervisor.

Best to have Word prompt for changes. That's how WordPerfect 9 does it.

Editing

erin's picture

Maybe we can set up a panel of editors? I've given a few people editor accounts and it is possible to upload a story without making it visible to everyone. It's an idea.

- Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

New Editor

Hi Everyone,

I've answered Erin's "call" and I'm presently helping her with editor related stuff on the Top Shelf. If anyone needs an editor for a story that they are writing, wants to add a story of their own to the Top Shelf or desires to have a story that they have previously submitted re-edited, my door is always open and I'm only too happy to help.

:o)

*hugs*
Cathy Dee.