Missing words, dull phrases, unclear expressions are all things which make readers stop reading, and once they stop they tend not to start again. So authors have to fix these problems before publication.
Proof reading and editing are therefore vital parts of the writing process, and in the days of self-publishing they are tasks for the author. We no longer have the luxury of an editor able to cast an expert eye over our work.
So what is the best way of going about this task which many authors find boring and thankless? My advice is to two-fold.
First, use a high quality word processor which can check your grammar and spelling. I have been using Microsoft Word since 1984, when I started writing on a Macintosh. That can eliminate most of the obvious problems.
Second, listen to your work. Your ears hear things which your eyes often miss. Missing words for example. If I am sitting at my computer I use TextAloud to listen to everything I write. You can get a free version, and with high quality voices such as AT&T, it’s brilliant.
But sitting at your desk listening for long periods is very restricting. As well as writing I also love to walk. My current solution is to transfer my work in progress onto my Kindle and use text to speech to listen. When I find something I want to change, I stop the speech and add a note. I have an old Kindle with a keyboard, which I find excellent for this kind of work.
Then, when I get back to my desk, I go through my notes on the Kindle and edit the text. I have tried other solutions in the past. I used to use a Blackberry to both listen to the story (using files created by TextAloud) and edit the text, but I find my Kindle is almost as good and perhaps requires less work.
Of course I still need to convert the story into Kindle format, but Mobipocket creator is good, provided you don’t have Microsoft Internet Explorer version 9 running on the same machine!
