{"id":143,"date":"2014-01-28T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2014\/01\/28\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_28\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:16","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:16","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing_28\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nIt\u2019s the little
\nthings that make my eye twitch when I run across them in a published
\nbook. These are mistake such as misspelled words or wrong term usage (clinched<\/i> instead of clenched<\/i> when referring to a tightened fist or jaw, for example), and
\na myriad of tiny errors that can be and sometimes are missed even in the best
\nof edits.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIn a perfect
\nworld every book would be published without an error or two. We\u2019d all like to
\nsay we could catch every missing comma in a manuscript, but if you think about
\nit, the average novel consists of 60,000 words. Those words translate into approximately
\n272,000 characters. What are the odds? Authors can beat the odds if they take a
\nproactive stance.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThat\u2019s why
\nself-editing is so important. The job can\u2019t be left only to the \u201cprofessionals.\u201d
\nAny author who has submitted what they believe to be a near-perfect manuscript
\ncan attest to the fact that an editor will most likely find something to
\nnitpick on every page of the story.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAuthors who sweat
\nthose small thing are a great asset to an editor. No, they aren\u2019t expected to
\ncatch everything in a novel, but when they do their best, that helps to produce
\na cleaner product, which helps eliminate reader eye twitches.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHere are some
\ncommon mistakes that should be on every author\u2019s style sheet or check list:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe aforesaid
\nmentioned clinched <\/i>versus clenched<\/i> along with other difficult
\nwords, such as affect\/effect<\/i>, then\/than<\/i>, assure\/ensure\/insure, desert\/dessert, hoard\/horde<\/i>, setup\/set-up\/set up, underway\/under way<\/i>
\nand the one I struggle to grasp: further\/farther.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/div>\n
\nWords that can be
\ncompounded but are not always so: a
\npart\/apart, a while\/awhile, any more\/anymore, every day\/everyday.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/div>\n
\nWords that are
\noften written as two words when the correct form is a compound: backseat, seatbelt, backyard.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/div>\n
\nWords that are
\nalways two words, unless hyphenated. For example, it is never goodnight<\/i>, but good night<\/i> or when used as an adjective describing a noun, good-night <\/i>kiss. <\/i>Also, it\u2019s always good-bye<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nWords that are
\noften misspelled. For instance, it\u2019s not hairbrained<\/i>
\nbut harebrained. <\/i>The word is tell-tale <\/i>not tale-tell, tell-tell, or tale-tale<\/i>, espresso<\/i> and not expresso, <\/i>and
\nno matter how much anyone insists that it is working its way into the English
\nlanguage, it is never alright <\/i>but all right.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/div>\n
\nWords that are
\noften confused, such as anxious<\/i> vs. eager<\/i>, as <\/i>vs. like<\/i>, among <\/i>vs. between.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/div>\n
\nAlso, publisher
\npreferences are good to note. Pelican Book Group prefers OK<\/i> instead of okay<\/i>. <\/div>\n
\nBecause I personally prefer okay<\/i>, I
\nhave to be very cautious about this. Noting it on my style sheet or checklist
\nhelps me to remember to check my edits when I\u2019m working on a review or an
\nacquisition. Other preferences might include blonde\/blond<\/i> and the various ways it can be used. Internet terms
\nare also publisher preferences. Internet <\/i>vs.
\ninternet, online <\/i>vs. on-line, <\/i>and e-mail <\/i>vs. email.<\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/i><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI find collecting
\nthis information fun and useful. What I don\u2019t collect, I make sure to look up
\nin the Chicago Manual of Style<\/i>. When
\nI do look them up, I usually place them on my list.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThese are just some of the
\nways that authors can help eliminate that eye twitch. Mine never twitches more
\nthan when I find a mistake I missed in my own work.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy editing.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the little things that make my eye twitch when I run across them in a published book. These are mistake such as misspelled words or wrong term usage (clinched instead of clenched when referring to a tightened fist or jaw, for example), and a myriad of tiny errors that can be and sometimes are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[67,116,70,71],"class_list":["post-143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-editing","tag-editing-checklist","tag-self-editing","tag-style-sheets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}