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Editing your own text can be difficult because when reading it, you'll mentally fill up missing words that aren't on the text. Use a text to speech reader like

Editing your own text can be difficult because when reading it, you'll mentally fill up missing words that aren't on the text. Use a text to speech reader like Textaloud, balabolka and you'll catch more errors. There's a setting in Microsoft word to check for grammar, run-ons, verb agreement... and readability rating of your text. Write first, edit later to reduce writers' block in drafts - Turn off the spell checker or simply write in notepad.

JNRowe 8y ago
> Use a text to speech reader Thanks for that, it has never occurred to me. I’m installing a reader now. > There's a setting in Microsoft word So… it isn’t in the same realm for quality or language support but diction¹ can be pretty useful for those of us who write in vim. diction(1) will will analyse your text for simple errors, and style(1) will generate some readability stats for you. Upstream is pretty open to additions if you want more language support, or at least was when I submitted an en_GB support patch years ago. 1. https://www.gnu.org/software/diction/diction.html https://www.gnu.org/software/diction/diction.html
Koshkin 8y ago
I'd say - never publish a book before someone else has read it. (This is how things were done in the pre-electronic era, and there's no good reason to change that.)
- sharkweek 8y ago
  Working on a novel now - gave it two thorough passes, then gave it to a beta reader who also happens to be an English teacher. They found hundreds of little errors (and some big!) that I probably never would have caught or thought about. Definitely worth finding a few volunteers. Lots of people looking to swap novels for feedback.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    The only time I didn't was because I wrote a shortish book over a somewhat extended period of time with a collaborator--and with various peer edits. Decided not to hire a copy-editor and it was OK. But I generally 100% agree. You just can't see your own mistakes. Especially if you don't have the luxury of letting it sit for a month and come back to it.
satysin 8y ago
Do yourself a favour and get Scrivener. Don't use Microsoft Word or any generic word processor if you're writing a book, sure you can do it but god is it a painful experience. I have been using Scrivener for a few years now and I couldn't go back to using a generic word processor for writing now. I try not to recommend closed source software but there really isn't anything else that comes close to it.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  Plain text editor with a markup language targetable to PDF is all that's needed.
  - satysin 8y ago
    I don't disagree but Scrivener is basically writing IDE for me. It allows me to keep all my reference material, notes, documents, pictures, etc, etc. in a single, organised project in a nicely designed project management tool. I guess I would say Scrivener is my Integrated Writing Environment :P
- bigtunacan 8y ago
  I've looked at Scrivener and Vellum both and they both look like good pieces of software that take a lot of the tedium out of creating a book and let you just ... write a book. The only concern I have with both of them is that neither seem targeted towards technical authors so I'm left wondering how they handle things like code formatting/highlighting and such
  - satysin 8y ago
    Grab the trial and see for yourself? I've had no issues writing technical documentation with copious amounts of code and config sections.
- ghaff 8y ago
  I have Scrivener and have used it. The problem is that, at some point, I need to start collaborating and otherwise sharing copies. At that point I need to switch to a common format anyway. So I'm not convinced that Scrivener helps me a lot given that I'll have to export well before I'm finished (in my case). Maybe if I were working on something solo for a long period of time but that's not how I generally write.
k__ 8y ago
I use Grammarly for editing.
bobwaycott 8y ago
In another life, I edited some things—short memoirs, journals, a couple of works of political philosophy. I picked up a trick that works pretty well, even on my own writing: Read it backward, last sentence to first. The vast majority of mistakes you miss aren’t a product of reading your own writing—they’re missed because you’re reading in your flow of thought and you know what you’re trying to say. This is what a third party offers—they don’t know what you’re trying to say until they read it. But even they can miss things when they’re in your flow. I read others’ work backward to this day, and still catch things I missed on my first forward read. Edit: I just had to correct a silly autocorrect because I didn’t read my own writing backward. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

JNRowe 8y ago

> Use a text to speech reader Thanks for that, it has never occurred to me. I’m installing a reader now. > There's a setting in Microsoft word So… it isn’t in the same realm for quality or language support but diction¹ can be pretty useful for those of us who write in vim. diction(1) will will analyse your text for simple errors, and style(1) will generate some readability stats for you. Upstream is pretty open to additions if you want more language support, or at least was when I submitted an en_GB support patch years ago. 1. https://www.gnu.org/software/diction/diction.html https://www.gnu.org/software/diction/diction.html

Koshkin 8y ago

I'd say - never publish a book before someone else has read it. (This is how things were done in the pre-electronic era, and there's no good reason to change that.)

sharkweek 8y ago
Working on a novel now - gave it two thorough passes, then gave it to a beta reader who also happens to be an English teacher. They found hundreds of little errors (and some big!) that I probably never would have caught or thought about. Definitely worth finding a few volunteers. Lots of people looking to swap novels for feedback.
- ghaff 8y ago
  The only time I didn't was because I wrote a shortish book over a somewhat extended period of time with a collaborator--and with various peer edits. Decided not to hire a copy-editor and it was OK. But I generally 100% agree. You just can't see your own mistakes. Especially if you don't have the luxury of letting it sit for a month and come back to it.

satysin 8y ago

Do yourself a favour and get Scrivener. Don't use Microsoft Word or any generic word processor if you're writing a book, sure you can do it but god is it a painful experience. I have been using Scrivener for a few years now and I couldn't go back to using a generic word processor for writing now. I try not to recommend closed source software but there really isn't anything else that comes close to it.

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
Plain text editor with a markup language targetable to PDF is all that's needed.
- satysin 8y ago
  I don't disagree but Scrivener is basically writing IDE for me. It allows me to keep all my reference material, notes, documents, pictures, etc, etc. in a single, organised project in a nicely designed project management tool. I guess I would say Scrivener is my Integrated Writing Environment :P
bigtunacan 8y ago
I've looked at Scrivener and Vellum both and they both look like good pieces of software that take a lot of the tedium out of creating a book and let you just ... write a book. The only concern I have with both of them is that neither seem targeted towards technical authors so I'm left wondering how they handle things like code formatting/highlighting and such
- satysin 8y ago
  Grab the trial and see for yourself? I've had no issues writing technical documentation with copious amounts of code and config sections.
ghaff 8y ago
I have Scrivener and have used it. The problem is that, at some point, I need to start collaborating and otherwise sharing copies. At that point I need to switch to a common format anyway. So I'm not convinced that Scrivener helps me a lot given that I'll have to export well before I'm finished (in my case). Maybe if I were working on something solo for a long period of time but that's not how I generally write.

k__ 8y ago

I use Grammarly for editing.

bobwaycott 8y ago

In another life, I edited some things—short memoirs, journals, a couple of works of political philosophy. I picked up a trick that works pretty well, even on my own writing: Read it backward, last sentence to first. The vast majority of mistakes you miss aren’t a product of reading your own writing—they’re missed because you’re reading in your flow of thought and you know what you’re trying to say. This is what a third party offers—they don’t know what you’re trying to say until they read it. But even they can miss things when they’re in your flow. I read others’ work backward to this day, and still catch things I missed on my first forward read. Edit: I just had to correct a silly autocorrect because I didn’t read my own writing backward. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯