I’m
about midway through the fourth rewrite of my short-story
collection.
What’s
so amazing to me is that I still find errors, mistakes, typos, and other
boo-boos that I thought would have been caught during the first or second reads.
I had the same experience with my previous books.
To be
honest, I know that I’ll discover or uncover items that need to be addressed in
the seventh or eighth read. That’s part of the challenge in reading copy. And I
realize, to play on a saying by Alexander Pope: To err is human; to proofread,
refine.
One
thing I do at this point in the process is to read aloud (when alone) – or at
least mouth – the words on the computer screen. Why? I want to make sure they
have the correct sound and flow. I find this especially important in dialogue. I
want the words to ring real and true.
By
reading the manuscript in my normal voice, I believe it gives me a feel for what
the reader may experience when digesting my words. If parts sound clumsy, choppy
or wordy to me, I believe it will be magnified, and perhaps indigestible, for
the reader.
Until the next time...
