“Arrr! Lick Me Nipples” Or the Importance of Another Set of Eyes

Proofreading is such an important step in the writing process (whether the work will also go through a publisher's editing process or not). Proofing is not only key for writers of fiction, but anyone who spends a lot of time writing professional communication or information. It’s also a step where the creator of the content is at a disadvantage. It’s so hard to catch everything when you're the one who wrote the words. Your brain reads what you meant, not what you actually wrote. So it’s often the best approach to get some help from another person.

I recently wrote a short story for the upcoming Hot July Days event at the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. Readers posted pictures and letters as prompts for authors in the group to write short stories. My story is just over 8,000 words in length, and I must have read it ten or more times as I was revising and proofing.

Even in this short of a story and even after reading it over so many times, I missed a couple of obvious typos. My partner read it the other night and pointed them out. I had written “reprehension” for “representative” and “me nipples” for “my nipples.” For that last one she said I had gone into pirate mode, and then she went around the house repeating, “Arrr! Lick me nipples” all night.

That wasn’t the reaction I was going for. A typo like that can really pull the reader out of the moment.

When submitting to a publisher, writing a free read for your website, or polishing any professional piece of written work, I think it’s important to have someone else read it over, at the very least to check for these sorts of typos. No matter how careful you have been in your own proofing you are likely to miss something, and your work will look less professional with each mistake.

I do realize this may not be possible for everyone or every situation, so I thought I’d share three techniques that have worked to help me catch more of my own mistakes.

1. Make the font size larger and the margins smaller, then print the text out. You’ll see the words in a very different way from how you’ve been viewing them as you wrote and revised the text. You could also try loading it on an eBook reader to get yet a different view.
   
   
2. Read your words aloud. It slows down the flow of words, and I can catch more mistakes that way. I find standing up and walking around helpful too. Not only is this a good idea for us writers who sit a lot of the time, but I also find the act of moving and being in a different location than where I originally wrote the story helps to mix things up for my brain. (On a side note, I believe reading aloud also helps you create, maintain, and strengthen your own voice.)
   
   
3. Have the computer read the text to you. This works great to identify a misspelling that the spell checker won’t catch. For example, my mistake of “me nipples.” Even with a choppy computerized voice, I would have definitely heard the computer read the “me” instead of the “my” that I had meant. For a short story this works great, but it can take a lot of time for something longer and may not be feasible if you’re under a deadline. I use Adobe Acrobat or my Kindle for this. You could also search for “text to speech software” for other options.

Mistakes happen, sometimes even in the work for the most popular and critically-acclaimed authors. I think most readers will forgive one or two such typos, but having even one in the wrong place can really mess with the flow.

What do you think? Are you bothered by typos or can you keep on reading without much distraction? Anyone else have another proofing tip that works for you? I’d love to hear about it.

Sloan Parker
www.sloanparker.com