On Editing

Yay! I've finished the fifth book in the Hillendale series. Now begins the real work, the various forms of self editing before it goes to a real editor. 

Developmental editing

Does everything make sense? Do my characters start out one place and end up somewhere that doesn’t make sense? Developmental editing is a thorough and in-depth review of the entire story. It examines all the elements of writing, from individual words and sentences to overall structure and style. 

Copyediting

A copy edit will generally address grammatical or punctuation errors, incorrect facts, anomalies, inconsistencies and glaring typos. Have I used the right words in the right places?

Proofreading

Time to double check everything, specifically looking for spelling errors, grammar errors, proper punctuation, misused homophones (everyone familiar with their, they're, there?), layout issues, font issues, and spacing issues. 

As an author, I check all of this as I go, but there are bound to be errors that sneak through, even after multiple passes. I know what the story is supposed to say, so my brain might trick me into what's supposed to be there rather than what is actually on the page. 

And once I’ve finished, I send it to my editor who finds all the things I missed.

Then, after addressing my editor's comments, I proofread again--reading with my computer, reading a "hard copy" and having my computer read it to me while I follow along. The different passes ensure I trick my brain into seeing what's actually there rather than what I expect to read.

And you thought this gig was easy!