The Proofing Problem
Have you ever run into the proofing problem? Its plaguing me a lot lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people who are kind enough to proofread my pieces, but sadly, they aren’t catching the errors. Its one thing when its an article going to print, but another when its a creative piece. In my recent experience, the problem is simple: when someone is reading a work of fiction, they get caught up in the story and overlook simple errors.
As far as complaints go, its not a bad one to have. I’d much rather know that they feel my work is enjoyable, but it leaves me wondering how everyone else manages to find the errors in their work- without paying for a professional to proof it, that is.
In the grand scheme of things, I’m a starving artist with a matching budget, so paying for something like proofing isn’t in the cards. So, do you have tips on proofing works of fiction? I’m interested to see how other people handle this problem.
Little Conversations 
July 24, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Wht heps me is profreading in a plac that’s as far away and as differnt as possible frm the plce were I did the writin..
July 24, 2009 at 10:28 pm
LOL.
I’ve tried reading backwards… didn’t do well with it…
July 26, 2009 at 1:49 am
I find I proofread my stuff best when I’m at a point where I don’t like or hate my writing. When it’s just there. If I catch it at just the right moment……I’m a proofreading tornado! Loooookout!
And Marstead, your new glasses are in the mail! 🙂
July 26, 2009 at 11:55 am
Reading out loud; reading backwards one sentence at at time works for me for short stories – what I mean is you read the sentence forward but going backwards through the work.
I haven’t yet tried this with my novel. I plan to read it aloud, but the thought of reading it backwards one sentence at a time is not something I relish.
November 2, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I don’t have any suggestions, just empathy for the problem. I worked on my novel for many, many years, and proofread it several times. I’m an editor by trade, so you’d think I could do a decent job. Recently, I found out just how poorly I did.
The book is finally being published, and the small publisher paid a bona fide professional with lots of fiction experience. (Allison Parker, who I highly recommend) to copyedit. (Allison Parker) I just finished going over her notes, and I’m humbled and impressed. She caught things I didn’t even think to check out: capitalization and spelling in song lyrics, inconsistencies in some foreign spellings, consistent use of itals and quotations. If yournovel is going to be published by a press that doesn’t have the means or inclination to pay a professional, perhaps you could try for a grant or something to pay for one? Or maybe try to do a trade of some service? I could have never done for myself what Allison did for my book.
Cheers. Love the blog! I heard about it at SheWrites.
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