Advice to would be writers
Aug. 25th, 2008 04:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrFirst off, *read*. Read a *lot*.
It's better to read stuff published before the seventies if your weak on spelling and grammar, as copyediting started going downhill *fast* after this.
Yes, you need to read a lot so that you have enough exposure to proper grammar, sentence construction and *spelling* that you'll have a feel for them in your own writing.
Read stuff on the web (alas) tends to erode your instincts because so much of what's out there is badly written.
Spelling checkers are your friends. But just like a well intentioned but not too bright friend, they can lead you astray. Never let the spelling checker auto-correct. Always take the time to look at the word it says is misspelled *in context*. And unless it's a typo, or you are utterly certain that the suggestion is correct, take the time to look up the word it offered as the correction.
This will save you a lot of embarrassment when the suggested word is not the right word for the context.
Do a google search on: commonly confused words
Read the links that come up.
You might want to visit a bookstore and pick up one of the cheat sheets for such. (I use Quick Study Academic's Commonly Misspelled & Confused Words ISBN: 157222788-5 )
Find a friend (or even stranger) who is willing to look over your drafts for errors. Also set your drafts aside and re-read them later. I've found far more typos and missing words than I like to think about when re-reading a chapter to get back into the setting before writing another chapter.
It's better to read stuff published before the seventies if your weak on spelling and grammar, as copyediting started going downhill *fast* after this.
Yes, you need to read a lot so that you have enough exposure to proper grammar, sentence construction and *spelling* that you'll have a feel for them in your own writing.
Read stuff on the web (alas) tends to erode your instincts because so much of what's out there is badly written.
Spelling checkers are your friends. But just like a well intentioned but not too bright friend, they can lead you astray. Never let the spelling checker auto-correct. Always take the time to look at the word it says is misspelled *in context*. And unless it's a typo, or you are utterly certain that the suggestion is correct, take the time to look up the word it offered as the correction.
This will save you a lot of embarrassment when the suggested word is not the right word for the context.
Do a google search on: commonly confused words
Read the links that come up.
You might want to visit a bookstore and pick up one of the cheat sheets for such. (I use Quick Study Academic's Commonly Misspelled & Confused Words ISBN: 157222788-5 )
Find a friend (or even stranger) who is willing to look over your drafts for errors. Also set your drafts aside and re-read them later. I've found far more typos and missing words than I like to think about when re-reading a chapter to get back into the setting before writing another chapter.
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More good resources
Date: 2008-08-27 01:57 pm (UTC)Purdue Online Writing Lab (great for "Grammar and Mechanics") -- this is my go-to for things like, "Should I use a colon or a semicolon here?")
When you're married to a writer, to collect bookmarks like this :-).