10 Proof-Reading Tips

I just completed the 100th (it seems like) proof-read of my next novel and it's got to the point where I'm not sure I can bear to read it through again. Surely I've found all the mistakes by now? You'd think so, but I said that about the last five proofs I checked. Do I really need to check this again? Oh, I suppose I'd better, I'd think. Then I'd find a massive howler on page one which I can't believe I missed all those other times. How many more did I miss? I'm going to have to read the whole thing over.

Last time, I got to page 59 before I found anything at all and then it was something in the "not worth re-submitting the entire file because of this" category - a space after the final word of a sentence and the punctuation following it. 

However, later on there were other things I couldn't ignore. For some inexplicable reason I'd referred to a signet ring as a "cygnet ring" - even more inexplicable when I discover that later on, in another reference to that very same ring, I get it right.

I also found I'd used "complementary" where I should have used "complimentary" and referred to a tense situation as "nerve-wracking".

Seeing as I have to re-submit the file now, I may as well go back to page 59 and remove that space, and all the other little tweaks I was going to let pass. As I'm going to have to re-submit anyhow I may as well read through and see if there are any other minor changes I'd make in an ideal world.

I came up with a list of things to look out for when checking a proof - some of the things I've needed to go back and sort out in various drafts of the current WIP (work in progress). Perhaps by referring to the list, I can reduce the number of times I have to re-submit the file next time.

Perhaps other writers may find it helpful, to learn from my experiences, too. Here it is:

• Have I remembered to add the date and the ISBN number(s) on the copyright page?
• Are the page numbers consecutive? I find when I'm using the CreateSpace template I often have to add more chapters than the template gives me and I find this messes with the page numbers.
• Are the chapter numbers consecutive? One one read through of my current WIP I found I had no chapter seven, two chapter nines and two chapter tens.
• Are the headers correct throughout? Have any found their way onto the top of a new chapter page where they are not supposed to be? There aren't any typos in them, are there?
• Are paragraphs indented properly? The first paragraph of a chapter or chapter section shouldn't be, the rest should.
• Any glaring formatting glitches? Like "widows and orphans" or chapters not starting on new pages? Spacing between sections of text? Using a template in word like the one CreateSpace provides can help you spot this sort of thing and correct it before the final submission - but it's worth checking the proofs anyway. Just flick through and see how it looks on the page.
• Also where I've used "**" to separate sections within a chapter, I have been known to come across a pair of stars that don't look right; that are different from the rest. Usually it turns out this one pair is in bold or italic or a different font. May be "not worth re-submitting the entire file because of this", but in my day jobs I've had editors/bosses for whom consistency was the most important thing in the universe and they would have made me change it.
• Are punctuation styles consistent? Speech marks often get messed up as my habit has been to use " in early drafts and change to ' in the final version. So if I add an extra bit of dialogue I sometimes find I've used the wrong one. Also in the current WIP I discovered on proof-read #96 that around a quarter to a third of my speech marks and apostrophes were a slightly different style to the rest, presumably from cutting and pasting to and from different word processors. I think I've sorted that to the extent that any that are still different are "not worth re-submitting the entire file because of this". I didn't actually spot any last time.
• Spelling. Spell checkers only go so far. They won't pick up a mistake which is an actual word as in the examples I gave above, and there are so many pairs of words like complementary and complimentary which can trip you up. My maxim is, if in the slightest doubt, check it. Enter it into an online dictionary, look it up in a paper dictionary, and/or Google it. Also check things like unusual names of characters or fictitious places carefully. The spell checker will pick these up every time and it's easy to ignore the red underline because you know that's not a word. I found an instance where there was a typo in one occurrence of my fictitious country. Then I learned I could have added the correct word to my dictionary - so I can make life easier for myself in any sequels featuring this place.
• Hyphens. Often I come across a term and think to myself, should that be hyphenated? For example, small talk, half nelson. As with spelling, look in a dictionary or Google it. I found with those two that there's no hyphen. And "nelson" doesn't have to be capitalised. That was another thing I wondered about! In other places, I did need one, eg moth-eaten. Still others seem to be a matter of choice or a matter of which side of the Atlantic Ocean you happen to live on.

Happy proof-reading!