Hello, dear reader, I hope you’re doing well. I want to clear the air and say I’m not being sponsored or paid to promote anything in this article. Since we last discussed life, I became a volunteer editor at Saturday AM. It is an online manga magazine that I would suggest for teenagers around age 16 and up. It is based around the shonen (young men/boys) style of manga. More importantly, my work there has forced me to reevaluate what I know about English grammar. It also made me wonder, what are some of the most efficient ways to edit?
Well, spellchecker is a good start. The little red underlining in your Microsoft Word document forces you to examine what you’ve written. Unfortunately, it’s not perfect. It misses quite a few things. It also doesn’t know the existence of every noun. It can get stuck, especially when it tries to stick to the traditional rules of where to place commas for various clauses. It certainly doesn’t understand em or en dashes (basically longer hyphens with a wide variety of uses). If you want something a little more robust you can try Grammarly.
Grammarly is a good upgrade to the traditional spellchecker, but it’s not perfect. I still think it’s a better Swiss Army knife for finding issues within a large portion of writing. It also helps you find fluff words and excise them from your sentences. Sharpening the sword which sends your splendid stanzas straight to the souls of your supplicants. I don’t think it create alliteration, yet, so the last sentence is an example of why you still want a good human editor. As far as I can tell, nothing beats a trained human being when it comes to editing. Editing isn’t just finding problems, it’s also about finding solutions. Language changes all the time, and computers don’t always have the proper input to keep up with the common vernacular. More importantly, machines don’t understand the soul of a sentence. Sometimes meaning can trump the rules of writing, or change the point at which a comma should be placed. Hopefully no one wants to send me hate mail for espousing said sentiment.
People are decent editors. I mean, all they have to do is try to say a sentence and see if it sounds correct or weird. Computers require people to tell them what is correct. They then use the list of rules given to them to extrapolate where you should place a comma based on past information. Human beings are great at making new information and changing the rules. It’s one more reason why you still need a good human editor. Even then people can make mistakes. Which is why you want as many eyeballs as possible on your writing if you want to be grammatically correct. Look at your favorite best-selling book and I’ll bet you can find at least 5 typos. People can examine new information and create new ideas better than machines can. They can also type queries into Google and figure out how to use the information properly.
Overall, the point I’m trying to make is there are lots of options for editing. Use them all. Google is still the best resource, other than a human being, for finding grammar rules. Grammarly is my favorite spellchecking, grammar-policing software. Still, never depend completely on computer programs. Especially if you’re trying to write a fantasy or science fiction novel. So. Many. Red. Marks. Programs can be really helpful, and yet your nerdy friend will be your best editor for the foreseeable future.
Go and hug your grammar-loving friend because they are still your best resource for editing. Have a good day, dear reader!
Well, spellchecker is a good start. The little red underlining in your Microsoft Word document forces you to examine what you’ve written. Unfortunately, it’s not perfect. It misses quite a few things. It also doesn’t know the existence of every noun. It can get stuck, especially when it tries to stick to the traditional rules of where to place commas for various clauses. It certainly doesn’t understand em or en dashes (basically longer hyphens with a wide variety of uses). If you want something a little more robust you can try Grammarly.
Grammarly is a good upgrade to the traditional spellchecker, but it’s not perfect. I still think it’s a better Swiss Army knife for finding issues within a large portion of writing. It also helps you find fluff words and excise them from your sentences. Sharpening the sword which sends your splendid stanzas straight to the souls of your supplicants. I don’t think it create alliteration, yet, so the last sentence is an example of why you still want a good human editor. As far as I can tell, nothing beats a trained human being when it comes to editing. Editing isn’t just finding problems, it’s also about finding solutions. Language changes all the time, and computers don’t always have the proper input to keep up with the common vernacular. More importantly, machines don’t understand the soul of a sentence. Sometimes meaning can trump the rules of writing, or change the point at which a comma should be placed. Hopefully no one wants to send me hate mail for espousing said sentiment.
People are decent editors. I mean, all they have to do is try to say a sentence and see if it sounds correct or weird. Computers require people to tell them what is correct. They then use the list of rules given to them to extrapolate where you should place a comma based on past information. Human beings are great at making new information and changing the rules. It’s one more reason why you still need a good human editor. Even then people can make mistakes. Which is why you want as many eyeballs as possible on your writing if you want to be grammatically correct. Look at your favorite best-selling book and I’ll bet you can find at least 5 typos. People can examine new information and create new ideas better than machines can. They can also type queries into Google and figure out how to use the information properly.
Overall, the point I’m trying to make is there are lots of options for editing. Use them all. Google is still the best resource, other than a human being, for finding grammar rules. Grammarly is my favorite spellchecking, grammar-policing software. Still, never depend completely on computer programs. Especially if you’re trying to write a fantasy or science fiction novel. So. Many. Red. Marks. Programs can be really helpful, and yet your nerdy friend will be your best editor for the foreseeable future.
Go and hug your grammar-loving friend because they are still your best resource for editing. Have a good day, dear reader!