This is so true, and why I go through multiple rounds of editing with the help of others for my books. Even then, there winds up being something that wiggles its way through the net, but the autocorrect brain seems to make readers not notice, unless they have an editor brain.
Like you, my fiction on Substack is not professionally edited. I call my serials fun beta reads and ask readers to give me feedback one way or another. I even have friends who will never subscribe to any Substack, but they will use a link I put on socials to pop over, read, and then send me DMs or emails about it. It's rather fun seeing who engages. I already know if I were to put this into print, the start needs just a tad bit more of setup to ground the reader before I throw them in short scenes of three POVs with a spy cat and mouse hunt. And they keep reading, so it is worth it however they get there and respond. It's engagement, not numbers I want on my Substacks.
Thank you so much for the very generous multiple mentions here, Simon!
This feels like one of those puzzles that can never actually be solved, but actively trying to solve it is the workaround-solution we need to keep going. It's so important to try, even when professional editors are involved, if just for the flexing of our empathy muscles, to try to imagine what our work looks like through someone else's eyes...
Two things that I rely on as much as I can:
1) The editor within me that works while I'm asleep. A good night's sleep unveils all sorts of horrors on a page written the previous day.
2) The Doorway Effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect - a surprisingly powerful way to "wipe" your mind and come back with slightly fresher eyes. Relatedly: trying to edit something in a wholly different place you wrote it, which I guess works the same way as "moving text to a different form" as you mentioned above.
Great article. So true. I've started using Gmail to help me edit. It's way better than the substack checker. And today I will play editor for you ... check this: "If words are supposed to spoken,". As you say, it's easy for me to see this in other people's work.
One of my brilliant English professors in college always said that the first two pages of a freshman or sophomore essay were usually just the writer clearing their throat. I think I might have that issue in the first and second paragraph, so I try to cut those.
After publishing, I read my work again and usually find an error. And I just say to myself that this is how people will know I am not using AI to write!
Nice tips! I edit my own work, so I've had to get creative to catch those things that my brain autocorrects.
To build on a couple of your tips, I'd add the following:
Get your computer to read your piece to you. I've found so many typos this way, since it bypasses the visual part of reading altogether. Your lying eyes won't stand a chance of letting anything slip through... because you've let your ears take over.
You can get good practice with the useful sentences check by writing micro fiction. When you only have 100 words to get your point across, every sentence (every word, for that matter), has to have a purpose.
I found that investing in professional editing is money well spent, certainly for longer works. This level of scrutiny will teach a writer many fundamental lessons about good writing and where they are today. Obviously for short works or regular updates like a newsletter, paying for an editor doesn’t make sense. The lesson learned are from readers and how well your work resonates with people. Reading a lot is another must. Any writer after a while will always read with a critical eye and gain a sense for what works and what doesn’t. Also, writers get a feel for what works for them.
I’ve read a number of writers who write beautifully, but I would never attempt to emulate them. Other writers do things well that are worth emulating because their style fits with mine.
At the end of the day, just writing a lot is the best way to improve. Just always be critical of your own writing.
One thing I found also helps a lot to pick out errors in the things I write, is giving it to gemini and letting it read it back to me.
Sure it doesn't use the same intensity of things that we can all understand instinctively, BUT, it does point out the sentences that are really weird sounding.
You said that reading out loud was a big help, but even when reading out loud I found myself skipping words without knowing, saying sentences in my own way without realizing. And when I did say what I had written down, that internal autocorrect, mentally corrected whatever slob I had written XD.
So having a TTS or AI read what you wrote, is a good way to catch weird stuff as well.
Even if your sentences are great the auto correct on your PC can miss stuff, especially when the word is correct but instead of 'son' it says 'sun'. When the AI reads over it, it could sound funny and you can pick that out.
This falls right into the next phase of my own work, Simon. You’re one step ahead. As always, and I love that. Thank you!
It helps to put aside the work for a time and work on something else.
Also to put it into a new font and color that font to change its appearance when you go back.
This is so true, and why I go through multiple rounds of editing with the help of others for my books. Even then, there winds up being something that wiggles its way through the net, but the autocorrect brain seems to make readers not notice, unless they have an editor brain.
Like you, my fiction on Substack is not professionally edited. I call my serials fun beta reads and ask readers to give me feedback one way or another. I even have friends who will never subscribe to any Substack, but they will use a link I put on socials to pop over, read, and then send me DMs or emails about it. It's rather fun seeing who engages. I already know if I were to put this into print, the start needs just a tad bit more of setup to ground the reader before I throw them in short scenes of three POVs with a spy cat and mouse hunt. And they keep reading, so it is worth it however they get there and respond. It's engagement, not numbers I want on my Substacks.
I’ve given up on grammerly and AI “polishing” my writing because it seems to strip it of my voice.
Thank you so much for the very generous multiple mentions here, Simon!
This feels like one of those puzzles that can never actually be solved, but actively trying to solve it is the workaround-solution we need to keep going. It's so important to try, even when professional editors are involved, if just for the flexing of our empathy muscles, to try to imagine what our work looks like through someone else's eyes...
Two things that I rely on as much as I can:
1) The editor within me that works while I'm asleep. A good night's sleep unveils all sorts of horrors on a page written the previous day.
2) The Doorway Effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_effect - a surprisingly powerful way to "wipe" your mind and come back with slightly fresher eyes. Relatedly: trying to edit something in a wholly different place you wrote it, which I guess works the same way as "moving text to a different form" as you mentioned above.
Great article. So true. I've started using Gmail to help me edit. It's way better than the substack checker. And today I will play editor for you ... check this: "If words are supposed to spoken,". As you say, it's easy for me to see this in other people's work.
Classic. I knew there'd be something! Thanks - have fixed. :) And thanks for reading!
One of my brilliant English professors in college always said that the first two pages of a freshman or sophomore essay were usually just the writer clearing their throat. I think I might have that issue in the first and second paragraph, so I try to cut those.
After publishing, I read my work again and usually find an error. And I just say to myself that this is how people will know I am not using AI to write!
Thanks for the great advice!
Nice tips! I edit my own work, so I've had to get creative to catch those things that my brain autocorrects.
To build on a couple of your tips, I'd add the following:
Get your computer to read your piece to you. I've found so many typos this way, since it bypasses the visual part of reading altogether. Your lying eyes won't stand a chance of letting anything slip through... because you've let your ears take over.
You can get good practice with the useful sentences check by writing micro fiction. When you only have 100 words to get your point across, every sentence (every word, for that matter), has to have a purpose.
I found that investing in professional editing is money well spent, certainly for longer works. This level of scrutiny will teach a writer many fundamental lessons about good writing and where they are today. Obviously for short works or regular updates like a newsletter, paying for an editor doesn’t make sense. The lesson learned are from readers and how well your work resonates with people. Reading a lot is another must. Any writer after a while will always read with a critical eye and gain a sense for what works and what doesn’t. Also, writers get a feel for what works for them.
I’ve read a number of writers who write beautifully, but I would never attempt to emulate them. Other writers do things well that are worth emulating because their style fits with mine.
At the end of the day, just writing a lot is the best way to improve. Just always be critical of your own writing.
One thing I found also helps a lot to pick out errors in the things I write, is giving it to gemini and letting it read it back to me.
Sure it doesn't use the same intensity of things that we can all understand instinctively, BUT, it does point out the sentences that are really weird sounding.
You said that reading out loud was a big help, but even when reading out loud I found myself skipping words without knowing, saying sentences in my own way without realizing. And when I did say what I had written down, that internal autocorrect, mentally corrected whatever slob I had written XD.
So having a TTS or AI read what you wrote, is a good way to catch weird stuff as well.
Even if your sentences are great the auto correct on your PC can miss stuff, especially when the word is correct but instead of 'son' it says 'sun'. When the AI reads over it, it could sound funny and you can pick that out.
Just a note :)
The great Joe Tex put the message of this article to music in the 1960s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDKUAxpU5Ck