Before I begin proofreading, I will analyze the structure of the story. I will analyze the plot, the characters, and how it all fits together. This takes a lot of planning, a lot of outlining, scribbling notes, and careful attention to detail. After the structural analysis, I’ll begin the proofreading process.
I usually go through several stages of editing and number each document in order so that I can compare the newest version with the last. I do at least 4 or 5 edits on a manuscript, sometimes more, depending on how much I change the story in each pass.
But no matter how many times I edit my story, I’ve learned that someone else will catch mistakes (i.e. a reader or an editor)–even if I’ve read it a hundred times. Why? Because my mind knows the story so well that it doesn’t see the mistakes anymore. It knows what was corrected, and thus, it knows not to fix the same thing twice.
Editing is a long and tedious process. It takes a lot of persistence, focus, and energy to finish each pass. But at the end, having a polished and finished product is worth all the effort.
Fallton Havenstonne 