PROOFREADING 101
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If writing, as William Styron once said, is hell, then rewriting is pure hell. And proofreading is even worse. After finishing a book, you want to celebrate, not reread what you've just written, line by line and word for word. And yet, once the party's over, that's exactly what good writers do.

In its simplest form, proofreading means reading your completed manuscript aloud, word by word. Reading aloud forces you to slow down and listen to your words, allowing your ears to catch mistakes your eyes, having read your manuscript a thousand times, will never see. As you read each word, you must ask yourself several questions. And you must determine if your use of each word follows certain basic rules of writing.

"Impossible," you say. "I wouldn't know where to begin. And who needs rules? Rules are made to be broken." Fair enough, but how can you break a rule you don't know exists? Take heart, weary writer. Proofreading is a process; a series of steps designed to clean up and polish your work, ridding it of unwanted errors and weak writing. The following paragraphs outline this process, and the tools you'll need to complete it.

If you think about it, a manuscript consists of nothing more than words, sentences, and paragraphs. When you proofread, begin at the beginning. Start with your words. In particular, focus on your nouns and verbs. William Strunk, Jr. provides the rationale for this approach in his book, The Elements of Style, Macmillan, 1957. "Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs. The adjective hasn't been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place . . . It is nouns and verbs, not their assistants, that give to good writing its toughness and color." If you don't own a copy of Strunk's book, buy or borrow one. "The little book," as followers of Strunk lovingly refer to it, is worth its weight in gold. No writer should be without a copy.

Back to proofreading your manuscript. The question of whether to work with a hard copy or computerized version of your manuscript is a personal one. Some writers prefer the exercise of marking their printed pages with red ink, and then entering their revisions at a later time. Others proof their work "on-screen," making changes as they go. Sol Stein suggests, "Even if you use a computer, I recommend that you have a hard copy of your manuscript to consult for the simple reason that seeing what you wrote on paper will give you a fresh impression of your work." (Stein On Writing, St. Martin's Press, 1995).

Pen (or keyboard) in hand, start with word one on page one of chapter one. As you proofread, ask yourself the following questions.

1. Do I need this word? Before you consider whether a word is spelled or used correctly, determine if you need it. In The Elements of Style, Strunk lists eighteen basic rules of writing. Rule 13 is simple: Omit needless words. Study the examples Strunk provides to illustrate this rule.

2. Did I choose the best word? Invest in an exhaustive thesaurus such as Roget’s Superthesaurus, 2nd Edition, Marc McCutcheon, Writer's Digest Books. Imbue your work with powerful nouns and verbs. If you've written a historical piece or use modern-day slang, get hold of an anthology of English words such as English Through The Ages, by William Brohaugh, Writer's Digest Books. Find out when the word you've chosen came into existence. If your medical murder mystery is set prior to 1965, you don't want candy stripers walking the hallways of your hospital, nor do you want mudslinging in the saloon depicted in your western if it's set before 1885.

3. Did I spell this word correctly? Get out your dictionary or fire up your spell checker and rid your manuscript of embarrassing spelling errors. In this day of automatic spell checkers, there's no excuse for misspelled words. And be aware that your spell checker will not catch typographical errors ("a" for "an," "or" for "of," "four" for "fore") and so on.

4. Did I use this word properly? The English language is full of archaic, not to mention arcane, rules that govern the spelling, usage, hyphenation, and abbreviation of words. Most of these rules are taught in grammar school, but can you remember any of them? Rather than rack your memory, invest in a grammar guide such as Grammatically Correct, by Anne Stillman, Writer's Digest Books. Many dictionaries also contain grammar and/or style guides. Let these volumes do the work for you and take the guesswork out of grammar. You might also consider taking a grammar refresher course offered through writers' conferences and workshops, or an "on-line" course such as the NovelCraft courses offered through NovelAdvice. (www.noveladvice.com)

The four questions listed above provide a kind of litmus test for the words of your manuscript. But what about your sentences? Words don't stand alone; they join hands with other words, creating the sentences that make up the paragraphs that form the chapters of your book. When analyzing your sentences, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do my subject and verb agree? Everything comes back to nouns and verbs. Here is where a good grammar guide becomes your most valuable possession. For the answer to this question, read Part Four of Anne Stillman's book on grammar.

2. Did I use correct punctuation? Punctuation is the tool used to form words into sentences. Without punctuation, how would you know when one sentence ends and another begins? Your dictionary and grammar guide will navigate you through the many punctuation pitfalls that weaken otherwise well-written prose.

By now, if you aren't saying it, you're thinking it: Are we done yet? Almost. If you think proofreading is hard work, you're right. It is. But consider this. Best-selling novelist Rita Mae Brown, in her writers’ manual entitled, Starting From Scratch, (Bantam, 1988) suggests taking college-level courses in Latin and Anglo-Saxon to learn the English language. I'll leave that decision up to you. But proofreading, done right, is hard work for which there is no other substitute.

Finally, you might consider enlisting help with your proofreading. Join a writers group in your local geographic area, or one of the many groups available over the Internet. NovelAdvice, Inkspot, The Inkwell Writers Forum and The Novel Workshop all provide opportunities to have your work critiqued by other writers. Granted, many of the comments you'll receive will pertain more to issues of style, but you may find someone who's willing to proofread your manuscript, as long as you're willing to return the favor!

Volkswagen has as its current slogan, "On the road of life, there are drivers and there are passengers. Drivers wanted." The same could be said of writers. On the road of life, there are writers and there are wanna-be writers. Don't be a wanna-be. Proofread your writing.

About the Author: Joy Thompson is a full-time professional freelance writer and novelist. Her articles and monthly columns have appeared in numerous print and online publications including Fiction Fix, NovelAdvice, Write Advice, The Same Page, WriteBusiness, IdeaMarketers Writer's Ezine, WordWeb Newsletter, Word Weaving, and many others.

When she's not writing, Joy spends much of her spare time either teaching or taking online writing courses; reading an ever-growing collection of writing books; and studying the market. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, several online writing communities including Fiction Writer's Connection (http://www.fictionwriters.com/, and a book group in her local community.