This rant is brought to you by some writers in the fantasy book groups I’m in complaining that editing is too expensive, so they just…don’t do it? I neither recall their names nor wish to share them even if I did, so this is just sort of a general rant.
Editing is hard. Editing your own work is harder. As writers, we all have to learn how to do it, whether it’s to keep our manuscripts out of the slush pile, give our editors fewer headaches, or avoid annoying our beloved readers.
I’ll admit to having been the self-appointed Grammar Police in my youth, and I’ve since consciously decided to be…less like that. Rules are arbitrary, people speak in different dialects, and there are much bigger problems in the world to worry about. Still, if we want people to pay us actual Earth currency for our writing, I think we should strive for a level of near perfection in our dialect of choice for two reasons. First is professionalism: it might not be fair, but clean copy makes your ideas stand out, it’s less distracting, and it shows that you (and your beta readers/editors/etc) put in the effort to make your story worth the readers’ money. The second is clarity: most grammar rules exist to prevent confusion. Now, I believe that meaning is created in the interaction between the reader and the text, but you want the part you have control over (the text) to convey the meaning you want it to as clearly as possible. That’s why we distinguish between “dear God” and “deer god,” or, in a classic example, “the strippers, Kennedy and Stalin” and “the strippers, Kennedy, and Stalin.” (Yes, I believe in the Oxford Comma, and this is why.)
So, English has a lot of rules, and I get that it’s hard. I am both privileged and cursed with two degrees in English literature. But editing isn’t optional, and if (like me) you can’t afford to pay several hundred dollars to an editor (also, please vet the editors you meet on social media, because not all of them are good), you’re going to have to do it yourself. A traditional publisher will have an editor for you if they decide to take on your manuscript, but they won’t do that if it’s riddled with errors.
The easiest way to learn grammar and spelling, in my opinion, is to read. Read a lot. Read more than that. Read mostly things that are professionally edited: fiction and nonfiction books from big publishers, articles from major publications, and so on. Over time, you’ll start to absorb it–sentences will start to look “right” or “wrong” to you. I think this is more important than formal lessons. It matters more that you know a comma goes before the “and” in a list of three or more items, to make it clear that all items in the list are equal and distinct, than whether you know that it’s called the Oxford comma.
For trickier things, like punctuating dialogue, it’s good to look at some resources. Here’s a good one. Here’s one on comma use, including the Oxford comma. I don’t use Grammarly or other automated writing tools, because I find that they still miss errors and/or generate new ones, but you might find them useful. Just be sure to double check with your own eyes (or someone else’s).
I talked about this before and in more depth, but it’s important to get some distance from your writing before you start editing. You need to forget everything that you meant to say, so you can tell whether your sentences actually make sense to a reader. And, more importantly, you need to see your writing as a project to be improved, not your heart and soul laid out on the page. It’s that, too, but there’s a time and a place for setting aside your attachment to and identification with it, and editing is that time and place.
That’s it, that’s the rant. I wish you productive editing, good reviews, and staying out of the slush pile.
Also, I’ll be at Anime 414 tomorrow and Sunday! Come say hi!
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