How to Copy Edit Your Writing

After the slog of revisions and rewrites, I arrive at my favorite step in the editing process—the copy edit. Not only is it fun to tweak words, the copy edit is critical for making sure a story is clear, comprehensible, and error free. I enjoy the drafting phase more because I know I will later fix my weak, bloated prose during the copy edit.

The copy edit is when you evaluate your text for spelling, grammar, word choice, style, flow, and clarity. Even if you plan to have a professional copy editor work with your manuscript (and you should!), learning how to copy edit is a critical skill for writers.

If you plan to pursue traditional publishing, a clean manuscript is vital before querying agents. When independently publishing, you’ll find editors charge less when your prose is tight.

Bottom line, when you deliver a clean manuscript, your readers can focus on what’s important instead of getting distracted by silly typos and clunky sentences.

Tips for Copy Editing

Before we start, I should mention none of the tips below are rules. Instead, they are suggestions, a starting point for where to shine your copy editing spotlight. Also, while I provided the tips in the order I apply them, the order isn’t critical.

Last, please please don’t run a global find and replace on your manuscript without evaluating your prose first.

Spell Check

One would think this step is a given… and one would be mistaken.

Nearly every piece of writing software incorporates a free spelling and grammar checker, so use it.

Evaluate and Replace Filter Words

Filter words put distance between your character and your reader. Instead of showing your reader how the character is experiencing the story, filter words tell your reader what is happening.

The granddaddy of the filter words is feel. Anytime you put combine feel plus an emotion (e.g. feel angry, feel panicked, feel sad), you’ve moved into the telling territory.

Another reason to evaluate filter words is they can make your writing less specific. For example, if your character “looks”, are they searching for something (looks for), staring at something (looks at), or comparing something (looks like)?

Eliminate Bloat

Low-value words and phrases bloat and clutter your writing. This is not a stylistic judgement or an evaluation of how purple your prose is. Instead, the tip is to encourage you to cut wordiness where it does not add to your story’s plot, theme, or tone.

Examples of low-value words are very or really. We often use these words more for emphasis than to convey information.

A common low-value phrase is all of the where the word ‘of’ is unneeded. You can simplify the phrase all of the apples to all the apples without changing the meaning of the sentence.

You can also identify bloat by searching for repetition in words, events, and theme. Paring unnecessary words will tighten your prose and improve your story’s readability.

Evaluate and Cut Weak Modifiers

Weak modifiers include words and phrases like a little, rather, pretty, and slightly (e.g. a little mad, rather steep, pretty high, and slightly annoyed).

If you want to modify what you’re describing, try using a stronger description, like changing slightly annoyed to irked or miffed.

Common Grammar Mistakes

Even if you’re fuzzy on grammar, you can look for and correct common mistakes, then trust your copy editor to help you catch the rest.

Many common grammar mistakes involve homophones. These are words that sound similar but mean different things (e.g. except/accept, there/their/they’re, or to/too/two). We overlook homophones because our brains read them correctly. The best way to find homophones is to use the search function in your writing software. You can also paste your text into sites like homophonecheck.com. Some writing software programs have incorporated homophone checkers, too.

In the Elemental Artist series, two common homophones I search for are peddle/pedal and pallet/palette.

Besides homophones, other common grammar mistakes include confusion over when to use less/fewer, lay/lie/laid/layed, and who/whom/whose.

Read Your Words

Once you’ve searched for and eliminated errors, clutter, and jargon, it’s time to read your text.

If possible, do so off screen. When I do, I’m astonished by how many more errors, awkward transitions, and inconsistencies I find. After printing out the second draft of Oil and Dust, I now read my drafts on a reMarkable tablet, but many writers prefer to print their manuscripts as part of their copy edit process.

“Knowing how to tinker with a broken piece of prose until it hums is a source of contentment known by all who have mastered a worthy craft.”― Carol Fisher Saller

My Copy Edit Process

Although the copy edit can gobble hours of my life, I enjoy this stage of the editing process.

Besides running my manuscript through ProWritingAid, I also run it through Marlowe. These two pieces of software help me identify passive voice, cliches, and repetitive or overused (see what I did there?) words.

Next, I evaluate my draft against my copy edit checklist. Click here for a free copy of my checklist. I also use the checklist to keep track of words and phrases for future drafts and books.

Once I’ve finished the initial pass, I read my draft and take notes on anything left to fix. After I apply my final corrections to the manuscript, I run it through the spellchecker again before sending it to a professional copy editor. Not only does working with a copy editor put a fresh set of eyes on my manuscript, I learn a lot from reviewing their corrections, and can apply those lessons to my future copy editing efforts.

Do you enjoy the copy edit step? What is your process?

Header Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash