Cindy says: Spelling can be a monster. Not that it solves all the problems (or even most of them), but running a spell-check is still a good idea before passing your document to anyone. Many fiction writers use punctuation strictly based on intuition (and some seem to prefer not to use it at all), which can make it hard for the reader to follow what's going on. And there's the issue of shifting tenses--a couple of paragraphs in the present tense, followed by a few pages of past tense, and so on. Sometimes it's intentional (and may even work well), but in most cases it's not, and I can usually tell the difference pretty quickly. Writers also often change a character's name in the course of revising their manuscript, and a lot of times I'll find remnants of a discarded name somewhere in the story. Another big issue, for any type of job, is most people aren't clear on the difference between "into" and "in to" or between "onto" and "on to."

 

Find out more about other common editing mistakes and what the "Copy-Swamis, Proofing Poo-bahs, and Word Wranglers" do for CanYouProofThis.com in our review feature. Also find out how much it will cost to proofread your document and the levels of services available. Enjoy!