The reverse edit

The problem with that is that you're only looking at individual sentences, not at the work as a whole. So you're not editing the book, you're only checking things like grammar, punctuation and the flow of each sentence.

For a proper structural edit you have to work forward through the text.

I'd rather put through software to read it back to me in computer voice and edit what does not sound right to me. I think I'd get more out of it than reading something backwards. I'm not saying it might not be useful, but I think cost (time) vs. benefit might not be worth the investment.

I've done this chapter by chapter, but only late in the process. It has indeed helped me find continuity issues, and places where I thought I'd set up a plot point properly but had in fact entirely forgotten to do so.

Sentence-by-sentence - or even paragraph-by-paragraph - would reduce me to tears, I think, in about ten minutes.

Enlightened said:

I'd rather put through software to read it back to me in computer voice and edit what does not sound right to me. I think I'd get more out of it than reading something backwards. I'm not saying it might not be useful, but I think cost (time) vs. benefit might not be worth the investment.

Click to expand...

Ohh. This is a good idea. I never thought of having the computer read it back.

And I agree with the others that this is only catching sentence level grammar errors. I have a grammarly account that I use for that sort of thing (its pretty accurate on a sentence level).

This site works well. Let it prepare the audio file. No need to download anything, you can listen to it via the website....

http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/

I'm jumping on this thread and finding all this great advice about text-to-speech. I'm going to give this a try as my final round of editing before beta-readers/critique group.

I've never used a text to speech facility.

Just tried that link, Enlightened. Not sure how long I could listen at one go but I must confess I found the available male and female voices were both pleasant to listen to, and the inflections and clarity were much better than I was expecting. Obviously emotion and pauses may not be as intended, but it is interesting to be able to listen and concentrate upon word choice and flow.

Hmmmm. Thank you.

Enlightened said:

This site works well. Let it prepare the audio file. No need to download anything, you can listen to it via the website....

http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/

Click to expand...

I'm getting ready to do just that. Obviously for grammar/sentence structure/typos and not big picture stuff. Hopefully it'll help me not get "lost" in what my brain wants to see.

I have edited some long, detailed texts for publication and sometimes I have used this technique for checking footnotes and bibliographies because they are divided up into stand-alone items. Editing the text itself this way probably isn't as effective though because I need to understand if the text is making sense and one sentence depends on the sentence before it. If I try this, I would probably have to be working with a paper copy and use papers to cover the rest of the text, just revealing on sentence at a time. It might be worth trying but I never have that much time!

As someone who does multiple editing rounds to focus on different aspects (and would already have done a structural edit), I do like it for finding typos. I haven't done it with a novel-length work, so I don't know how tediously crazy that would make me, but in the day job, I've done it with shorter pieces (like investor emails or release announcements that absolutely couldn't have typos).

I also like the idea of changing the font style/color/size, reading from a printed copy, or taking it to an unusual location to read to help separate your editor self from your writer self.

My word doesn't have a "speak" function, and Man i looked.

For anyone else with a mac, I just highlight the section I want to hear, copy it into "Text Edit" and use the speech command from there. (20 pages or so is the max for me)

Listening really does help for hearing word rep, mistakes, and sometimes inspiring a change or flourish, so I usually take notes while I edit.

Bufty said:

I've never used a text to speech facility.

Just tried that link, Enlightened. Not sure how long I could listen at one go but I must confess I found the available male and female voices were both pleasant to listen to, and the inflections and clarity were much better than I was expecting. Obviously emotion and pauses may not be as intended, but it is interesting to be able to listen and concentrate upon word choice and flow.

Hmmmm. Thank you.

Click to expand...

Small chunks. I first heard of this for PhD students that may do this with writing their dissertations (to help with low-level editing for grammar, spelling, flow, and so forth). This is good for people who want it read back to them so they can "hear" what sounds good and not.

Darien - check this out: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25639?locale=en_GB

It is quite robotic sounding, but worth a go.

I tend to edit in stages as I go through. The only exception is the first chapter, which I will write and edit several times. This is so I have it as a reference in terms of voice, pacing, structure, etc.. I won't move on until the first chapter is as right as it can be.

I will then right another four or five chapters and then during breaks from writing I will go back and edit the previous chapters.

The first edit is very much about picking out sentences or paragraphs that need rewriting, deleting or expansion and dealing with those. The second pass looks at plot, structure and character development. The third run eliminates unnecessary detail. The fourth edit deals with specifics: dialogue tags, filter words and passive voice. The fifth pass is a general read through looking at all aspects of the story. Once all of these are done I'll then have a text-to-speech run through and the final part is a reverse edit. The reverse edit rarely picks anything up but it is still worth doing.

Then it gets read by Beta Readers and I start the process again.

indianroads said:

I wasn't expecting Morgan Freeman - and so Stephen Hawking works fine. Two chapters in so far and I've caught errant words (ghosts left over from revising sentences), and one wrong word that I'd not caught in my own proof reading (stores vs stories). So I like it! This sure beats the old reverse edit.

Click to expand...

I'm glad the text-to-speech is useful for you!

DarienW said:

My word doesn't have a "speak" function, and Man i looked.

Click to expand...

Did you check out the Quick Access Toolbar? Click - Customise quick access toolbar - More commands - and select the Speak button. (Looks like a square speech bubble.)

onesecondglance said:

Darien - check this out: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25639?locale=en_GB

It is quite robotic sounding, but worth a go.

Click to expand...

That is the voice I use for the text edit so it's on. Thanks for the link!

indianroads said:

I wasn't expecting Morgan Freeman - and so Stephen Hawking works fine. Two chapters in so far and I've caught errant words (ghosts left over from revising sentences), and one wrong word that I'd not caught in my own proof reading (stores vs stories). So I like it! This sure beats the old reverse edit.

Click to expand...

So happy it's working out for you. Technically, you can edit while you listen, but I tend to jot a nearby word or phrase and scrawl any new thoughts.