by Jim
Hi Jim,
I’m sure you’ve answered this before, but I can’t find it in any of your recent posts. I finished my book and just finished running spell check. Everything looks good and the only things it says I still have to fix are grammar errors that are part of the dialogue. Is that sufficient for submitting it to publishers?
Thanks,
Michel
Michel
Hi Michel,
NO!!! Spell check is by no means good enough. It will fix some of the more glaring errors, so it is a great tool to use, but being 100% reliant on it is extremely ill-advised. Spell check won’t catch some of the more nuanced or complex grammatical errors.
Let me give you an example… This is something that I’ve run into.
Say you’re writing a paragraph in the past tense, but one sentence you just accidentally switched.
What you wrote:
The little boy wants the candy.
What you meant to write:
The little boy wanted the candy.
The little boy wanted the candy.
Now, the first sentence isn’t going to make that much sense in context with the rest of the paragraph, but Spell check doesn’t look at context. It’ll look at the rest of the sentence, but that’s it. Because of this, it won’t catch the problem in that sentence.
That’s just one minor example… there are worse.
So what should you do? Re-read it three, maybe four times, and have other people take a critical eye to it. Find at least two unbiased sources to pick it apart and try to help you. Let them read it, critique it, and find the errors.
I hope this helps, please do yourself a favor and do not submit this until it’s ready.
Readers, what do you think? Is spell check good enough or do you agree? Do you have any advice for Michel? Let me know in the comments.
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.
I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.
Also, feel free to check out my works of Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Available on Amazon and where ever books are sold. See the link below:
http://www.amazon.com/James-Harrington/e/B00P7FBXTU
Note:
If you have read my books, PLEASE log into Amazon and post a review. I really love to hear everyone’s thoughts and constructive criticisms. Reviews help get my book attention and word of mouth is everything in this business!
Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim
James Harringtons Creative Work 
Agreed. Spellcheck alone is not enough. As the name implies, it checks spelling. That’s all. As you pointed out, it won’t check for grammar errors. So it won’t catch whether you used the wrong tense of a word or if you used
a wrong word by mistake, like reign (to rule) instead of rein (the horse tool). You need to read through it with a critical eye a few times and also have someone else read it critically, since as the author you are likely to miss any errors yourself because you know what you meant to write and your mind can trick you.
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