Top 10 manuscript errors you can fix in 10 minutes

Use Word’s Find-and-Replace Like a Pro

Microsoft Word's find-and-replace feature is a writer's friend. Find it under the Edit menu, as "Replace..." or just hit Control-F and click on the "Replace" tab. At the bottom of the window you'll see a button to expand the window and view advanced features, which will help you make global changes with one click of the mouse.

Searching for these top 10 errors will save me time (and therefore, you money) as I edit your manuscript for publication or review by a literary agent.

1. Misplaced periods and commas around dialogue. 

EXAMPLE: ...third cup of coffee". Changes to .”

OR ...third cup of coffee", Changes to ,”

2. Unnecessarily capitalizing dialogue tags. 

EXAMPLE ...third cup of coffee," She said. —> she said

3. You only need one space between sentences. 

Yep, it's true. Believe me, or else believe the Chicago Manual of Style.

4. Don't use hyphens instead of dashes. 

EXAMPLE: I wonder- and it's pure speculation...

OR: I wonder - and it's pure speculation...

The correct dash is an em-dash—and it looks like that. You'll find it under the "special characters" menu in the "replace" menu.

5. Rampant ellipses. 

An ellipsis is three dots only. It is a punctuation mark used only to indicate an incomplete sentence, not to indicate a pause, and certainly not to mark the length a pause by the number of dots.

EXAMPLE: She paused... and said...

OR She paused for a really long time............ and said...

6. Common misspellings. 

EXAMPLE: waive instead of wave, pubic instead of public, lead instead of led (past tense of to lead).

Or whatever your own favorite misspellings are.

7. Its vs. it's. 

EXAMPLE: Its mine.

OR Wash it's fur.

Both of these examples are wrong. It's is a contraction of it is, and if you take two seconds and mentally substitute it is in your sentence, you will know which one to use. Run a search on both, and double-check.

8. Other common usage errors. 

EXAMPLE: everyday instead of every day (everyday is an adjective only, like "my everyday shoes"), for awhile instead of for a while, peeked instead of piqued (you peek with your eyes, feel piqued when you're tired, and have your interest piqued).

9. Double periods and commas. 

EXAMPLE: He told me..

OR Slowly,, he told me.

10. Wild card. 

If you've been writing long enough to finish a draft of something, you know what errors you make. Always double check for missing words and your own favorite misspellings before sending out the draft.You'll always miss something. That's human. But be a professional and make a reasonable attempt to send a clean draft.