People who haven’t worked with proofreaders may assume that we look for only misspellings, punctuation mistakes, and incorrect grammar. While we are laser-focused on all of those things, another aspect we pay close attention to is consistency. A manuscript needs to be consistent in terms of style, how words are spelled, and plot details. The best editors build style sheets as they work, which helps them to keep all these things straight. Here’s an example from a manuscript I’m currently working on.
WARNING: The following mentions suicide.
The beginning of the manuscript describes a tragic suicide, the details of which aren’t mentioned again until the end. When I arrived at the end, I noticed something minor that had changed since its first mention. Thankfully it was easy to confirm my suspicion of this minor plot inconsistency with a quick consultation to my style sheet.
Even the best writers make small mistakes like this; writing a book is hard work after all. That’s why it’s always a good idea to hire an editor or proofreader to help you with things such as internal consistency of facts.
I’m Timothy, a fiction editor. My calendar is packed for the remainder of the year, but if you’re looking for an editor for 2025, I’d love to start chatting now. I provide free sample edits so we can see if we’re a good fit. Happy writing!
Timothy