Four Common Writing errors
and How to Avoid Them
No manuscript is perfect; even after multiple rounds of editing and proofreading, those pesky errors find a way to evade all of our efforts. I like to call these ‘Error Ninjas.’ Without fail, you go through multiple rounds of editing and proofreading only to order your author copy and find these Error Ninjas throughout your novel. They are relentless. However, they are found in every form of writing. I find them in academic textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, non-fiction, and fiction novels. It doesn’t matter if you self-publish or pursue traditional publishing, Error Ninjas will find a way to persist.
However, I know how irritating it is to find these errors after all of the time and energy spent editing. So, I wanted to take a moment to go over the four most common errors I see when I am editing.
The four most common writing errors I see:
- Dashes: There are three types of dashes: hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. Dashes are one of the most common errors that I find throughout the manuscripts I edit. The reason that these dashes are so tricky, is because you cannot find an en dash or em dash button on your keyboard. The hyphen is the only dash that has its own key on your keyboard, so I commonly find hyphens placed where en dashes or em dashes should be. A hyphen is used to combine two words (i.e., strong-willed); most authors do not have any issues with hyphen placement. However, en dashes are a little trickier, especially if you are fluent in both U.S. and U.K. English. An en dash, in U.S. English, is most commonly used to show ranges and dates (i.e., 10–15). However, in U.K. English, an en dash is also used to show a break in thought or in the place of parentheses and it has a space on either side (i.e., “I love helping indie authors with their writing – no matter what their goals – it makes me so happy!”). In the U.S., however, an em dash is used in these instances, and there are no spaces on either side (i.e., “I love helping indie authors with their writing—no matter their goals—it makes me so happy!”). As you can see, they are both very similar, but they are not the same. How do you input these different types of dashes? Well, that’s where it gets a little tricky. It depends! Your computer’s operating system and the type of keyboard you have dictate how you put these various dashes into your manuscript. I will link some resources for this below!
- Ellipses: Ellipses can be tricky. At the surface level, it looks like there are just three periods typed in a row. Unfortunately . . . it’s not that easy. (See what I did there?) The way one uses ellipses greatly depends on what writing style they are adhering to. Each style has different rules of grammar—ellipses vary. Many authors I work with choose to work in the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS). At the most surface level, there are many nuances, ellipses adhering to CMOS should be spaced out with nonbreaking spaces in between, preceding, and after the final period (unless it is in dialogue, then the last nonbreaking space can be omitted). You may have read that and said ‘What is a nonbreaking space?’ Don’t worry, we are about to cover that in number four, non-print characters.
- Non-printable Characters: Non-printable characters are characters that are not visible on the printed page (i.e., page breaks, tab, space, nonbreaking spaces, object anchors, etc.). Most authors do not have the non-printable characters visible as they write. However, while I am editing, I always have them turned on. Non-printable characters can cause a nightmare during the formatting process. Going back to the above writing error, the ellipses. A space and a nonbreaking space will look the same without making the non-printable characters visible. However, a regular space (you hit your space bar) allows for two words, photos, etc. to be split up, meaning, you may find them on two different lines or pages. However, a nonbreaking space keeps everything together, much like a word. So, if you type out an ellipses you won’t have one period on page 50 and the other two on page 51. I always suggest at least doing one round of edits with your non-printable characters enabled so you can catch any errors—especially if you are not hiring an editor.
- Improper Punctuation Inside Quotations: I am going to be writing an entire blog just on this topic; however, with how frequently I find this error, I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t include it on the list! To keep this short and simple, if the sentence following the quotation mark is an action (i.e., she walked, she slammed the door, she kissed me) then the dialogue should end in a period inside the quotation mark and the following sentence should be capitalized. However, if the sentence following the dialogue is a dialogue tag (i.e., she said, she says, he yells, he asks) then you should have a comma inside the quotation mark and the dialogue tag should be lowercase. Here are very basic examples: “There were a lot of indie authors reading my blog,” she said. “Self-editing is the worst.” She slammed the computer and rolled onto her side.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of the errors I find in authors’ manuscripts, these are some of the most common ones I find. If you are writing and planning to adhere to CMOS, I highly recommend keeping a copy by your side during the line/copy portion of your self-editing phase. They have both digital and physical renditions of the style guide and you can grab yours on their website.
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