Running spellchecker isn’t enough to guarantee a really good proofread.
Back in the 1990s, the brilliant Graham Rawle’s Lost Consonants column in The Guardian was comic genius. It was at the same time extremely simple and extremely funny.
By removing a single letter from a sentence, the whole meaning changed with magnificent results, not forgetting Rawle’s distinctive and quirky illustrations. Good proofreading involves a lot more than simply running your spellchecker.
Good proofreading involves a lot more than simply running your spellchecker.
Likewise, the great Lawrence Durrell’s 1957 short novel Esprit de Corps includes the chapter Frying the Flag, featuring the Central Balkan Herald, edited by sisters Bessie and Enid Grope.
Due possibly to a combination of elderly minds, even older equipment and staff not quite up to the job, the fictional paper regularly featured headlines that were quite far off what was intended. Oh, the shame of the ‘Minister Fined for Kissing in Pubic’.
But any of those Lost Consonants, or Enid and Bessie’s dubious headlines would have made it comfortably through a spellchecker.
Just like Rawle and Durrell, in your writing you may well have fully intended to mention Harold and his twee jacket, or how more dogs had babies this year… but the chances are that you didn’t.
Good proofreading involves a lot more than simply running your spellchecker, so once you’ve done that take some time to look again:
Read the text aloud
Put on your best radio newsreader voice and entertain your listeners. If you stumble over a word or phrase, the chances are your readers will too.
Read it backwards
Not sdrawkcab ti daer, but backwards it read. Treat every word separately and you’re more likely to read what’s there, not what you expect to be there.
Read it several times, concentrating on different aspects
On each read-through focus solely on headings, pull-quotes, chart titles, hyperlinks etc.
Consider using a style guide
Make a list of words and terms that you use regularly, for instance times and dates, people’s names, tricky words etc. and check against it to make sure you’re being consistent.
The loyal readers of the Central Balkan Herald knew what to expect and suffered it with weary resignation. Your audience may not be so patient.
Get your readers engaged, not enraged.