Why it’s so difficult to edit your own work
Published by Deanna Hoak February 7th, 2007 in blog, copyeditingI think everyone who’s done any writing at all knows how incredibly difficult it is to edit your own work. The problem is particularly vexing for editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders because we damn well know what’s right, but we’re no more immune from making typos or leaving out words or letters than anyone else is. And…well, you know, it’s just more embarrassing for us. :-) You would think we would spot a mistake in our own writing right away, but the brain simply doesn’t work that way.
During my eye appointment the other day, I experienced the strongest illustration I’ve ever seen as to why that is. Bascom Palmer has very nice equipment, and instead of the projected eye charts to which I’m accustomed, they had flat-screen computer monitors on the wall. The typical letters appeared on them, and the assistant was testing the vision in my bad eye, with my good eye covered. I wasn’t doing all that badly, really; the letters were fuzzy, but I was making them out. I mentioned, though, that it felt hard not to cheat because I know that chart so well. I’ve been in and out of eye doctors since I was two, and I’ve read that chart hundreds of times; they haven’t changed it, though I did see one variation one time.
Anyway, when I mentioned that, the assistant said, right away, “Oh, I can fix that!” She hit a button on her computer, and the letters randomized.
Do you know, I couldn’t make out a damn thing on the line I’d been doing somewhat okay on? She put up the type size I’d already done, and I couldn’t make out those letters either. Neither could I do so on the line above that.
The thing is, I would have sworn to anyone that my bad eye had been seeing those letters, fuzzy though they were. But that’s what our brains do: They fill things in for us. (This is in fact the very reason for that randomizing eye chart–my problem is not even slightly atypical.) When you write something, you know what’s supposed to be there. You know what you meant. If you’re missing a letter or even a whole word or you’ve transposed something, your brain’s going to do you the “favor” of fixing it for you as you see it. Chances are quite good that you’ll never notice it isn’t right.
Copyeditors face this even when looking at a stranger’s work. We know what’s supposed to be in the sentence, and if we’re not careful our brains will simply skip over a mistake. We develop habits and tricks to combat that, but some of them (such as putting your pencil down on every single word) take up enough time that they aren’t really practical outside work. :-)
So it’s interesting. I’ve had people say that they hate to write me because they’re worried about making mistakes. I laugh and say that they can’t possibly be more paranoid about making them than I am–I have a rep to maintain!
Anyone who has done this very long knows that they’re not immune from making mistakes, though. Not being able to spot them easily in our own work is unfortunately, believe it or not, just part of our brain doing its job. :-)
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I was short-listed for a World Fantasy Award for my copyediting.
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Hee! As a teacher, I put things up on the board for the students, and yes, I do make mistakes on occasion. One thing I do with my students is that if I make a mistake, and one of them catches me on it, that person gets extra points that day. They love catching me out!
My favorite personal gaffe as an editor was when I was working at NASA. I took a moment to pat myself on the back after I’d unscrambled some dense tenchnical jargon-y language and made it readable and easy to understand. In an email I sent to a friend about it, I wrote, “brilliants lends itself to clarity.”
*facepalm*
I always say that the one thing I have trouble proofreading is my own writing. And my frequently typo-riddled postings on LJ should be ample evidence of that. Nowadays, when I do a good bit of editing on-screen at magazines, I find I have to be extra careful when I enter any new copy, even a few words. It keeps me on my toes.
I’ve had people say that they hate to write me because they’re worried about making mistakes.
The line I sometimes use when writers tell me this is, “Just relax. It’s like taking your clothes off in front of the doctor. I’ve seen it all.”
There are interesting emails floating around where the first and last letters of the words are accurate but the rest are scrambled. Surprisingly, it is easy to read the sentences. After only a few lines most people can read the words at roughly normal speed. The brain is amazing in what it can do.
Of course it makes it difficult for writers as well, I have been experimenting with text-to-speech software. The actual pronunciation is horrible of course but the computer does not auto-correct anything. With a little practice it is easy to spot the missing comma or incorrect word. I recommend giving it a try.
When I was an in-house publications editor, I would always be relieved when a piece was printed and I found the mistake–because I knew there’d be one, and if I’d found it, and it wasn’t too awful, at least that was over with.
Dear me! That’s both cool — because I know that I read what should be there, yup — and spooky, in that the eyechart thing worked out that way.
I suppose I should be glad I’ve not memorized the eyechart yet.
I’ve found that reading things backwards (backward? OH GOD NO I’M GONNA GET THAT WRONG HELP HELP) helps me to spot typos in my own writing, something like looking at a familiar scene sideways or upside-down (I have a very flexible neck) to look for things that you know are there but you just can’t see. Of course, this doesn’t help with other sorts of errors.
I’m being forced to proofread my typing a lot more closely at work since this keyboard has developed a tendency to drop the letters e, a, and s and the number 2, and to duplicate the letter t.
Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting.
It’s especially easy to make silly mistakes in emails (I send a lot of them during my work day). And of course, my electronic signature says “Editor” right there under the message. The only comfort is that I usually never know.
But you know what frustrates me even more than errant typos? I spend all day improving other people’s writing… and yet, that doesn’t automatically make ME a brilliant writer.
I’m synaesthetic, so I do catch some of my typos because the word has the wrong colour-aura, if that makes sense. But there are still those I miss because the letters that get switched around or mistakenly replaced are in the same spectrum and in the middle of the word. Or even my synaesthetic brain sees things that ain’t there. *grin*
I am reading Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series and whoever did his proofreading apparently did just what you talked about. In each book, I have found several mistakes over and over again. Usually they are just simple mispellings, like shielf instead of shield, or using they in the sentence when it was supposed to be the.