{"id":161,"date":"2020-02-26T09:07:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T09:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demosites.io\/lawyers-gb\/?page_id=161"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:28:30","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About Busy Spider Proofreading and Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

KE Skalka is a graduate of Aberystwyth University. She holds a BA in English and an MA in Welsh Literature.<\/em> She lives in Wales in an old farm house with a lot of spiders.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

How can editing and proofreading improve my writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every draft, big or small, benefits from help. Sometimes, it’s just a second pair of eyes to look for misspellings. Sometimes, it’s a writing coach working one-on-one with you to improve the whole plot of a book. Maybe you’re stuck and can’t find a way to move your plot forward to a conclusion. Or you just can’t find the right words to convey your ideas on the page. BSP will help with that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very easy to overlook our own mistakes, no matter how carefully we check. You know how the writing should read or how the story should go. That means your brain will see what should<\/em> be on the page instead of what actually is<\/em>. It\u2019s strange, but it\u2019s true. Even experienced professionals have a second person check their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you mean “the right words”? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might not be using the right tone of voice for your work. \u201cA car smashed ass-backwards into a tree<\/em>\u201d is not right for a professional report. Friends sharing a chat would not say, \u201cA road-traffic incident occurred today when a car reversed into a tree<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your writing might include slang or idioms unfamiliar to a wider audience. You might know that \u201cputting your house in order<\/em>\u201d means to solve problems; a reader might assume you mean cleaning. This is especially true of idioms that are very regional (\u201ccome to Jesus moment<\/em>\u201d) or used by a specific age group (\u201cdrip<\/em>\u201d doesn\u2019t always mean a leaky sink.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might use cliches, stock tropes, or recycled ideas, and struggling to find your own unique voice. If you want to write about an evil car, an editor can help it stand out from the famous evil car novel Christine<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a serious note, you might be plagiarising someone else\u2019s work – even if you don’t realise it – and that can get you into trouble. A romance novel published in 2008 was padded with text copied verbatim from a nature article about ferrets. This led to the author being dropped by their publisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BSP Note<\/strong>: Plagiarism is a serious matter that can have serious professional and legal consequences. An editor can assist and advice, but the author is ultimately responsible for the content of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the difference between Proofreading and Editing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Proofreaders correct mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Good proofreading improves the readability of writing and makes it easier to understand. BSP can proofread in British, American and Canadian English.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      <\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Proofreading can catch internal mistakes, such as using different numbers, dates or times. If your main character Joe Fiction is \u201cthe proud father of two children,\u201d <\/em>you don’t want to later write \u201c\u2026 \u2018I have twin boys and a girl,\u2019 said Joe<\/em>.\u201d Proofreaders can also catch factual mistakes, such as putting a city in the wrong country, like \u201cLuxembourg, the capital of Germany<\/em>\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Editors make corrections, like proofreaders, but also suggest more substantial improvements and work one-on-one with the author to restructure and rewrite sentences. BSP can suggest improvements to the plot and story, correct the flow or tone of a text, and coach you through the important fundimentals of writing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            <\/ul>\n\n\n\n
              <\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

              <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-pagebuilder-full-width.php","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-161","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396,"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/161\/revisions\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/busyspiderproofreading.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}