A common mistake that many writers make is either skimping on the amount of time they spend pre-writing or skipping the process altogether. As any professional editing and proofreading service knows, pre-writing can be one of the most useful tools for writing an organized, well-thought-out dissertation, book or other type of manuscript. It is also helpful for writing even shorter documents like essays, papers or short stories. For newsletters, reports and important emails, it can also be invaluable. What follows are a few tools that can help you in your pre-writing:
- Start with the main points of an outline. If you are writing a novel or other book-length manuscript, list the themes, characters and key plot points already floating around in your head. If you are writing a dissertation, list your arguments and main supporting points as bullet points. Then start looking for the areas that need to be filled in further.
- Once you have your main points down, list any problems you can foresee. If you are writing a novel or book, is there a gap between your characters’ motives and their actions? If you are working on a dissertation, can you anticipate potential holes in your argument? Whatever you find, add them to your outline.
- Flesh out your outline by adding subitems to your main points. Add key details and write out important sentences if you already know them. At this point your are looking to fill any holes you can see before submitting your outline for review by a professional editing and proofreading service.
- To make your writing more efficient, submitting your novel, book or dissertation outline to a professional editing and proofreading service. Using a professional editing and proofreading service at this stage can help to head off problems and avoid painful or time-consuming re-writes further along in the process.