At 11:15 AM 11/28/95 -0500, you wrote:

Does anyone have any suggestions on proofing ones own work? I find that it is
hard for me to do, because I know what it's supposed to say and read it that
way. 

Shannon

Depends on how you write your fanfics. If you are using something like
WordPerfect, or MS Word (or almost any other major WP application), you will
have both spell checking and grammar checking built in.  If you're writing
under DOS, using an editor or a similiar program, than both checkers are
available as TSRs. However, if you're using most email apps, you're
basically out of luck unless you export to another environment and use the
tools available there.

Spell checking should be an automatic habit on the part of fanfic writers,
but, after reading quite a few fanfics over the last four months, it is
sadly obvious that spell checking is a rarely used feature.  Grammar
checking is the new frontier for a lot of people, although in one form or
another its been around for 5-6 years at least.  If you are using a good
grammar checker, you can catch the problems with tenses, along with many
others. 

The real bottom line is, even after you've used both types of checkers, the
writer still has to sit down and read their story from beginning to end,
just as their readers will, and try to catch the logic, continuity and plot
problems, and all the other afflications of a writer that the best grammar
checker simply can not catch. Having a good proof reader go over a fanfic,
after the writer has reached the point where they feel their story is ready
for posting, should be the final step.

Hope this helps a bit...

johnd