Spelling and typos
The most basic category, but fiction manuscripts have specific traps that standard spell-check misses.
- Run spell-check, but do not trust it blindly — it cannot catch real-word errors like "form" for "from"
- Check every character name against your style sheet for consistent spelling
- Verify invented terms, place names, and fantasy-world vocabulary
- Look for homophones: their/there/they're, its/it's, your/you're
- Check for doubled or missing words that spell-check ignores
Punctuation mechanics
Punctuation errors are the most common type of objective mistake in fiction manuscripts.
- Commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks (U.S. English)
- Dialogue tags take a comma; action beats take a period
- Em dashes for interruptions, ellipses for trailing off — do not mix them up
- Check for missing closing quotation marks, especially in long dialogue passages
- Verify apostrophes direction — curly quotes should curve the right way
- Semicolons: make sure both sides are independent clauses
Dialogue-specific checks
Dialogue is where most fiction proofreading errors cluster because the rules interact with voice.
- New paragraph for each new speaker
- Tag vs beat punctuation: "said" takes a comma, "nodded" takes a period
- Multi-paragraph speeches: opening quotes on each paragraph, closing quote only at the end
- Interrupted speech uses em dash, not ellipsis
- Character voices stay consistent — a formal character should not suddenly speak informally without reason
Consistency and continuity
These errors are invisible unless you are tracking them deliberately.
- Character name spelling stays the same throughout
- Eye color, hair color, and physical details do not change accidentally
- Timeline logic: if it was Tuesday in chapter 3, it should not be Monday in chapter 4
- Tense stays consistent within scenes (unless the shift is intentional)
- Setting details match: if the house has two floors in chapter 1, it should not have three in chapter 12
Formatting
Formatting errors are less about language and more about presentation, but they still make the manuscript look unprofessional.
- Chapter headings are consistent in style and capitalization
- Scene breaks are marked consistently (line break, symbol, or extra spacing)
- No rogue spaces at the beginning or end of paragraphs
- Italics used consistently for internal thoughts, emphasis, or foreign words
- Front matter (title page, copyright page, dedication) is present and correct