Hello World Out There World,
I have a lot of experience when it comes to writing in MS Word and I have just as much experience when it comes to writing fantasy/ fiction in MS Word. Sometimes it is a blessing to see that little red line but after a while, when you have names that aren’t normal or places that don’t exist being highlighted, it can be distracting.
So, what do I do?
Well, at first I ignored the red lines. Sure they were annoying but once I got in my mind that they weren’t worth focusing on them they faded into the background as I typed away on my drafts. What I didn’t know was once you hit too many unrecognized or “incorrect” words the program stops highlighting them. Word literally quits doing its job on making sure you spelled everything the way you were supposed to.
This is great for one reason – you don’t see those dizzying red lines anymore. The reason this isn’t so great – those errors that you are making aren’t being accounted for.
So, how did I fix this problem so I could have Spell Check continue doing its job while not hindering my writing process with suggestions that maybe I meant lion every time I typed Liora?
Simple, I added them to my dictionary.

The thing is you can click Ignore All, but this is only a temporary fix. If you type that word that you’ve typed 10,000 + times in your draft it is going to highlight that word as wrong all over again. If it is a character name, place, language, or what-have-you that you use on a regular basis add them to your dictionary. That way if you spell a character’s name wrong or add an extra letter to a name of a place it will highlight as wrong and ask you if you meant the word you meant to type.
This has helped me cut down time in my editing and makes my writing process run smoother because MS Word is now working for me, not against me. So, instead of it suggesting Liora should be Lion it says, “Did you mean Liora?” when I am typing so quickly that I mix up the I and O (Loira).
I have no idea if this will help you out or save you time, but someone last week asked what I do with spell check. You could disable that feature if you are brave enough to type without it, but most of my writing skills came from learning the correct spelling from that program. Back in grade 8 I was a horrible speller and it was my hours spent typing away with red lined work in MS Word that helped me improve my writing skills – in that sense I rely on the tool but at the same time I respect it.
Now, it is your turn. Let me know what hacks you use to cut down your editing or writing process in the comment section down below. I love to learn knew ways to approach the writing process and who knows, we could learn from one another.
February 9, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Haha! My problem isn’t with fantasy words, though I do use some off-kilter words in my books once in a while. My problem is partly my Midwest accent that makes me say things inappropriately, or when my computer dictionary is WRONG! How do I know more words than my dictionary? Even google tells me I’m right! Ugh!
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2017 at 3:09 pm
Oh! I get that too. As my computer is set to American English and not British English I get corrected on the most basic of words like rumour, colour, favourite, honour, and armour. We have a U in the word while USA doesn’t… so writing a book that are filled with rumours, where people are fighting for honour, and wearing armour… well you can see how often the red line would show up. MS Word needs to get their stuff together and update their dictionary… at least YouTube isn’t underlined anymore. XD
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2017 at 3:12 pm
Haha! You Canadians and your ‘u’s. :p But yes. Microsoft needs up to update their dictionary already. It’s really frustrating, especially because I don’t pay attention to it anymore even when there actually are typos because I just assume it’s wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
February 9, 2017 at 3:41 pm
Yeah. Exactly.
LikeLike
March 22, 2017 at 8:31 pm
I usually turn the spell-check off. I’ll run like a virus scan but generally don’t need it as I write. Then the very common made-up words I use I add to my dictionary. It’s my dictionary, and those are my words. It only seems right.
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 22, 2017 at 9:21 pm
Sounds pretty similar to what I do. The problem is, I think faster than I type sometimes skipping out of letters in certain common words so I leave the spell-check on to catch those.
LikeLiked by 1 person