Writers and Authors discussion

Let us know your editing routine? How many times do you edit? What advice do you need when it comes to editing.

Rachel x

I've found that when I write in smaller chunks (500-1000 words) I get a cleaner first draft. I use spell check in word and fix those mistakes (the real ones) first. I then give it a quick read through and fix that stuff. I then give it to someone with an eye for grammar (might not be perfect, but hey) and fix what they find. I usually do that in 3-5 chapter chunks. This is my new method.
My old method sucked, refer to new method above lol.

I edit and edit and edit and edit and edit. Then I edit some more.

In fact, I edited this frickin message three times!!

Lol

Sounds great, Drew! I write the whole book first and then edit after :)

Jody, I don't edit that much because I don't want to edit out my voice 1 :)

Ah, but Rachel, what if my voice is lost in babble until I edit...? ;)

Who says that you write babble?

I used to be a bit of a perfectionist with editing but my editor said something very interesting recently when I sent her a complete first draft of a novella. She said that she didn't edit it too much because the voice was so strong that she didn't want to change it and lose that. Obviously she did the grammar, punctuation etc but the structure was basically left alone, which was nice. :)

Of course, every writer is different. I find blurting my words onto paper/screen helps me, and then I can trim and tidy.

The novel I'm currently writing is on it's fourth rewrite/edit. I want it to be as perfect as I can get it.

Mind you, it's taken me thirteen years so it better be an instant frickin classic!

;)

I usually get lost in my writing and then edit a million times when I'm done. This time around I'm going to try to edit in small chunks so it's not so overwhelming!

Hey Dani!! :)

And yeah, my process is very similar to hers.

That's really good, Jody, so many writers give up to soon or just don't edit enough before they start sending it out or self publish it.

:)

If I try and edit to perfection as I'm writing it all goes horribly wrong. So I've stolen this from Sean Platt:

1st Draft: "Say it." I have to just blurt it down to start with (although I am a heavy outliner). I want to edit as I go but I resist. Its more important I discover things as they flow at this stage (I often make notes about what I do need to edit in stuff I've previously written though.
2nd Draft: "Say what you mean." This is where I do several sweeps trying to get the characters consistent, fill in any plot holes, add description (I'm awful at description on the 1st draft) etc. I enjoy this bit...apart from when I realise a chapter is so bad it needs rewriting. Goes to Beta readers after these.
3rd Draft: "Say it well." In theory this should be the final polish, tweaking based on beta read feedback. I'm still learning so this can take a few goes. Will go to my editor after this and I will then do a final polish. If I was more confident I'd send it my editor after the 2nd draft.

That's great, Colin! I like that one.

I've sent my short story series off to my editor after the first draft. This is only because I need to get it out, but hoping to spend more time on editing before the next series goes over.

I write on the fly with little more than a broad outline. I enjoy seeing where the characters take me and generally I will get the whole thing down on 'paper' first.

After the first draft is done I will take a few days before going back and having a read through. I correct any mistakes I find, tighten up the occasional section I am not happy with and once I am through that I will send it on to my editor, also lovingly known as My Mother as I am poor and can't afford anyone else. She is university educated and is qualified to teach so I trust her judgment.
Once I get the work back from her I fix any errors, scan through again for anything we have both missed before creating a mobi file and putting it on my kindle.
I will then read through the work on my kindle, which as I am reading it just as any other story will let me notice any errors I may have missed which I can then fix in my final edit.

I have heard people recommend reading it backwards, paragraph by paragraph so that you don't get caught up in the story and can spot more errors and I think I shall try that when my next project is ready.

I've never heard that one Richard, reading it backwards! Not sure I could do that but I may give it a try.

That's great about your mum. I wish I had someone like that. I'm currently spending my savings on hiring an editor for my work.

Rachel wrote: "I've never heard that one Richard, reading it backwards! Not sure I could do that but I may give it a try.

That's great about your mum. I wish I had someone like that. I'm currently spending my s..."

It is useful to have her able to help but at the same time I have found myself watering down some scenes because I felt they could be upsetting and as much as I feel my two main characters are moving towards each other romantically, I would never be able to ask her to edit a romantic scene. :)

I also found reading it on my Nook really helped. I think because the screen is small, so I only see a small section at a time. I should do the backwards thing too, since I always get caught up in the story, no matter how many millions of times I've read it.

I used to write the whole book and edit afterwards. But I found that tiresome. These days, I write for an hour (abut 500-1200 words) and edit it.

Sometimes I edit the previous day’s work before writing the next chunk.

Each gives me benefits.