Jan
16th
2014
How You Go About It - The Editing Process · 5:07am Jan 16th, 2014
I've been writing for a little over two years now, both as a terribly time-consuming hobby, and for work. When I started, I thought that rereading, editing and drafting were sins. They were wastes of my precious time. Now, after many a mistake, my views have changed.
Editing is a big, if not the biggest, part of the writing process. It's the final step before publication and maybe the most important. It's also thanks to editing that I've found some of the greatest people and that I've learnt the most about writing.
I was curious, fellow Fimfic-ers. (need a word for that) How do you go about polishing up your stories?
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RavensDagger · 901 views
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I usually use the editors that you have gained to do the polishing for me.
1723569 And then don't actually do any work yourself?
1723575
Nope. It is hard to go back over your work. That is why I try to get it right the first time.
I correct them as I go, then look through it twice before sending it to my editor for them to do the same thing.
In a rather painful nad-shot by the nature of existence, having a good memory is not an asset when self-editing. Your story remains fresh in your mind for long periods of time, and it all comes rushing back when you do go back to your story, which means the pitfall of falling in love with your first draft looms around you for a long time, if not forever.
And this doesn't apply so much to grammar so much as it does to all the other things which can make a story truly excel: description, flow, style, dialogue, plot. I know how everything is going to play out, and will no matter how long I wait, which means that for pre-reading, editing and other such tasks, I need a team, or at least one other person to point out that one thing and say, "this thing does not belong with the rest of the story as-is. It makes no sense to me at present."
Also, you'll get more from a pre-reader whose interested in your story than one who just did it out of volunteering to be put on a group listing.
1723590 Hmm, you do most of the work yourself then?
I took the pages right out of your book, honestly.
pull together a gang of friends and inter-edit between everybody.
unless that isn't actually what you guys do and I totally misread that whole group's dynamic...
Anyway, Hi! long time I know,
: I'm sorry. Shit blew up at me and I kinda stopped editing for anyone who put out more than like 5k a week
...which was mostly you, and I'm sorry
I haven't been writing long enough to have it completely figured out yet. So I'll just go with this.
1723722
Damn my... writing too much?
1723763
stupid productivity
and I'm just sitting here with my 20k in a year and a half, happily doing things other than writing
In all honesty, I don't. I just write it as it comes, and leave it at that. Though, I do like to make sure I didn't goof up with spelling or grammar, and I ensure everything follows a general plot base, but it's mostly just my thoughts to metaphorical paper. Though, when I start up my flagship saga that I have on back order, I'm going to edit, revise, and re-write that thing so hard...
Write lots, then leave it for a month before going back and re-reading. Fix that chapter based on how the story has progressed since then (I operate a 2-4 chapter buffer, so the story evolves as I write it). Fix those errors (mostly continuity, or inserting foreshadowing for stuff in subsiquent chapters that are still in draft), then send it to the folks willing to preread. Fix the things they spot.
Final step: dramatic reading to spot the flow errors and everything else that's been missed.
I self-edit as I go because I'm unable to not. Know how people say to give yourself time before you look your own stuff over? Well, because I put stuff out so slowly, with so much space between the times that I actually sit down to write, it's never "too fresh" for me so I usually wind up polishing what I have before I put down any more. After something's actually "finished", I grab an everyman friend or two to come in and read it just to be sure they're getting out of it what I want them to and not a drop more ("Am I being too obvious here?", "Do you understand the implications?", "What would you say is the subtext here?"), and that everything flows nicely from their perspective. I tweak accordingly, then submit. After that comes months where I happen to read the story/chapter again (generally because I'm trying to continue it) and fix little typos nobody ever seemed to notice ("Apple Broom").
I either collect a trustworthy group of comrades to brave the horrors my stories provide to do battle with my mess of a story and purge it of those hated errors, or collect a carefully selected range of blackmail to properly "cobvince" someone to edit my story. Sometimes I even let a story sit for a couple of days or weeks and then return it with a fresh mind and begin the editing process from there by myself. Really depends on the situation.
Every time I sit down to continue writing I do a re-read and edit up until the point I want to work on. I know I am satisfied when I remember the whole thing (big because I have a terrible memory and often forget what I have written) and it still elicits the emotions I want as I read it even though I know everything that is going to happen.
If I change something in the story I go back and forth until it all makes sense and flows and feels natural.
The goal for me is to be happy sitting down and reading my old stories after a years time and to find it entertaining with twists and smart ideas that I have completely forgotten. Something that lets me say "Wow, I did that?"
.
.
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I write very slowly because of this and often have to take long breaks to do other things because sometimes hard parts really get me stuck and working through it might need a me with several months of new experience. On the bright side I am proud of everything but my first published work, which I knew was an experiment to begin with.
To 'polish up' any of my pony stories requires them to be written first.
I tend to help out others by pointing out grammar and spelling mistakes (since a few of them are fluent in English but not as a first language) and then give them opinion but not corrections on their style.
1723666 Yup. I can't stand having any errors when I write, so I tend to follow rules religiously. I do still put out a few though, which is what I have another brain, my editor, for.
1723761
You posted Sanderson. Much love.
As an editor, I first ask what the writers goal is for the story and what each scene is meant to do in that story. From there I tackle what scenes are needed and what not, which can be improved or shortened and so forth. Then finally I do proper grammar and spelling check. I also read things over twice to make sure everything is up to par and not influenced by my "fuck it, I've worked to long" sydrome.
I tend to edit as I go. Afterwards, I send it to either Dumbledork or Vassago and they go over it.
I edit for a guy here. I go over it once, and them come back at least two hours later and go over it again. I have done a third time over before, but that takes extra time.
When doing my own stuff, I write it, then I edit it, and then I edit it again at least half a day later.
Looks for a pre-reader/editor, fail, and never publish the story.