Editing and Revision (print hardcopy, or edit on-screen?)

BlackSilverGray · Mar 1, 2009

Hi everyone. This is my first post here, I read through a lot of the forum yesterday and am thoroughly impressed. I'm not anywhere near the level a lot of you are at. But anyway, I'm nearing the end of my first draft of my first novel. I've got another 10k or so to go. And having never attemping to write anything longer than a short story, I have a really stupid question about editing and revision. With a short story, I always print it out so I can see large sections at one time. It would be silly and very expensive to print out a 300 plus page ms. Does everyone edit on screen? It is just me, or does this seems like a difficult task? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

Danthia · Mar 1, 2009

Welcome to AW!

Everyone edits differently, so do whatever works for you. I personally like to edit on the screen, but I have friends who edit on the pages. I like to rearrange sentences and shift words or even flip paragraphs, so the screen is much better suited to that. If printing them out works for you, print away

Alina · Mar 1, 2009

Hi LeSigh! Welcome to the boards!

What do you dislike about writing onscreen? If you're intent on editing in that way to save paper (and that's a perfectly good reason), then nailing down the reason you don't like it will help you think of a strategy to compensate.

For example, I'm the opposite of Danthia: I always print out my ms. to edit by hand. Editing onscreen doesn't work for me as well as it might for other people; I often lose track of what I've changed and regret it later. But, if I absolutely had to edit on my computer, I would compensate by always saving a new version every time I sat down to edit, and I would not erase changed material, but ~~cross it out~~ and write the new stuff after it. That way, I won't lose any material that I may regret changing later.

dawinsor · Mar 1, 2009

I print my draft out and revise by hand, doing as many passes as I can before I can't read it any more and have to type the changes in. I can line editing onscreen, but for real revision, I need the whole thing lying in front of me so I can compare pages, etc.

donroc · Mar 1, 2009

I do my first two draft s edits on screen, and all subsequent ones on printouts. Welcome and enjoy.

Matera the Mad · Mar 1, 2009

It can help if you split the manuscript into smaller files. It is possible to use the window splitter in Word so that you can compare different parts (gee, didn't I say almost the same thing in chapter x?), but a long scroll can be hard to work with -- especially if you zoom up the page so that it is readable :tongue

Shorter chunks are easier to get a grasp on, more controllable. The work can be less intimidating when you take it a little at a time. It isn't that hard to paste something together when it's done.

I would never work on a whole novel as a single file, simply because it is so easy to lose track of things. I feel trapped on an endless treadmill of words, lost and hopeless.

Anyway, have fun exploring the forums. There are hordes of ideas and tips all over.

eqb · Mar 1, 2009

LeSigh said:
Does everyone edit on screen? It is just me, or does this seems like a difficult task? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

I have two levels of editing.

First, I check for overall flow and structure. For that, I print out the manuscript and read through with pen in hand. I do NOT make any line edits at this point, because I'm trying to judge how the ms. flows. At most, I mark a section that need work with a line in the margin, and maybe a few words to remind me what the problem was. (Pacing, motivation, repetition, plot holes, etc.) If prose sounds clunky, it gets a line in the margin, too.

When I go to fix the problems, however, I edit on screen.

This is just what works for me. Everyone is different.

dancingandflying · Mar 1, 2009

I do basically what eqb said: first, I print it out to look at the flow of the writing, inconsistencies in the plot, major tone changes, etc. and then go back line-by-line onscreen to do the actual rewrites.

The only major danger of rewriting on-screen is if you delete something, but then want it later for whatever reason. Some people suggest having a second document open so you can just plop everything you delete in there, but that stops my momentum, so I don't do it.

Hope that helps!

d&f.

seun · Mar 1, 2009

I edit on screen. Do whatever works best for you.

Ambrosia · Mar 1, 2009

print hardcopy, or edit on-screen?

Yes.

RJK · Mar 1, 2009

I edit the first few drafts on screen. When I think I have something ready for a typo search, I print the MS and go through it with a red pencil or pen. I still find things to delete and places where I want to add or change, so I make notes in the margins or between the lines.

The way I address the problem Madera mentioned is, I insert a descriptive header for each scene. It is similar to a Scene in a script (INT: Hospital lab 1530 Tue 6/25/05). There's nothing stopping me from adding to the description if I need more of a memory jogger. The header will display in the "Document View" and clicking on the header in the Document View frame, will jump you to the top of that scene. Keeping the Document View open all the time I'm working allow me to keep organized. If I need to refer back to when the MC talked to another character, I click on the earlier scene. I may have to click on a few to find the right one, but it's much easier than using the scrollbar. I can also grab whole scenes and cut & paste them. The Document View automatically updates itself. Of course, each of these headings are deleted before the MS goes out to an agent or publisher.

IMHO this is a better method than dealing with dozens of seperate files, and still having several thousand words in the smaller files to deal with. But to each his own.

BTW welcome to AW

KTC · Mar 1, 2009

Welcome to AW!

You have to decide what way works best for you. There is no right or wrong way. Money is not an issue with me, so I always print it out and do revisions on paper. If money is an issue, that may make your decision a little easier. I tried it both ways and I find that I'm better at editing on paper. I catch everything. I like that I can make notes all over the paper. I also like that I make changes on the paper and then, when keying in the changes, I can decide to change it again at that time. I find that when I'm editing on screen, I miss stuff.

Do it whatever way works best for you.

BlackSilverGray · Mar 1, 2009

Wow. Not only are you guys helpful but you respond fast! Thanks! I like the idea of printing it out and doing my revisions mostly, I think, because it's what I'm used to doing and comfortable with. I like to be able to see everything at the same time. But I think I'm going to try to edit it on screen first since lots of you encouraged it and I wanted to do it anyway because....well I like to spend as little money as possible. Lol. Thank you again. I'm sure I'll have plenty of more questions in the future!

Bubastes · Mar 1, 2009

I do my major edits on paper, then final polishing on screen. My other quirk: I print out my first drafts in Times New Roman 10 pt and single spaced, my second drafts in Bookman 12 pt and 1.5 spaced, and additional drafts in Courier or Times or Arial 10 or 12 pt and double spaced (I shoot for a maximum of three major passes). Final draft is usually in Courier 12 pt. Changing the spacing and fonts helps me catch different types of mistakes. Weird, I know, but it works for me.

eqb · Mar 1, 2009

Bubastes said:
Changing the spacing and fonts helps me catch different types of mistakes. Weird, I know, but it works for me.

I do something like that, actually. (It saves on paper, too.) I only switch to Standard Manuscript Format when I go to send the ms. to an editor or my agent.

And remember, not only is it different for every writer, but often, writers find they change process depending on the particular project.

scope · Mar 1, 2009

dawinsor said:
I print my draft out and revise by hand, doing as many passes as I can before I can't read it any more and have to type the changes in. I can line editing onscreen, but for real revision, I need the whole thing lying in front of me so I can compare pages, etc.

I do the same as dawinsor. Of course I do some light editing and revising on screen, but when I print out pages I see them in a entirely different light. Things I "know" I never saw on screen become obvious to me on paper.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 1, 2009

I normally do both - I also have a dual monitor setup so when I edit on screen I tend to have a 'source' document open on the right monitor and make my changes on a working document on the left monitor. (To avoid confusion I usually have the files open in different word processors). This may not work for everyone.

I do recommend that if you are going to edit on paper you really should invest in a laser printer. They make life much easier - as a single toner cartridge will get you several thousand pages.

Enzo · Mar 2, 2009

I edit on screen because I have a crappy printer, but if a particular chapter needs lots of edits, then it's worth printing it out.

Horserider · Mar 2, 2009

I edit onscreen, but only because I can't afford to print out a 300+ page MS even once. All three of my edits were done onscreen and my fourth most likely will be too.

Claudia Gray · Mar 2, 2009

I do most of my revisions onscreen, but I do at least one comprehensive read on a printout. I usually do this at the stage where I sense I'm going to be doing the most revising, though this varies from project to project.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 2, 2009

I can't stress this enough - if you are concerned about the price of printouts get a laser printer: It can drop your cost for printouts to around one cent a page.

DMarie84 · Mar 3, 2009

I edit on screen, mainly because I'm often changing so much that it would be insanely hard to read if I did it on paper. I do things like switching the order of whole paragraphs or adding a great deal of text or dialogue that it would be too hard to read if I did it on paper.

I wrote a short novel when I was young, and that was before our family had a computer, and I did most of my editing on paper. I look at it now and can't follow it at all.

Clair Dickson · Mar 3, 2009

I used to edit on paper, but now that just irritates me because I find myself hopping on the computer to make changes. So, now I just do it on screen. I may or may not turn on Track Changes. If nothing else, I use "Comments" to put a marker where I left off if I'm working linearly. Sometimes I put the doc into Reading View so I stop trying to read WHILE I'm scrolling (makes me seasick!)

Some people even eat coconut and I'm sure they're otherwise normal, intelligent people.

Kathleen42 · Mar 3, 2009

LeSigh said:
It would be silly and very expensive to print out a 300 plus page ms.

Expensive? Yes. But I'm confused as why you would think it silly. I went through several edits of my last MS. The initial edits were on screen and the later ones were on paper. My final page count was 280.

I catch more on paper than I do on screen.

Wayne K · Mar 3, 2009

I do it on screen because there aren't enough trees on the planet as it is.

Editing and Revision (print hardcopy, or edit on-screen?)

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