What is your editing technique?

My approach is to read through the whole thing, changing the text colour of anything that needs to be changed (or at least checked) to red. I guess it's like highlighting without going to the trouble of printing. I fix easy stuff like typos while I'm there. Then I go through and check out all of the red parts, fixing or deleting as I go. While I'm doing so I consider the flow of the overall manuscript and may change the order of some chapters/scenes.

Mostly my approach is guided by what I (and betas) perceive the weaknesses of the piece to be. If I need to fix characterisation, I might read through all of a single character's dialogue and actions at once, or if description is lacking, I might go through and check each scene is set adequately.

It's kind of chaotic, but it works for me and my brain.

First, I edit as I go, so my first draft is usually pretty close to my final copy. I write scant, so my draft is about 80% of my final words and the rest is usually description added in the first self-edit round.

I don't print anything. I read the entire manuscript on the computer. Because my first draft is pretty close to my final, I can make small fixes as I go. Larger fixes get noted using Word's comment feature. When I'm done with that run through, I go back and fix the commented points. Another read-through, another polish, and I sent to one of my trusted crit partners. She makes comments, I fix as needed, polish and send off again. Repeat until satisfied (usually three readers) then it's ready. I'll also note that I can't let a manuscript 'rest.' I go everything immediately, no walking away or getting distance. I have to be connected to the story to work on it, even when editing.

I fully admit to being lazy. I don't like doing any more work or taking any more steps than necessary, so my editing tends to be pretty efficient.

Everything depends upon what you have learned about the craft over the intervening twelve years.

Edit it whichever way you find works for you.

Step one - read it, and if printing it out helps and allows you to scribble notes as you go, fine.

There's no guarantee anybody else's system will work for you, and if it doesn't, it may only lead to more frustration.

Good luck,

Wait a minute.

You've been editing something from 12 years ago and hating it and getting more frustrated with each new edit?

Do your sanity a favor and either just write something new or rewrite the whole thing over from scratch. It might be faster than agonizing over every edit.

I also don't understand why you're writing this this if it's bringing you no joy. There should be a tiny bit of joy. Life's too short.

Phantasy, the bold font is hurting my eyes

phantasy said:

Wait a minute.

You've been editing something from 12 years ago and hating it and getting more frustrated with each new edit?

Do your sanity a favor and either just write something new or rewrite the whole thing over from scratch. It might be faster than agonizing over every edit.

I also don't understand why you're writing this this if it's bringing you no joy. There should be a tiny bit of joy. Life's too short.

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Agree. Why try to turn something you hate into something you love, by doing the thing that contributed to the hate to begin with?

I don't print anything. I use a word processor and read it and if I come across something I don't like I remove it and if necessary rewrite it. I also make small corrections here and there. Sometimes, if something needs to be rewritten but I can't think how to rewrite it at that point, I highlight it in red text so next time I read/edit it, I can see if I still want to change it and usually an idea of how to fix it has come to me by then. If it's a really large section of text that needs to be rewritten, e.g. an entire scene or chapter, I archive the original and rewrite it from scratch. Occasionally, I archive the entire story and rewrite the whole thing from scratch.

I rewrite and edit each page as I write it, going over the page as many times as necessary to get it perfect. Then I write the next page, and do the same. When I reach the end of the novel, I'm done.

In a very real way, editing is the creative process.

The best advice I can give you is to stop making repeated passes. Don't go back. Get a section done, and then leave it the heck alone. Going back just makes a confusing mess.

And stop giving up. Leaving these huge gaps between editing and writing times, is not caused by the editing, it's caused by you deciding to quit. You either learn to stick with it, day in and day out, or no writing, rewriting, revising, editing technique in the world will help you.

Edit/revise/rewrite as I go; additional possibly based on beta comments.

If you feel passionate for the novel, continue working on it. Done deal.

K, all this depends on the level of editing.

First off, is content editing. The major ideas, concepts, scenes, structure, ect. Read through the book scene by scene (chapter by chapter), taking notes on the story's content. Do it digitally, take it slow, overlook any writing errors. After compiling your notes, make up an action plan for how you wish to rewrite or revise the content of the story. Then do that.

Second, when the content is to your liking, start on line edits. Take it line by line, reworking each line or paragraph if you have to in order to create a clearer picture. Focus on clarity, structure, format. Again, I suggest digitally. Take this even slower, but also try to tighten grammar along the way--although it's not the point here.

Third, proofread. Focus on grammar and punctuation. From the start, I suggest you do it digitally, then print it out. Hard copy, different font, different device, sometimes lends to a different eye on the writing. Then take some time away from the book, like a few weeks, and return to read it entirely. Jot down any notes for any stragglers left behind in any department.

Fourth, send it to beta-readers. Rinse and repeat until desired results.

Foolonthehill said:

How do you go about getting a Beta? Can it be just anyone or is it better if it's someone with a writing interest?

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Check out the beta-readers subforum. Make sure you read the stickies and go through the "Will beta-reader" thread.

Beta-readers can be anyone willing to read and provide feedback. Ideally they should be people you know--people you can trust--or people who you believe share a common aesthetic in both preferred story and critique. Hang around the forums and get to know people, then ask them if they'd like to beta-read for you. You can also head into the SYW section (get to know the place, btw) and you can post your opening chapter to get critiqued. If that goes smooth enough, you can tell them that you are seeking beta-readers.

I print my first draft off with zero touch-ups/edits/whatever. Text that has to be omitted is scratched out in red, as is any text that has to be added in. Blue ink is used when paragraphs or lines of text have to be switched to another place on the page and for any notes I can write on the side (can I have Jimmy discover something here? or Does Sarah know this is a lie? Things like that). I also have my notebook. So, if I come across something that contridicts a plot point later on, I will mark it by number by the paragraph. Example: A character on page 15 says his father was a plumber, but I'd changed my mind halfway through and on page 89, the character says his father was a lawyer. So I'll mark, say, 3, beside that paragraph, and in my notebook it will say:

3 - [character's father] is actually a lawyer. Be sure to fix this throughout manuscript

Now, that's a silly example, but it's an example nontheless. I go through the whole manuscipt and do that. By the time I'm done, my manuscipt looks like a tornado ran through it. Lines of text scratched out, notes, reminders, blue, red, and black ink dribbled above, beneath, and around all the text. Total insanity. Of course, I won't catch everything on the first edit, so I when I write the second draft, I find things to fix, and then on the polish before it's time to write my query letter and send it out to the agents so they can politely tell me they're not interested.

It's fun being a writer.

It's basically slash and burn. After that comes the RoundUp. Then I pretty much send the goats in.

It's not a pretty process....

Foolonthehill said:

So apart from Harvest it looks like most of you prefer to work directly on your computers....

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I wouldn't criticize anyone who feels the need to work differently, but not working on the computer would make weeks of extra work for me. I won't touch a piece of paper in my entire process.

This topic just got near to my heart, as I finished principle writing last night. Today I just started revisions. What I'm going to be doing is:
1. A quick read through to check pacing, continuity, and catch any typos or weak sentences that stand out. I'll keep an eye out for extra adjectives too.
2. What I call a "problem word check". I search for adverbs and make an individual decision on each - whether it stays or goes. I'll check individually for words I know I overuse through inattention. For me a biggie is "could". I don't know of any way to do this without software ... both word processing and a system I wrote for myself which identifies other problem words.
3. A sentence by sentence proofread to (again) check for weak sentences, wrong words, homonym substitutions, and any other typos.
4. A final read through - hopefully for enjoyment - but it's the last check of the prose.

I also generally go over the last day's writing as I write, so what I've got at the end is fairly clean. In this case I was ready to get finished, so when the finish line was in sight I plowed through the last three or four chapters in about five days, so I know they will not be as clean as the earlier material.

I write a rough draft from my outline on the computer, which ends up being about 50-60% of the finished product. Then, I go through that and flesh out things I forgot, add descriptions, etc. I work a chapter at a time, and make each chapter as clean as I can.

After that, I have to print it for final markups. There's something about physically marking a page that I can't duplicate on the computer. I miss things on the screen that I catch on the printed page all the time.

When I'm working on a complicated scene, I have on occasion printed it out, cut each paragraph into a separate piece, and then rearranged them. It allows me to see the whole scene versus just what will fit on the screen. It's just easier for me that way to arrange the events in the scene so they make more sense.

Foolonthehill said:

1- what do you do if you come across whole sections (pages) that you find boring or uninspiring somehow but maybe they contain bits and pieces of information that need to be there?

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I know the answer to this! Highlight, copy, delete and paste into a new doc. Revise it down to a couple of sentences and put those sentences into Old Doc. Keep the new doc, though - because - yanno - security.