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What do you use to edit?

Allaboutwords13

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Okay a bit of a broad question but I just wondered if anyone uses anything (a website, app, software...) to do their editing. I use Scrivener to draft, but I find it hard to know how many pages I've edited, and google docs doesn't change the font automatically for any added words, which is annoying! So, yeah, if anyone has any specific thing they do...

And yes, I am procrastinating. lol

Also if I've put this question in the wrong section, I'm sorry. :/
 

Curlz

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I use the backspace button a lot ;) Why do you want different font for added words? Isn't the point of editing to have the new words blend in with the old ones? :Jump:
 

Allaboutwords13

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I use the backspace button a lot ;) Why do you want different font for added words? Isn't the point of editing to have the new words blend in with the old ones? :Jump:

Because then I know what I've added in, and can compare with the first draft. I thought most writers did that? lol.
 

MaggieMc

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I don't track changes for edits until I get to the stage where I'm copy-editing and exchanging versions with my editor. Even for structural edits I don't track change, and definitely not when I'm still just writing/editing before submission. I edit in Scrivener (sometimes copy the scene into Word and then save it back in Scrivener), and change the label colour in Scrivener for a scene so I know which draft that scene is on. At what stage do you want to compare versions? If it's at the end of the edit, one way to do it would be to compile your original Scrivener doc and save it in word. Then edit in Scrivener (or google docs or wherever you like). When finished save it again in Word and do a compare version in word, which will give you a track changed doc for you to review.

Dunno if that's any help. I suspect someone far more tech savvy than me will give you better advice!
 

WeaselFire

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Okay a bit of a broad question but I just wondered if anyone uses anything (a website, app, software...) to do their editing.

Chicken blood, special herbs and long forgotten incantations. Plus the same Microsoft Word I wrote the work in.

I only use Track Changes when collaborating with someone else, as in editing their work. That way, the original author has the ability to accept, decline or modify those changes.

Jeff
 
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Harlequin

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Ywriter does daily saves of every version so stuff isn't lost. I revise constantly throughout the days and weeks with no specific pattern; I don't indicate changes as I go because I make too many changes to do that.

Everyone works differently I guess.
 

BethS

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Okay a bit of a broad question but I just wondered if anyone uses anything (a website, app, software...) to do their editing. I use Scrivener to draft, but I find it hard to know how many pages I've edited, and google docs doesn't change the font automatically for any added words

Is that a desirable thing? I would find it highly annoying and distracting, myself.

I use MS Word and I edit as I write. But even if I didn't, Word is entirely adequate to the job, however I wanted to approach it. It does allow you to track changes, if that's helpful to you.
 
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Hopefully WLCT

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I've found that one of the best editing tools is reading the piece your working on out loud. You will be amazed at how well it works. And it's free.
 

Marlys

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I just find things I want to fix and fix them. I don't keep old drafts.

I only keep a copy if I'm going to make some huge change and am not sure I want to keep it. Never use track changes or software, although if Google Docs flags something I might look at it, if only for the amusement value. My favorite spell check suggestion of theirs: it wanted to change I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined the two of them writhing happily in their marriage bed to I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined the two of them writing happily in their marriage bed. I think Google Docs has been hanging out with too many writers.
 

benbenberi

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I I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined the two of them writing happily in their marriage bed.

Like the scene in Les Liaisons Dangereuses where he's writing a letter to one mistress on the naked back of another?

That's probably not (returning to the OP) a recommended way to edit...
 

Ink-Pen-Paper

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I use yWriter. Depending on how I want something to be around I will strikeout, or just rewrite a scene tucking the old scene in a scrap chapter. The idea might be good, but not for that novel.
 

Susan Coffin

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If I'm working on an article, I will often use Track Changes in Word. I do this so I don't miss any essential information according to instructions.

When I'm working on a story, I might print it out and edit by hand. For longer works, such as novels, I just do it as I go along. I don't use any program, or different fonts, or anything like that.
 

LuckyStar

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I used to use a legal pad and fountain pen, then type it on my ibm selectric. But those days are long gone.

Now I use Scrivener to write my ms. I like it because it's similar to having separate pages of paper. I write each scene on a different page in the chapter folder. When I go back to edit, If I'm undecided about keeping the new version of a scene, I'll just label each one old or new scene, and make the final decision when I'm doing the final edit.
Once I think it's ready, I move it to Word. Then, I give it a once over before sending it to my daughter for a read/proofread/edit.
When she's finished, I give it a read to see what she's missed. When I feel it's ready, I write the query and away it goes. :hooray:
 

indianroads

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MS word. I do directory saves after each complete pass through the novel... not sure why, because I never go back to them.

I run through the entire work cover to cover as many as 10 times, and at least one of those I do backwards, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, from the end to the beginning. Doing that helps me concentrate on sentence / paragraph structure because I'm not as caught up in the story.
 

JetFueledCar

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MS Word. I am more of a "try it and see" writer in editing; I delete a paragraph, or the opening to a scene, and track the changes as I redo it. Then I go back the next day and see if it's actually an improvement. I also save a new draft every day, with the date on it, and accept or reject all the previous day's changes before moving on. Admittedly it gets annoying if I want to find a specific former version of a scene, but nothing's perfect.

Also, this might be useful to you, if you like the way Scrivener works overall. Best of both worlds. I found it on these forums when I was looking through threads about Scrivener to decide if I wanted to try it. (I don't, but that's for my own nitpicky reasons, just like why I refuse to use Google Docs to write a novel.)