Your proofreading and editing

Every session I read over what I wrote the day before and make minor changes. But in the first draft, I avoid any major fiddling and try to blast through as fast as possible without looking back (apart from those bits from the day before.)

Depends on if I know what's coming next. If I have ideas for forward progress, I work on that. If not, I might futz around with the previously written part. I prefer not to make major changes to earlier parts unless I *really* know where the story is going (so about when I get to the climax.)

And since I'm a tree hugger, I hate printing before the story is COMPLETE. =)

I'm kind of a fusspot. For starters I do my first draft in longhand. I like pencils and paper. Don't know why. I just do. When I'm finished for the day I type it onto the computer and print it out then leave it until the next day. I go over my hard copy and make changes before beginning the following day. I go back to the beginning of the current chapter every day and nit pick the little things before moving on again. Once a chapter is completed I do another short edit and commit the revision to the computer. I know there are a lot of people who like to get through their first draft before doing much in the way of revising. I can't do that. I can't move ahead until I feel fairly confident what I've written to that point is satisfactory. Of course by the time I complete the manuscript some of it still looks like garbage. Seeing room for improvement I'm encouraged to think I'm learning my craft as I go.
Linnea

I agree with KTC's method. It seems to me that your way would take years to finish a first draft instead of months.

Besides, you'll be doing more revisions after you've finished.

But if it works for you, then have at it.

I'm certainly no expert.

allen

I kind of don't look back until I have a first draft either. Some times, but not always, I read a bit of what I wrote the previous day, in order to find the rhythm and voice. Then it happens that I change a word, erase a sentence.

I would never let a beta see something unfinished! I hone the first draft into second or third drafts before I show it to anyone.

I edit each chapter when I complete it. When I finish the book, I go through it one last time on the computer to check for any minor inconsistencies/repetitions, then print it out and catch the typos I for some reason can't see on the computer screen. I personally couldn't imagine not doing any editing until the whole book was finished. That would be WAY too much editing to even look at all at once. I work from a detailed outline, so I don't make many changes from the first draft to the final draft. I'm obsessive about getting it right the first time.

I can't write the next bit confidently until I'm sure I've sorted out the last bit (where 'bit' doesn't refer to a chapter - sometimes more, sometimes less) and that it's fresh in my mind so I know I'm not repeating myself/language etc. or contradicting myself.

After I've completed the first draft, I'll print it out and do proofreading/editing on paper. There's no point in revising each chapter as I go along, because there's no guarantee that by the time I read THE END, I'll still need all of Chapter Twelve. And that scene I agonized over in Chapter Eight just might get cut.

I just try to get the thing right the first time. Since I write really long multichaptered stories, I can be proofreading (i. e., just reading) chapters I wrote months or years ago while still working on writing current chapters. I'll fix typos and small continuity errors. Any bigger errors, I'll try to work out too, during the writing, because otherwise the plot might fall apart. I do this on the computer since printing out stuff that hasn't been polished yet is too expensive on ink and paper.

But aside from that I don't really do much editing, just proofing for errors. I can't write something if I'm not making it the best I can the first time around; otherwise it feels like a waste of time.

I'm not in this for publication, obviously.

And I have no betas. They're a foreign concept to me. If I want something done right, I have to do it myself. (I'm not saying betas are useless, just that I wouldn't depend on them. What they'd offer would be mostly personal opinion. At best they could help me with strengthening plot and characterization, which would be lovely; at worst they'd nitpick my personal style and my acknowledged but preferred overuse of adverbs. I'm wordy because I want to be!)

Like I said...not in it for publication.

ETA: That is so weird. I was fully of the mind that I don't believe in editing until a story is completed, but apparently I'm "editing" it all along! Huh.

I tried writing out an Epic Fantasy from beginning to end to see if I could finish it off. Then I fleshed it out, which expanded it to like 1/2 million words. Then I tried to edit the nightmare I created.

It's just the hardest way to get somewhere because it's too overwhelming to deal with. It's like trying to paint a palace with a toothbrush.

Now, years later I have things segmented and found a publisher, but my method is to edit as I go, making it far easier. In my revisions, I'll only do a few pages at a time, then go back and proof it until it flows. When the book is done I'll then go through it again with fresher eyes.