It is strange that editing is what I do in my quiet time right now. With the Purge still in full swing it's either editing or sleeping. I am trying to do more of the former, and not the latter.
I am still editing Ties of Fate. But I am also starting a new, well maybe not so new, story. I still have The Beast of the Ruin to finish editing and The Lost Prince to finish writing (Last Years NaNoWriMo project). I am behind schedule but not feeling too bad about it. Real life has interfered a good deal and I think that what I have done is still an accomplishment. Even keeping up with these posts has been something that I can mark off my list with pride.
Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit more about my editing style and things that help me edit. First, you should know that I am an "in print" kind of girl. I have probably mentioned this before, but I preferred to edit a printed copy. I like writing notes to myself in the margins. Yes, I know they have comments in the new word docs that are supper helpful, but this is just my preference. To each their own!
I've used Grammerly, an application, an add-on to word doc and it was very helpful, though I ignored a good number of its suggestions, overall it was money well spent and I may do the same again. There were multiple payment options, and the longer you used the app the cheaper each month was. I paid for only one month, because I knew that I wouldn't be using it long term. In one month I can go through my drafts with the program and not need more time. Grammerly in no way completed my draft for me, but it did get me a lot closer to the final edit. It was just as helpful as the friends I lent copies too, though on a sentence level kind of editing. Like a much better and more thorough spell check.
The hardest part of editing, at least for me, is getting in the mood, but I've found that waiting for the mood to hit me is useless. If I just sit down and start, I can look up an hour or a chapter later and marvel at how fast it's all going. Recently I took a draft with me while I did my laundry at the local laundry mat. (My washer and dryer are having issues.) As the wash cycle was doing it's thing I got some pages done. It really dose go by pretty fast once I get started. So don't wait for the right mood, or the right moment, take it with you and pull out your draft while you wait to pick up the kids, while you're stuck in the waiting room of the doctor's office. Soon that chapter will be done and then your whole draft!!
The next big step is to copy all of your edits and notes back into your word doc, and if you are one of the people who edit digitally then you are a giant step ahead, but I will take the redundancy. (As I mentioned before, I have lost a few drafts and don't mind the extra paper copies.) I go page by page and highlight the page number at the bottom as I complete that pages. It lets me know how far I have gotten and it keeps my place when the pages don't always line up. Some pages have little to no editing, then on the other hand, I am rewriting a whole scene that, more often than not, grows by several pages. What can I say... I'm long winded.
After this step is complete, which really never takes as long as I think, I give the draft to a friend or family member to read. And they give me feed back. I write them a little note and tell them what I want them to look for while reading. Whether it's grammar, organization, continuity, or voice, I try to have them edit for one or two things at a time because I will edit it again after I receive their comments and probably go through these steps two or three more times depending on just how much editing I do per round. For example, I had gone through several (at lest three rounds) by myself and had finally thought the draft was ready to give to a friend. My friend came back with some major issues for Ties of Fate. They were all good points that I hadn't noticed which was exactly why I had given this friend my draft. After editing it heavily, I gave the draft to my sister to read (again). Another round of editing ensued, and I am finally near an ending point. Still I will have my sister and friend read the... hum... "Final" draft, before moving this thing into print.
I have two free paperback copies thanks to NaNoWriMo and I am going to use them on this manuscript. So I better get back to work, I only have a few months to whip it out, and I say that as a professional procrastinator. Luckily my sister is in a similar situations, and keeps me apprised of our approaching deadline!
Good luck with your editing. If you have any tips or suggestions please comment!
To my fellow writers: WRITE ON!!!
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