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Content Corner: How do you start editing?
We’re chatting editing in this week’s newsletter. So – how do you edit?
Do you check back as you write and make every scene perfect before moving on? Or do you write stories quickly and then edit everything together at the end? Share your experiences below!
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4 Replies
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I’ll write something, but if I feel it’s not quite right straight away, I find it hard to just let it be for now, move on and come back to it in the first whole-MS editing round… I usually have to fiddle with it there and then!
But just about everything I write goes through at least one total metamorphosis before I feel it’s ‘right’ – and sometimes, sections I thought I’d nailed I will re-read a few months later and think, “Good god, NO. Just no….” and completely alter them.
This is why I worry about how I’m going to know when I’m done editing! It sometimes feels like a process I could drag out infinitely 😟
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I do a bit of both. I knew (thought I knew!) my story before I started. Some days I write like mad. Other days, I can’t get into it, so a bit of editing/rewriting of earlier bits is in order. Thus, some early sections have become quite polished after numerous editing exercises, while other parts are still in my head.
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I write quite slowly. Not a ‘pantser’. I get 1500 words out a day, but it usually takes me a full day. I tend to go in bursts, flying along and then agonising over a word that’s hovering somewhere just beyond my brain. Generally I nail that word before moving on. However, at the end of each day I leave myself notes to anything I want to return to.
And the following day, I read back over the previous day’s work. It’s fresh enough that I recall what I wasn’t happy with, but old enough that I can look at it a little more objectively.
Once the first draft is done, I take a well-earned break, then head into edit mode. Consistency, spelling, all the simple stuff.
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I’ll scribe a chapter, then edit it once maybe twice at most, then move on to the next chapter. My plan is to finish the draft then embark on an end to end edit. However, I’ll edit chapters 1, 2 & 3 constantly, 50, 60, 70 times or more. Chapter 1 has to be seeded with hints and clues that will draw a reader back to it after they’ve finished the story. You can’t do that without knowing exactly where your story is going when you’re drafting.
