Editing

[Alistair Roberts]

@Owen Latchkey it comes back to practice. The more you write, the better it gets. The same with editing, the more you do, the better you get at that as well. There really is no other way to get there, so dive in and learn. They say a good novel should get edited eight times before it's any good, so we all have a long way to go

 

[Owen Latchkey]

Indeed. I just don't want to edit it 8 times the wrong way, lol.

 

[Jason Byrne]

@Owen Latchkey - There is more than one way to skin a cat. If you like writing, then write. I love getting stories down, looking for similes or analogies.

Vote early, vote often - Write early, write often.

You are always gona find a smart arse who will tell you what you are doing wrong.

I agree.

I have a lot of problems being a consistent writer--mainly that of just not sitting down to write whenever I can. My university education focused around literature and writing and even grammar, but I find when I sit down to edit what I have written I have, I dunno, anxiety I guess. What if I'm just not proficient enough in editing to ever get my work to a point that people don't think I'm a rank amateur? I am a member here and Scribophile where there are peer critiques, but then I'm anxious about getting bad advice. In the end, I guess it just comes down to writing and learning, but sometimes it just feels like a Herculean task.

One thing that helps is to finish the book, put it in a drawer, and do not look at it for six months. You'll look at it much more with the eyes of an outsider, and it will be easier to spot errors to correct!

 

[Nicole Wilson]

I agree.


One thing that helps is to finish the book, put it in a drawer, and do not look at it for six months. You'll look at it much more with the eyes of an outsider, and it will be easier to spot errors to correct!

And you'll likely have learned other things since then.

 

[Jason Byrne]

And you'll likely have learned other things since then.

Word up!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I think we're all plagued by doubts--and how can you not be, when almost all the feedback you ever get is rejections? But I also know there are at least some people out there who really like my writing. I mean, there are people who don't know me from Adam who read my blog (drivel, if you ask me) EVERY DAY! So take the plunge, polish that writing, let people read it. You might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Put it away for six months before editing? Um, can you really do that cause I sure couldn't! Maybe 1 or 2 months, but I'd have to start editing, first one to fix all those glaring typos doubled up words, missing words etc., or it'd bug the hell outta me. Struth mate, I ain't got that amount of patience. Even so, it takes a year or more to get around to editing it sufficiently to be half way presentable.

 

[Owen Latchkey]

I pulled a piece out to polish and send to a contest in December and I hadn't seen it in literally around 8 years. I really should have gotten it beta read, but it was a close deadline when I set myself a goal of just getting out there in the writing world again. So, I shall endure, and appreciate your support.

 

[Nicole Wilson]

Put it away for six months before editing? Um, can you really do that cause I sure couldn't! Maybe 1 or 2 months, but I'd have to start editing, first one to fix all those glaring typos doubled up words, missing words etc., or it'd bug the hell outta me. Struth mate, I ain't got that amount of patience. Even so, it takes a year or more to get around to editing it sufficiently to be half way presentable.

I usually wait a week between writing and editing, but after shelving it completely for the time being, it's probably best to go back after several months. That's what I'm doing.

 

[Chase Gamwell]

I have a hard time leaving what I've written alone. After finishing something, I constantly want to work with it by either reading, editing, or submitting it (even though I know the work isn't done or ready to be submitted). In 2016, my goal is to slow down and take my time with the post-writing process, allowing everything that comes after to progress in it's own time rather than by me forcing it along.

 

[KG Christopher]

I haven't finished anything yet, so I can't leave anything alone.

I am also in a terrible rush to get things done, so I don't think I will ever have the luxury of leaving an MS lying in a draw for 6 months, it will probably get recycled as toilet paper, shoping lists, doodling pads, etc...

 

[Jason Byrne]

I usually wait a week between writing and editing, but after shelving it completely for the time being, it's probably best to go back after several months. That's what I'm doing.

Maybe a month back, I picked up one of those books I wrote in college — the reallly long ones? I hadn't read any of it in over six years, and though I still remembered the major details in a cursory way, page-to-page it was as if I were reading the work of someone else entirely! I had absolutely no memory of whole long spans of story. It was an astonishing experience.