Editing

[MrBF1V3]

Someone once said, Good work isn't written, it's rewritten. -I forget who.

Any discussion on writing should include editing. Though I did have an interesting discussion with someone who was using a writting method where he only wrote one draft. For myself, I cannot imagine being perfect the first time, or the second, ...

I edit in a number of ways. I usually write on computer, so when I do soemthing which changes the story, I will make adjustments in the first part of the story, or furiously write notes to myself as I press onward to the end of the story. One I finish a first draft I will let it sit for a few days, then go back and re-read. If I think I'm far enough along, I will make a hard copy so I can read and put notes in the margins, then I will edit changes in, recast sentences, check tense, point of view, those kind of things.

It is unbelieveably helpful to know someone who will go over my stories with a critical eye, and see all those things I was ignoring.

Sometimes I find it helpful to read the story out loud, it's amazing what you find when you hear the words. Also, and not very often, I will "basket case" a story. When I come to the end, and know the story is uneven, way too random, and doesn't flow in any sense. I will set aside the finished draft, and start with a blank screen. (Sometimes when I write I don't know the whole plot.)

But, enough about me, How do you edit?

B5

 

[Lessien]

I edit as I write. I'll be writing, then I'll introduce a character or a plot twist and have to go back and edit so it makes sense, or edit it out. When I'm done writing, I'll edit everything.

 

[Tariel]

It really depends on what I'm writing. Essays and the like usually only have one draft...but any story gets re-written, edited, scrapped and rewritten, left alone, edited, rewritten...ect.

 

[WingsOfTheNeophyte]

I dont like editing

Since I write poems spontaneously, I may correct a word or two, if people say its out of rhyme, but no more

Ive tried to write a story.... once....... failed so miserably, I left it good luck to everyone who manages to pull through with long pieces of writing

 

[oncewaslost]

i edit as i go and then maybe (if i have time and school work hasn't eaten my mind) i go back and edit all the way through a couple times. i kind of like editing.

 

[Pathfinder]

I've edited some of my school papers and I realize how much better they are when I finish editing, but when I write 'creatively,' I, for some strange reason, do not edit much at all.

 

[CelticRose]

I want to met the person who doesn't have to edit & find out how he does it. I loathe edits ~ & my husband says I fiddle so much I tend to 'kill' the manuscript. He prefers my first drafts (flaws & all) & mostly I do too. Later ones seem to loose energy. I do 'edit as I go', though ~ with mixed results.

 

[sunstruckdream]

i've been working on the same novel for over a year now, and here's how i'm doing it:
i'm writing the first draft. i have 9 notebooks of material. the outline and a lot of plot details developed as i worked. i'm currently a chapter away from being done with the first copy.
through writing it, i discovered a ton of stuff about my characters that i didn't know at first. now that i'm almost at the end of my first shot, i see a lot of stuff that i need to fix and a lot of ways to enrich what i've done. i've already begun retouching the prologue and the first few chapters, and i'm planning to, once i'm finished, type the second draft into the computer. when that's done, i'm thinking i'm gonna pore over it with red Sharpie and mark up everything so i can do it again. after that, we'll see. i hope i live long enough to finish it. i've got other novels i'm working on too =) but yeah, i prefer that over editing as i go. i feel like i get a broader perspective this way.