Editing

[AquilaTempestas]

Some writers have other people edit their work. Other writers self-edit.

If you self-edit, do you edit once the chapter or story is finished or do you edit as you type?

I have a tendency to edit as I go and sometimes miss a few things. Once the chapter is over, it's done, and I don't go back to it (unless someone points something out).

[Hikari]

Me, I edit my own stories as well. I usually correct mistakes as I go, pressing the backspace many times.  If my computer says there is an error afterwards, I'll check it out. If the word is fine the way it is, I just press ignore all.

After that, I sometimes go back and read it, but only sometimes. I will correct it if someone finds a mistake, but that only happened twice, and they were NOT grammar errors...

[onewiththewheels]

I edited a lot as I'm going through a story, with anything from minor errors or rewordings to major plot points…

 

If the story is done, I usually don't edit it other than minor grammatical errors… There have been a couple instances where I've completely taking a story down because I want to rework it, though…

[SeleneHime]

I typically have a couple stages of editing, actually.

• Fix minor typos and grammar mistakes as I'm drafting.
• Comb through for finer changes.
• Let it sit for a day or two, another edit sweep and making sure everything is comprehensive to the rest of the chapters.
• Beta-reader (if I have one for that project).
• Final edits.

[Beywriter]

I edit my stories but thne I used to be able to pass them off to an Editor BETA reader. It was always great to have a second pair of eyes looking over it to query anything with plots/characters or anything else I might have missed. Its always good to have more than one set of eyes.

[Sakura Alexia]

I edit my own stuff, usually I tend to fix grammar mistakes and typos right away, though I still read the entire chapter once or twice and make sure there aren't any I missed.

As for adding stuff usually is no more than a few words, maybe something I forgot, but its never anything major.

[Beywriter]

20 minutes ago, Sakura Alexia said:

I edit my own stuff, usually I tend to fix grammar mistakes and typos right away, though I still read the entire chapter once or twice and make sure there aren't any I missed.

As for adding stuff usually is no more than a few words, maybe something I forgot, but its never anything major.

Yeah I guess thats typically the same for me. Give it a read over, see anything I've missed and hand it over to a BETA. It's amazing stuff can still slip through the net even if your careful.

[AquilaTempestas]

I'm a terrible editor. I usually edit as I go but when the story is over I do a big check chapter by chapter.

This is what I do once the story is done:

• Firstly, making sure all the lore is consistent throughout the story. If it isn't, what can be done to fix it?
• Checking for basic grammar and spelling errors
• Making sure character names are right. Sometimes I'll give an established role to another character by accident
• Checking to see if chapters can be split into smaller chapters or merged together
• Fixing scene orders and seeing what flows best
• Checking to see if additional scenes need to be added to explain things better

It's a very tedious horrible process and I lose attention after the first few chapters haha.

[Nirianne]

I've learned over the years to do the best you can with editing. Going full OCD and having doubts is one way to discourage yourself from moving forward. This is my process:

• I continue writing without thinking too much about the words I use. I'm tell myself I'm writing out the skeleton and I'll add in flesh later.
• I use a Word's proofreading features or Grammarly or just read it out loud to see if it makes sense. If it doesn't, it means my readers won't, either.
• Tone. In some of my heavier stories I have to reconfirm its tones. Does the dialogue and ambiance match it? If not, I missed the mark.
• Once I've fixed up everything, I leave it for two days then come back and edit one final time before publishing.
• Furthermore, I try not to think too much about the story or its content; I don't weight it and think if it's too simplistic or sophisticated. I let the readers be the judge of that.
• Move on.

[AquilaTempestas]

I had a conversation with @Zadien about this over Discord, and figured I'd do a topic here too.

We all have experienced at editing. You write a story. You go back over and fix it up over and over until you reach a point of satisfaction.

But there's no true 'final copy' so to speak because there's always a way to improve things (that's what we tell ourselves anyway).

Now, I'm currently going back to my old stories and doing editing myself, and of course, I'm a bit conflicted. I never paid much attention to editing back when I was younger - I just uploaded what I wrote. But now that I'm older, and more knowledgeable about stuff, I can see things better.

For starters, these stories are historical documents. They were written at a time, and it's nice to see how my writing has changed.

On the other hand, some parts are just so cringe-worthy now, I have to fix them up. 

My editing process occurs in several stages (I focus on one thing at a time)

1. Fixing spelling
2. Fixing basic grammatical issues like missing commas, capital letters etc
3. Fixing sentence structure (this could be re-writing some sentences to be less wordy, fixing a descriptive passage, or re-arranging lines and paragraphing)
4. Eliminating adverbs. Instead of writing he said happily, show that he's happy.
5. Dialogue and emotion.
6. Pacing and lore inconsistencies
7. Compiling a music soundtrack that I feel captures the atmosphere of the story

What do you do? 

[onewiththewheels]

I do what I call a poor man’s copyedit (I have training as a professional copyeditor, and the process for that is very meticulous). Basically, I just read over what I wrote, look for errors (mainly voice recognition errors), and post. Some of the things I also look at are awkward transitions and clumsy sentences, but since it’s not a true copyedit, I don’t fix that as much. Plus I usually notice that when I’m writing. The editing stage is also when I put in my author’s notes, because it’s easier to do that when the main writing is done and as I’m going over each thing again.

[Nirianne]

I edit my own stories and that's a big mistake already!

But, I use Grammarly to help out with improve sentence structure or improving words. I have a bad habit of adding too much description which draws out the story. Therefore, when I do edit, I read each sentence aloud to make sure it's to the point and doesn't rob the reader their precious time. Reading aloud is a little weird but it's one of the best ways to catch errors, I feel.

Once that's out of the way, I make sure the sentences are stitched in a coherent manner. Ofc, not everything will be perfect, but if it's readable and at least enjoyable, that's good enough for me.

[Victor]

My comments on the subject of editing. Since I'm an amateur writer, I tend to treat my writings as living documents. If there comes a time where something is actually published, then what was submitted will probably not be modified after that. I do grammar and spelling checks as I go along. The sentence structure tends to be my own because I think about the number of syllables during my writing. I want a sense of cadence so that the ideas can translate to music. For example I may start each consecutive sentence with the same word. The other thing I do is put down the piece for a few days so that when I come back to it, I can get a sense for the overall feeling. If there is a lot of editing, my mind tends to get "stick in the weeds" thinking about small  changes.

[AquilaTempestas]

Adding to this. I still self edit and kinda just rely on my readers to point out mistakes. Fixing spelling and grammar is often the easy part.

When it comes to fixing up plot I consistencies, plot development etc etc… that’s kinda just when I hope what I’ve done makes sense.