Self editing thread (where we come to complain about the hardships of editing.)

[QingDom]

Hey guys.

I'm a very experienced writer with a career spanning over the past two weeks, and I've been learning to edit on the job.
The first thing I noticed is editing is hard, but it's also fun. You know like when you rate watching sports and you a player
miss an obvious shot or in chess when they didn't make a move that would have won them the game and you're like,
"How an you know see that! it's right there."

This is how I find editing, it's like playing hide and seek with your errors, and almost every time you re-read a
chapter you see something new that needs fixing. When you're done and can't find any more mistakes
and you start to celebrate with a cold one.

you get a comment"you miss a 'to' in paragraph seven" and you're like "Ahhhh"
and editing is no longer fun.

anyway, that's my story. let me know yours.

P.S feel free to promote your work here, and also share tips and hacks you use when editing your novel/webtoon or comic.
I sure could use a few.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Hacks/Tips. I'm a beginner myself so you might have heard of things/find it useless:

• I use ProWritingAid and Grammarly to help me a bit with some repetitive words and inconsistent tenses.
• Changing the font of your writing can make your eyes catch the mistake easier, because of the difference will reset our brain habituation to seeing our writing (which causes us to miss our mistakes). Try changing it to Comic Sans; no matter how low your opinion about it, it is easy to read (even for the dyslexic).
• Take writing advice with a grain of salt, because context matters and they probably do not know what it signifies in the story. For example my characters deliberately speak in broken English for realistic effect and characterization; I have said it in the comment for people who decided to read it, but I kept getting correction of it.
• Related to the previous, "Quickly" has different emphasis and vibe compared to other words with similar meaning like "Swiftly" or "With a great speed." Sometimes you need to use adverbs, long words, or "cheap" vocabulary because it is the most fitting.

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Editing difficulties:

While I often cut down wordy sentences and unnecessary scenes, I somehow managed to make almost every chapter I edited longer. Maybe because this phase of edit focuses heavily on the storytelling and plot.

---

My work:

Karana | Tapas

[Seaby]

In my experience, there is no such thing as "When you're done...", because as you grow and reread your work you will continuously find mistakes. There's always a better way to phrase something or a word that's more appropriate - struggling with that is part of growth as an author.

Editing is far more important than the initial writing process, in my opinion. Not to say that you can churn out nonsense and editing can always turn it into a masterpiece, but once you get all the ideas onto the page you can take your time to make the changes that really bring life into your story.

I edit only after I've finished writing (be it the novel in its entirety or a single chapter). It's not good to second guess yourself as you're writing so it's best to get the story onto the paper as soon as you can and leave the edits for later. I also recommend waiting a day and coming back to your writing with a fresh mind so that anything you thought was awesome the previous day and isn't really can be easily spotted.

@uselessgoddess I've got the opposite problem! Honestly, if I could release my novel as a condensed bullet-point list and have it still be entertaining, I would.

[QingDom]

Those are some exceptional tips, I knew of Grammarly but not Prowriteraid; it seems cool.

thanks for sharing.

[QingDom]

a professional writer once told me, start your day editing while your mind is still fresh, but I rather start my day writing instead.
That's when my best ideas come out. I edit when I run out of things to write and usually a chapter I wrote days ago.

[rajillustration]

It's common advice, but some of the best advice I got is to read it out loud. If you ever trip up--rewrite that sentence. (especially for dialogue where people just don't talk in the same way we write)

Reading aloud also helps with getting that rythm and wordplay going--like you don't need to be all Dr Suess, but a little lyrical quality makes writing so much more entertaining to read.

[Seaby]

It's just important to remember that editing is a different process that requires time of its own.
If you try to edit right after you finish writing for the day, the changes you make will be influenced by the part of the story you were just plotting out.
That's why it's best to leave a specific time for editing - as the professional writer recommended to you, the earlier, the better - so that you can make productive changes while being objective about your own work.

[QingDom]

I'll try that. It makes sense and also obvious. Now I'm wondering why I never thought of it.

[nostalgicroxas]

Rule 1: Write it.
Rule 2: No backspace
Rule 3: Leave the segment alone for a minimum of 3 weeks so you've entirely forgotten what you wrote.
Rule 4: Edit with a bright blue or green pen so your self-esteem doesn't get hurt when you read your murderous notes later.
Rule 5: Print out the pages so your brain must make a new mental Map of your work.
Rule 6: Repeat step 4.
Rule 7: Go back to Rule 1.

[QingDom]

That's brutal, extremely brutal

[nostalgicroxas]

Ideally you leave it alone for 6 months But sometimes time is of the essence.

[NickRowler]

So I am dyslexic, and I don't really understand grammar and I usually just write by ear. I start out writing out a general idea of what I want the character to say which usually sounds a bit off

Then I go back and edit it into something that sounds more natural.

I wish there was a way to do this without the messy first step, but whatever as long as it makes my stuff legible.

[QingDom]

6 months? are we talking about completed novels here? because it could never be chapters.

[QingDom]

Our first comic artist, i don't think you could ever escape that, that's the point of editing. We almost never get it right on the first try.

[nostalgicroxas]

Completed segments.
IE write out 2000 words, and leave it for 6months.
And yes "it sounds crazy" but your brain needs to forget two things: it's map and what you wrote.
Otherwise your "fresh eyes" will not work. That's why printing it out and looking at it on something else changes the mental map and you have to re-learn it.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I'm a very experienced writer with a career spanning over the past two weeks

lolwut

...Anyway, I also find editing to be difficult but rewarding, It feels great to finally finish with a chapter and leave it alone for a while...y'know, before inevitably returning to carve huge chunks out of it right before posting. >:9

My process is basically Write->Rewrite->Rewrite->Rewrite(^n)->Time to post/draw; rewrite time is up!
I don't worry much about grammar or spelling; that stuff comes naturally to me. It's all about getting from point A to point B, punching up the jokes and the drama, making it all make sense. Going over the lines with a fine-toothed comb until I'm SURE it does.

Although the editing process often feels like it will never end, I don't subscribe to the idea that you can always improve on a script. Sometimes well enough should truly be left alone; sometimes a scene has just a simple job to do and it gets it done. At some point, your edits just start making things 'different', not 'better' by any objective measure.

If nothing else, that idea implies that the longer you work on a piece of writing, the better it will get, and that's a dangerous path to go down. u_u The chances that any single story actually deserves 10 years of your life are very slim; you gotta know when to stop.

[Snickerdoodles]

George Orwell's rules have served me very well:

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

[joannekwan]

Watch for CRUTCH WORDS

ctrl + f will become your friend.

[Snickerdoodles]

Right. You never know how often you use words like "just" and "only" till you force yourself to edit your own work.

[Geek_Aflame]

I've been using Grammarly and editing my drafts on my iPad using Notability to save paper. The only reason I decided to buy a tablet was to edit my writing digitally.

My process has been to write the 1st draft in Scrivener with spell check turned off – read it/use Grammarly in Word - edit PDF version on my iPad - use immersive editor/text to speech to catch anything I missed.

Recently I've decided that my life will be a whole lot less stressful if I paid an editor. I swore my writing was fine but I recently went over it again and found mistakes. It would also fix the remaining problems I have with my writing. My grammar, amount of content and keeping a constant posting schedule.

People keep telling me that they like the story and it's too bad I wrote it, if only it had been written by someone with better grammar. Even though my dyslexia is mild, there's only so much I can do...

I've hired a freelancer to edit the first act of The Small Town Horror and I'm still waiting on the result. It's only line editing, proofreading and beta reading so it was within my budget. I need to give up alcohol for health reasons so I decided to put my beer money towards something that would improve my life. If I decide to sell it as an ebook I will pay to put it through more comprehensive editing.

I'll still self-edit and go over the piece before giving it to my editor but I'll have more time for the part I actually enjoy the writing.