The Editing Process

[malenkayacherepakha]

Editing my own works isn't something I do very well - I read things over of course and make the odd minor change, but I've never done a proper critical edit of my fic. I want to improve my writing though, and I've got a couple of fics in the pipeline that I hope have the potential to be really good, and good editing is going to help a lot with that.

So, I thought I'd see what wisdom all the brilliant writers on here have to share!
What do you look for when you edit (or beta!)?
How does your editing process (or beta process) work?

Any thoughts are massively appreciated!

Comments

[paulamcg]

Compared with pauraque’s excellent contribution above, I can now think of only a few superficial points. I write in a probably unusual manner, editing my text constantly, at least after each paragraph, and often reading from the beginning of the scene or from the very beginning. However, I agree that distance is important, and I prefer leaving the completed story for a few days before going over it all once, and only after that sending it to my beta, and when revising old fics, it’s a pleasure to see more clearly how the text can be improved.

I’ve noticed that when there’s not much distance in time, it helps to read the text in a form where the line breaks are different (like when I’ve pasted the uncompleted fic in a private post so as to read it at LJ or DW on my phone). That somehow helps me see the text as new and spot at least typos and also repetition.

(Remembering what my beta had to point out once) I check in particular that in the opening (of a scene) I give all the information a reader needs so as not to get any false ideas about where and when the story is set.

Like pauraque I’ve got the habit of reading my text aloud – listening and checking that it sounds fluent. However, it’s a bit disconcerting to know that a lot of readers only glance at each line or even take in a whole paragraph at one glance. Because I always both read and write slowly, I guess I need a beta to also check that the text works for that kind of reading, too.

(EDITED Oh, other excellent contributions have appeared while I was writing mine slowly!)

[malenkayacherepakha]

I've always seen advice saying not to edit as you go so it's really interesting that you find it works for you - a good reminder I guess that a lot of writing is about finding how you work best. I tend to write most of my fic without rereading what I've written before 😂

Ooh I hadn't thought about posting on DW or using my phone to see the words in a different context but I like it - I'll give it a try.

That's a great tip too.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I'm really enjoying learning about how everyone approaches it.

[paulamcg]

Thank you for starting this interesting conversation! I’m glad you can perhaps find my little tips useful, too.

I’ve recently made a post about editing because pink_ink asked about it in Top Five Meme. In the form of my favourite things about editing. it’s a bit exaggerated for fun. But yes, it’s always worked for me that I edit as I go. And doesn't magpie_fngrl mention the same technique? Even if you don’t want to try that, it’s great I’ve made you think you might try something else that’s unusual and against “rules”.

I make a private post so as to read online just because I want to reread the work in progress constantly, also on my way to work.

[malenkayacherepakha]

Ooh I'll have to go and check out your post! Yes you're definitely not the only one who edits as they go. Maybe I'll try it out when I start my next fic and I'm not under deadline pressure - it doesn't matter then if it makes me take a bit longer to write. I'm up for trying anything and everything!