Revising and editing ...

[sonofpendragon]

The odd thing for me is, I tend to really like the early drafts, warts and all, and regret having to change / chop etc, as well as spruce up the grammar and punctuation. I've noticed that when in early draft mode, I write freer, zippier; it is these very same things of course that bring about all the typos and some brick walls plot wise, but still, I like to keep an early version just for my own amusement.

SofP

[Ian Scott]

I wrote a book. Loved writing it. I had no idea where it was going or what it would be about. Writing it was almost like reading someone else's book. It took on a life of it's own. And then, five hundred pages later, it was finished.

I knew it needed editing because it read horribly. It was full of dumb ideas, including my own likes, dislikes and prejudices. But I knew revising such a huge pile of words would be no picnic.

Thankfully I realised this while working on the initial draft and worked a nice location into the story that I fancied visiting. I decided that this would be where I'd do the first revision. It would be a reward for getting the first draft done, would lessen the pain of revision and allow me to do some proper research into the location, forcing a reason on myself to revise.

I rented a cottage on the coast of La Palma and had a great time telling everyone I met that I was a writer working on my latest novel. Since then, the bloody thing has had God knows how many rewrites, it's more than one hundred pages shorter and the opinions from test readers have gone from avoiding my calls to "Genius!" :-)

(As you can see, I write fiction).

[randyflycaster]

For me, a good part of editing is getting a different perspective; by that I mean having somone I trust read my work and give me their insight.

One of the beauties of writing an ebook is that I get a lot of feedback after my book is published. I can then make further changes.

I just can't do this writing thing by myself. I need help.

Randy

[swhibs123]

As long as my first draft is solid, I love the revising/rewriting stage. It's when I get to dive a bit deeper into the characterization and motivations. That said, I have a million ideas just waiting to be written, so I do like to write the new stuff too!

[Shiromi]

I definitely fall into the hate editing group. It's fine the first pass but four passes in and you're still tweaking... bleugh. Plus, I can get obsessive about it. It's too easy for me to sit there and change every single sentence whether it needs it or not. I try to have another story going while i'm editing just to keep my creative juices going.

[CalmApparatus]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

... has to be the most boring part. Your head is full of all these ideas for new things you want to write, but you have to spend all your writing time reading stuff you wrote months ago for the hundredth time. Short stories aren't so bad, but for anything longer I can see the appeal of farming it out to a co-writer to do.

Hi. My name is Damien. I could actually feel the frustration and the headache in your words. I have been there. I thought perhaps what I have evolved into could help.

Edit-As-You-Go

Why it took me so long to figure this out I will never know. These days I edit chapter by chapter, and for the shorter stuff, paragraph by paragraph. Treat each one as though it is a mini-book and in the end it makes the final polishing less time consuming.

Though, keep in mind that, and this is just my opinion, Indie readers do not mind mistakes here and there. The ebook community are not in general the grammar police-troll type. For me, it is the little errors and mishaps that make eBooks feel gritty, real, and non-commercial. They lend to them personality that cookie cutter, bookstore, and name brand novels didn't have. Try not to consume yourself in perfectionism. Focus primarily on 3 things imo.

1) Short Pitch
2) Extended Pitch
3) First 20-30%

After that I really do not go much farther than 3rd draft. I worry more about personality. My books are meant to strike emotional chords, extract physical sensations, and challenge preconceived notions and comfort bubbles. Grammar be damned! Just get-it-on-the-net.

Cheers and may 2012 bring you a ton of prosperity, health, success, and rewarding relationships.

[Nancy Fulda]

I've been following this thread with interest.

As I indicated earlier, I don't have a strong preference for either drafting or editing. Each is aggravating (and delightful) in its own way. However, I have a theory as to why some people prefer one to the other.

Writing a first draft is all about events and character and story flow. It's about what happens next. For some people, that's the most important part of the story.

Editing that draft is all about rhythm and sentence flow and finding exactly the right words. It's about language. For some people, that's the most important part of a story.

[Nancy Fulda]

(As an aside, I dislike the writing/editing dichotomy because it implies that writing is not editing, and vice versa. For me, 'writing' encompasses the entire creative process, from the moment the first words are on the page until the moment the finished draft is sent out into the world. Thus 'writing' includes drafting, revision, editing, polishing, and so forth. But maybe that's just me.)

[VydorScope]

Just completed the first pass with my editor for my third book, and its painful in the sense I want to get it out, but good in the sense we found a plot whole that really needs to be filled in.

On to round two....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CalmApparatus

Though, keep in mind that, and this is just my opinion, Indie readers do not mind mistakes here and there. The ebook community are not in general the grammar police-troll type. For me, it is the little errors and mishaps that make eBooks feel gritty, real, and non-commercial. They lend to them personality that cookie cutter, bookstore, and name brand novels didn't have. Try not to consume yourself in perfectionism. Focus primarily on 3 things imo.

I must, with the very greatest respect, disagree. Mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation shout out to me: "this person is an amateur". There's no excuse - none whatsoever - for such things as grammatical errors in a book. Language is a writer's toolbox; it's essential that he know how to use those tools correctly. If I come across grammatical errors in a book I'll immediately put it to one side and read something else.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If I come across grammatical errors in a book I'll immediately put it to one side and read something else.

Then you must not read very much.

I have to read a lot of professional non-fiction work for my degree in Grad school. I also do a lot of research type reading for my other writing job. My real day job (as in the one that pays the bills) requires me to keep up with industry publications, standards, and the like. This all in addition to entertainment reading I do. I come across errors at every level of writing, daily. Just yesterday for example we were researching a something and came across a sentence that said something like "these are and the facts that..."

I think is correct (and important) to say that you should put your best effort into editing, but I think it is foolish to think that only perfect works will be read and enjoyed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I think is correct (and important) to say that you should put your best effort into editing, but I think it is foolish to think that only perfect works will be read and enjoyed.

Yes, you're right, of course, but when I come across so-called "authors" who don't know elementary-school stuff like when to use "its" and "it's"... that's when I give up.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, you're right, of course, but when I come across so-called "authors" who don't know elementary-school stuff like when to use "its" and "it's"... that's when I give up.

My editor constantly corrects comma usage, and "than" vs "then" in my stuff. That is probably 90% of the errors in my work. I actually threatened to just do a find and replace on "then" with "than" with my current draft. She insists that will not help.

I occasionally do "its" vs "it's" but since I rarely use contractions, that is not as much of a problem for me.

But, I guess you would consider me making "elementary-school" mistakes.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

My editor constantly corrects comma usage, and "than" vs "then" in my stuff. That is probably 90% of the errors in my work. I actually threatened to just do a find and replace on "then" with "than" with my current draft. She insists that will not help.

I occasionally do "its" vs "it's" but since I rarely use contractions, that is not as much of a problem for me.

But, I guess you would consider me making "elementary-school" mistakes.

But you have the wisdom to know that you need to use an editor. That puts you way out in front of the majority of the competition, and I applaud you for doing that.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, you're right, of course, but when I come across so-called "authors" who don't know elementary-school stuff like when to use "its" and "it's"... that's when I give up.

The apostrophe's abuse is extremely common among writers. I think you must be used to only reading pro-edited books, but even those still have a fair few mistakes these days. Indie books are usually the writer's pure words. They lack a bit (or sometimes a lot) of polish, but they also give you the chance to read things that would never be profitable enough to be published any other way.