Thread: How do you edit?

I wondering what other techniques people have for editing.

I usually go through my story several times in different ways, though I haven't found a concrete method yet.

First I edit on the computer to get any glaring errors.

I print off the manuscript and do line edits.

I speak the story out loud to check any repititious words and awkward phrasing.

Then, (and I've only done this once) I read the story backwards, from end to beginning.

How do you edit? Which works best for you?

Originally Posted by Man From Mars

I wondering what other techniques people have for editing.

Go through it on the computer fixing obvious issues. Feed it into a couple of 'editing' programs that spew out possible issues that I've missed; a lot of them are spurious, but they usually pick up some legitimate ones.

Convert it to .mobi format, load it into my Kindle and then use 'text to speech' to read it back to me. That picks up many of the problems that my own reading and the editing software miss.

Give it to volunteers to read through and let me know what that whole process missed.

I write the book, and fix spelling and grammar errors as I go. When it's done, I got back and re-write to make things sound better. Then I read it over to fix spelling and grammar errors in the new version. And I rinse and repeat until my eyes start to bleed.

Like movieman, other people reading my work is the main part of my editing process.

Reader responses illustrate the things that I often miss. I could have everything grammatically perfect, but holes in the plot, characterizations that come off as awkward, or inadequate payoffs are all things that I usually discover from feedback, and not from editing on my own.

I write the rough draft, then I do a revision or two. From there I start editing and I basically go line by line. When I'm done, my wife reads it, and I make whatever corrections she suggests if I agree with them. I will give it another line edit. I also keep a note book of things to search for by computer, for instance all the "Your, You're, Yours" and all the "There, Their, They're (s)" and I will look at each one of those to see if they are the correct form.

Getting a stranger to copyedit and suggest changes is a good idea, but you will either have to pay them or your story's going to have to be something they want to read.

The latest I wrote;
- I started by writing the first and last chapter.
- Added a short piece I had written before in the middle
- Wrote down all the titles for the different chapter (basically lining out how I wanted the story to develop).
- Started writing all character-introducing chapters
- Started writing all plot development chapters

That's the advantage of using a computer, you can cut and paste and go back and add in between texts. I've got no idea how they did it in the old days

I write it paragraph by paragraph, editing as I go, and then have friends read my work just to double check!

Hi, Wow! Big subject...

Editing or Proofreading - Most use the terms interchangeably, but they focus on different aspects of writing and employ different techniques.

Editing - this is corrections to the structure, your style, the flow of the narrative, timelines, if you like who, what, when, where, why, and how, all of these would be strictly speaking part of the editing process. There is no easy way to address these, but read through identify them and correct with cuts and rewrites.

Proofreading - is more a focusing on surface errors checking out each sentence for its Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling and correct word usage. This includes typo errors; extra spaces, missing periods, left off quotes in speaking parts, no Upper Case letters at the start of a new sentence; etc. etc.

Grammar – In general I try to keep sentences reasonably short, around fifteen words or less is a good guideline. Write sentences so they flow well together. Long sentences can get unwieldy. If cutting into shorter segments does not blend smoothly, then try to rephrase or add connective phrases. Refrain from using the same word and phrases too often as it makes your work sound repetitive. A Thesaurus can be a helpful tool when struggling to find the right word.

Punctuation - [ . ? ! “ ” ‘ ’ , ; ] missing; period, exclamation or question marks, speech quotes, or comma crazy with unnecessary punctuation, marking possessives apostrophes (Mother’s) and leaving them off if a plural (Mothers) and not forgetting brackets, hyphens, dashes and Capital letters signalling special use of words.

Spelling - software spellcheckers can be limited in their capabilities, they often do not recognise proper names and technical terms. In addition, they cannot detect where the user has entered a wrong word in place of the proper one. Such as common confusables, like ‘there’ when you meant ‘their’ or possibly even ‘they’re’ and words like it’s/its and to/too.

Depending on your writing skill, by the first draft of your manuscript, a good deal of the most common Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling and typo errors, will hopefully have been spotted and corrected. In Editing and Proofreading, the trick is not to look for everything in one go, just read through several times and focus on a different feature at each pass. Finally, I recommend this technique to check your manuscript. Read aloud (or by using a text-to-speech generator) each page top to bottom, but in reverse order (namely, last page to first).

Note: Caution! Gain plenty of experience in writing before attempting clever wordplay unless you are sure that it will work.

This is my general guide for Editing/Proofreading

01 First Draft - Your manuscript is complete or so you think. This is your first read through end to end. You can use the proofing capabilities of your word processor to check for basic Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling errors. Does it meet with your expected criteria and tick all the boxes in following your Storyline?

02 Timelines - As you read through, check the chronology of events are sequenced correctly within the context of the storyline. In addition, check spelling of Character names, place names; etc. are consistent.

03 Word Usage - This time check for word usage and common confusables. For example, should you have used affect, or effect, always not all ways, berth or birth, forward not foreword, holey or holy?

04 Text-to-Speech - Now it is about time your manuscript was read back to you. One way is to use a text-to-speech generator. This can help in spotting incorrect sentence construction, missed words, punctuation errors, and word tenses, their endings or miss spelling.

05 Second Draft - Check your errors are corrected and take the opportunity to cut ruthlessly any irrelevant text.

06 Grammar - This is when you try to put right those sentence constructions that don’t quite hang together. The Grammar & Style checker on your word processor may help in highlighting some of these.

07 Punctuation - In this read through, check for Punctuation marks missing or inserted unnecessarily.

08 Spelling - A final check to identify any Spelling errors, and importantly that individual word usage is correct for what you are trying to express. . (such as - Internment/Interment; Moral/Morale)

09 Critique - At some point, you need an independent review of how your Storyline hangs together, plus any other Grammar, Punctuation, miss-Spelling, proper word usage; etc., that you might have overlooked. For minimal cost, it is time to get family members and/or friends to read your manuscript.

10 Final Draft - Having reviewed Critiques and corrected those areas you agree are necessary, you decide if the manuscript finally meets the criteria for publication.

QDOS

Good advice, QDOS. I'm just starting the monumental task of editing my manuscript.
I've printed it all out and I'm going through it with a red pen at the moment. There are already a few sections that are going to need a massive overhaul, which is daunting. Just when I felt like I was getting close to the end, I'm thrown right back to the beginning.

It's nice when I come across a section that still reads nicely, and gets me excited about the story all over again. It makes me think that maybe it isn't a lost cause after all, and perhaps it could be published one day.

Originally Posted by QDOS

04 Text-to-Speech - Now it is about time your manuscript was read back to you. One way is to use a text-to-speech generator. This can help in spotting incorrect sentence construction, missed words, punctuation errors, and word tenses, their endings or miss spelling.

What program do you use, QDOS?

I use copy and line editing. But for critiques, I rely on other people.

I am inclined to verbosity, I go through and reduce things first, eg,
all contributed, and everyone in the village had been involved one way or another
becomes,
everyone in the village was involved or contributed.

The less importance to plot or character the more truncated it gets.
I also look for all the qualifying words and phrases, he felt as though, it seemed, there was almost, even when they add something worth keeping in I usually find I can do it more succinctly.

Checking sentence structure also helps.

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle

everyone in the village was involved or contributed.

In its present form, "was" ties to both "involved" and "contributed" -
"everyone in the village was contributed" - hello?

The way to express it correctly is "everyone in the village contributed or was involved".

True, though it is the principle behind the example I was trying to demonstrate rather than the particular.

I read what I’ve written, and if I’m not satisfied with it, I change it.