Editing
I am having a fairly hard go at editing this novel. At first I thought, maybe it's because I need to step away from it, give it time to breathe, though then I realized that was just a cop out to hide the manuscript under the table and not ever finish editing it because hey, editing is way more boring than actually writing. Especially when my new novel - Demon - is so damn exciting.
So, does anyone (If there is actually anyone who reads this blog) have any advice about editing? Does anyone have any tips to make it more enjoyable? I realize that I am betraying my supreme lack of self-discipline in the editing department, but hey, what can I say - pumping out the stories that have been sitting in my head for the past 4 months is a stronger calling. Plus I am unpublished, with no fan base and no deadlines, so I can afford to take my time.
However this won't always be the case, so I am trying to prepare myself for when there are deadlines in the future. My day job has prepped me for business, and for deadlines, two things I am extremely familiar with. But not for deadlines with creative sides (programming is far from what I would call 'artistic' or 'creative').
In any case, I am looking for advice, tidbits, experiences - whatever. Give me knowledge people, and I will promise to sign you a copy of the book, if it ever becomes part of the world of the 'published'.
So, does anyone (If there is actually anyone who reads this blog) have any advice about editing? Does anyone have any tips to make it more enjoyable? I realize that I am betraying my supreme lack of self-discipline in the editing department, but hey, what can I say - pumping out the stories that have been sitting in my head for the past 4 months is a stronger calling. Plus I am unpublished, with no fan base and no deadlines, so I can afford to take my time.
However this won't always be the case, so I am trying to prepare myself for when there are deadlines in the future. My day job has prepped me for business, and for deadlines, two things I am extremely familiar with. But not for deadlines with creative sides (programming is far from what I would call 'artistic' or 'creative').
In any case, I am looking for advice, tidbits, experiences - whatever. Give me knowledge people, and I will promise to sign you a copy of the book, if it ever becomes part of the world of the 'published'.
posted by DanStrohschein at 4:53 AM
2 Comments:
i find it best to let the work sit for at least a month before starting the editing process. you should continue working on the new WIP, and just forget about the finished one for a while.
it makes the editing process more fun because once you've had time away, you can enjoy how the story unfolds, even though you're actually revising.
I am starting to really see the value of putting some distance there. It's been a while since I read the first page, and as I did today, I noticed even more errors. As much as I am impatient about finishing this one, I honestly think that I need to let it sit a good while before I come back to it. At least at the moment, I am not really doing wording changes, but I am doing rewrites of the parts of the book that went off in the wrong direction.
Thank you for your advice! I didn't think anyone actually read this :)
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