Advice for editing my own work.

[Sammael Bard]

There is nothing official about the following statement:

I suck at editing my own work!

I had written a First Time story and it got a really good response with that 'oh-my-god' Little H. I wanted good feedbacks that you generally can't expect that from the normal commentators out here.

Very few are motivated enough to grab their keyboards and jot down their honest thoughts.

So, I approached the forums and had my story reviewed by a few wonderful critics out here. They were honest and the feedback a bit surprising on a front that I hadn't expected at all.

My story had grammatical errors that made the ride a bumpy one.

Now, I know I'm not a Shakespear nor any other pro author on the Lit market but that doesn't mean that I can't wish the best for my story, is it?

I realise my glaringly obvious typos only after submitting my work and had to replace it with my edited one, only to realise that mistakes are still prevalent.

(BTW, I had replaced my story 3 times before throwing up my hands and taking it down, once and for all.)

I don't want to be dependent on any editor (no disrespect here) and want to do the filthy stuff myself. I want the editor to provide input here and there and that's it.

I don't want someone hounding my story for that sensitive G-spot.

For an example, Etaski (who writes in Scifi) writes and posts 140-150 pages for a chapter everytime. Her writing is nearly flawless and smooth....and she claims to edit her own work.

HOW does she do it?

So, to all the authors, readers and passer by - Do you have any suggestion for this poor little fella?

I shall be eternally grateful

P.S. The general rules still apply - No Trolling and Nasty comments

 

[Handley_Page]

At the very least, get a Beta Reader, IMO

 

[PayDay]

"Flowing Prose"

Asin: Read it out loud at first if you aren't an A student, especially dialogue. More often than not, you will hear the problems as you go along.

What I personally do is reread every few paragraphs as I type, and then a few times when I'm finished.

When I first started self-editing, I wasn't so tedious at it, since my only reason for self-editing was to keep my content and style. The more you self-edit, though, the easier it gets with time.

...but after many anal retentive complaints about 'needs an editor' for two or three spelling errors, and a few e-mails from editors who wanted to rewrite my plot point and sentence structure style when there were no actual Grammar errors, I went out of my way to spot spelling typos.

Everyone has an idea of how you should write differently, but I find it's mostly the style they want you to change, so that you fit their style. I have the firm suspicion that there are a lot of ignorant tenured English teachers with no creativity that comment on good stories just to knock the author out of jealousy or because they are pretentious.

Rereading is your best bet, and when you think you have it perfect, reread it again. Just know that even if your story is perfect, someone is going to complain about what they think your Grammar should be.

They especially love to rub the 'gray area' stuff in your face, like indirect objects and POV tenses.

Granted, I tend to inspire ignorant comments with my writing style (since I make sections purposly ambiguous or complicated to drive a sensation), but I also have some amazingly positive comments by persons who enjoy the way I write, because they know it would not be the same with an editor.

Good luck with it. It's tough, but worth it in the long run.

 

[Sammael Bard]

It's easy for a story chapter spanning 20-25 pages, but for a story having > 40 pages, editing is a pain in the arse.

That 'reading out loud' is a good advice. It had helped me to rectify many errors that felt "just right" while writing, but their dictation didn't sound good at all.

I haven't had the misfortune of meeting people who intend to bring me down, but I prefer to take everything with a grain of salt. I appreciate it very much when people point out my mistakes and say that "it could've been done like this."

As for a beta reader, the editor's forum isn't really updated and the person prefers to take his own time. Usually, "forgetting" about my work after 3-4 weeks.

I usually recieve blank responses from the polite emails I send so I've pretty much given up the hope.

Practice is the key, but it's a tedious job to do it at a single go.

Write a few paras, stop, edit, write again.

I think that should be good.

 

[PayDay]

I agree with the constructive criticism part, it's nice when someone comments on something I didn't intend to be a controversy, especially when phrased like: "Can I ask why you did this thing this way?"

...but that seldom happens

The Editor's Forum is great for when you get stuck on something. Asking a question with a snippet from the story will get you all kinds of good advice in context.

Just remember: The only difference between a good editor and a good self-editor is time and practice. You can always repost an edit of a story later on, thanks to the mechanism the Laurel put into submissions.

Your right with the single go edit on a 40 (Word) page story, fries the brain. I did it a few times and ended up missing a single word at the end, which is the worst. Sections at a time then a full re read or two to catch the little stuff, it's the same thing a regular editor would do.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Your right with the single go edit on a 40 (Word) page story, fries the brain. I did it a few times and ended up missing a single word at the end, which is the worst. Sections at a time then a full re read or two to catch the little stuff, it's the same thing a regular editor would do.

Do you think that after putting my stories on a hold for, say a week, I'll be able to read it with a fresh pair of eyes?

I did this thing with that story of mine and think that I've been able to rectify a few plot holes and bumpy sentences that weren't noticable during the first time.

 

[PayDay]

Do you think that after putting my stories on a hold for, say a week, I'll be able to read it with a fresh pair of eyes?

I did this thing with that story of mine and think that I've been able to rectify a few plot holes and bumpy sentences that weren't noticable during the first time.

Yup. Good call, I forgot. The main reason I ever resubmitted a bunch of stories was because I didn't do just that. I reread a bunch a few months later and kicked myself for one or two words mispelled that spell checker skips (like know/now or and/an)

I dunno about waiting a week, though. A few hours should do it, watch a movie or clean something to re acclimate.

 

[Sammael Bard]

All I want to do is to bump my story into Lit and want to hear the reader's reaction to it...

A sort of feedback whore, if I'm frank...

and that leads to mistakes

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The tricks to editing are SUIT YOURSELF and READ BETTER FICTION.

 

[Serafina1210]

Reading aloud is a good idea. I worry about frightening the pets, though, so I put the story on my phone and have voice-to-text read it to me. I catch lots of errors that way that I didn't catch by reading silently. And if the story still seems hot when read by a mechanical voice, then maybe it really is hot!

 

[Sammael Bard]

Reading aloud is a good idea. I worry about frightening the pets, though, so I put the story on my phone and have voice-to-text read it to me. I catch lots of errors that way that I didn't catch by reading silently. And if the story still seems hot when read by a mechanical voice, then maybe it really is hot!

Not THAT loud!

The text-to-speech is not good at all in some places and is a bit devoid of any emotion in my Android tab.

Kinda dissipates the mood, if you know what I mean

I think that advice might work for some people here, but wouldn't work in my specific case

 

[Serafina1210]

If you're reading for correctness, not for mood ...

 

[Sammael Bard]

If you're reading for correctness, not for mood ...

No, not entirely for mood but the system makes some blunders in case of some words like:

'Ohhhs...' and some pronounciation which sounds funny.

I tend to give *-*-*-* in between scenes and you should hear the horrible 'Star, minus, star, minus' from the system.

When I read my story out loud, I prefer to enact the emotions within the conversations. It really works in 1st person and has helped me in blunders such as the reaction of the hero to a situation.

I can immediately rectify it and go through the scene again.

I'm not saying that it's bad, just saying that it won't work for some dumbasses like me

 

[Serafina1210]

Lots of different ways to do it.

 

[allamagione]

Put your draft in solitary confinement for long enough, and it will admit to most of its crimes.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Lots of different ways to do it.

Such as? I'd like to know, if you're willing to share, that is...

 

[Serafina1210]

Such as? I'd like to know, if you're willing to share, that is...

My remark was along the lines of quot homines tot sententiae, but here goes anyway.

Read it over and over (I'm compulsive and actually do this)

Read it backwards (decontextualizing each paragraph). Some say read each sentence backwards, starting with the period!

Read it aloud to yourself

Have someone read it aloud to you (NOT in bed--you'll never get to the end)

Have a machine read it aloud to you (what I do)

Find an editor/friend to go over it

Make a list of mistakes you often make and use your WP's search function to find them

Print out a copy and read that (it reads differently on paper)

Whatever you do, it remains true that, if you're unwise enough to open your own published story, the first thing your eye will fall upon will be a howling error of some kind--or at least a thing you'll ardently wish you'd done differently.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My remark was along the lines of quot homines tot sententiae, but here goes anyway.

Read it over and over (I'm compulsive and actually do this)

Read it backwards (decontextualizing each paragraph). Some say read each sentence backwards, starting with the period!

Read it aloud to yourself

Have someone read it aloud to you (NOT in bed--you'll never get to the end)

Have a machine read it aloud to you (what I do)

Find an editor/friend to go over it

Make a list of mistakes you often make and use your WP's search function to find them

Print out a copy and read that (it reads differently on paper)

Whatever you do, it remains true that, if you're unwise enough to open your own published story, the first thing your eye will fall upon will be a howling error of some kind--or at least a thing you'll ardently wish you'd done differently.

Sometimes youre surprised. Occasionally I come across prose that's sublime, and am stunned that I wrote it.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Sometimes youre surprised. Occasionally I come across prose that's sublime, and am stunned that I wrote it.

That feeling arises when I look into a small manuscript of a story I'd written a long time ago.

The passion and the ingenuity of writing a story for the first time can never surpassed. The words are original and convey the exact feelings that were going through my mind.

 

[litmlove]

HOW does she do it?

So, to all the authors, readers and passer by - Do you have any suggestion for this poor little fella?

I shall be eternally grateful

P.S. The general rules still apply - No Trolling and Nasty comments

Put it aside for a few weeks. That is what I am doing.

When you realise there is no time pressure to force you to publish on literotica - you can safely ignore your story for a few weeks and come back to it to see all the errors you didn't see before.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That feeling arises when I look into a small manuscript of a story I'd written a long time ago.

The passion and the ingenuity of writing a story for the first time can never surpassed. The words are original and convey the exact feelings that were going through my mind.

Yep, its often something created long ago.

That said, my forte is humor, and I instinctively know when a humor piece is gold or crap.

 

[TxRad]

Along with reading it aloud try changing the font when you edit. Your eyes get used to seeing the same thing over and over. That is why letting it simmer in a dark corner for at least a few days makes editing easier.

I write until the flow stops or lags. Then I go back and edit what I did. When I pick the story up again, I change the font, read and edit until I get to where I left off. Change to my usual font and go on with the story until the flow slows again.

Wash and rinse as needed. Your mileage may vary.

Then I also have three ladies that feel sorry for me and will do a quick cleanup on my mess.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Then I also have three ladies that feel sorry for me and will do a quick cleanup on my mess.

Slurrp slrrrrrp slup slurrrrrp



An editor made all the difference to my writing. After I wrote some chapters with editorial support, I was able to start producing work that was much tighter.

I used to write flowery romance full of run-on sentences. I am an academic so I thought I was clued on the punctuation etc side of things. I started a new series deliberately aiming for a different, more clipped writing style to get into the swing. I managed to find a lovely lady to look over my work for me. For some reason I was really nervous about submitting my writing to her but her input was invaluable.

In the early days, the drafts returned to me were covered in coloured amendments. I was amazed at the things I didn't understand about punctuation after all. However these days my (new) editor often sends stuff back with two punctuation changes and a comment saying: "Oh no! it's not looking good for so-and-so."

It's very helpful to get someone with a good eye for spelling and grammatical errors to cast it over your work, it makes you more self-disciplined. It's nice to have a pal in on the act too, it makes the writing less lonely.

 

[nosliwec]

I read mine paragraph at a time looking for grammatical and spelling errors. I will tend to write 4-5 pages a day, then re-read them starting from the last paragraph and work my way up.

So far it's worked for me. I did have my main character's curiosity peaked rather than piqued. And another incident where, after a very heated night of sex, had her panties clutched in her head. I know that must have been painful, my poor protagonist.

Other than sentence structure, which I had done on purpose, I haven't seen any other comments about my self-editing skills.

 

[TxRad]

One other point.

This is a free site. We get paid zip. I mostly do my own editing here. A story for sale is something altogether different. There you definitely need an editor. In other words, you get what you pay for.