Do you get sick of your stories when proofing?

[davion2308]

I read my stories several times through to make sure I have continuity, word selection, story-telling elements, etc, before I post. Luckily, I have a friend who goes through for grammar since I'm atrocious at that.

After the fourth or fifth read, I get tired of my stories. I'm sick of them. I remember what I was doing when I wrote them but I just, ughh, don't like it.

The worst part: My stories do well when I multi-proof and read them several times, mostly netting 4.4+ and a big chunk getting that really awesome "H." That kills me that it works so well since I don't care for it.

Does anyone get that feeling? How many read-throughs do you do before you post a story? What could I be doing different?

 

[NotWise]

That's part of what makes writing hard.

You might be able to reduce the number of passes by editing more as you go. I edit quite a bit as I go, and then I do one or two complete reads.

 

[siobhancan99]

davion

to what extent are you making substantive changes versus cleaning up grammer/language?

If you're skewing heavily to the second, you might consider an enthusiastic editor.

 

[Lovecraft_lore2]

I read my stories several times through to make sure I have continuity, word selection, story-telling elements, etc, before I post. Luckily, I have a friend who goes through for grammar since I'm atrocious at that.

After the fourth or fifth read, I get tired of my stories. I'm sick of them. I remember what I was doing when I wrote them but I just, ughh, don't like it.

The worst part: My stories do well when I multi-proof and read them several times, mostly netting 4.4+ and a big chunk getting that really awesome "H." That kills me that it works so well since I don't care for it.

Does anyone get that feeling? How many read-throughs do you do before you post a story? What could I be doing different?

Yes, this is a horrible part of writing. You need to do it and you have to be sober while doing it. My stories without any review or editing, where I might have been a bit buzzed while writing it normally get around a 3.5 and I get a 4.2 or so with a few read through.

I have four stories with Minotaurs, where I describe them and their big cocks in detail then never mention them again. They don't advance the plot, they are not in the sex scene. In retrospect I probably should have edited them out just for the purpose of continuity.

Also, the readers HATE IT when the story is hetro sexual, it is not listed as gay male but then for no reason the hot woman he is having sex with turns out to be a guy in drag. For the longest time my story had 1.6 stars because of that. The readers hate getting tricked about stuff like that.

 

[Comshaw]

davion

to what extent are you making substantive changes versus cleaning up grammer/language?

If you're skewing heavily to the second, you might consider an enthusiastic editor.

IF you can find such. My experience is they are scarcer than a market oyster pearl.

Comshaw

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Do you get sick of your stories when proofing?

Every time.

I write in Word, do two or three edits, then copy and paste to the Lit site to get a better feel for how the words will look. Most of the major editing in terms of plot and such are done by then and it's mainly tightening things up, improving wording, looking for typos, working on what I laughingly consider grammar.

So, maybe six complete read-throughs. Sometimes more.

Mmmph.

 

[windar]

Typically, I formulate a chapter in my head whilst doing other things (often long walks with the dog, who helps me with trick passages). When I sit down, it comes together quickly. I typically read it once more and often don't change much except for typos. If I'm writing with my co-author, then she reads it, but rarely has more than a few minor changes.

I write the whole story and then it gets posted chapter by chapter, so each one gets a final read before posting. If I change too much, I find it loses the immediacy and rhythm it had at the beginning.

 

[SamScribble]

If I get sick of a story when I am polishing it, I simply trash it. I write for myself and a few friends. We don't want to be bored.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If I get sick of a story when I am polishing it, I simply trash it. I write for myself and a few friends. We don't want to be bored.

You wait that long?

I'll trash junk after the first five hundred words, if I sense, "This just ain't ever gonna work. Who was the clown came up with THAT idea?"

 

[PennameWombat]

davion

to what extent are you making substantive changes versus cleaning up grammer/language?

If you're skewing heavily to the second, you might consider an enthusiastic editor.

Emphasis added below, but the OP seems to be one of the lucky folks who has an editor, at least a copy/line editor. But as a rule, finding an editor, much less an "enthusiastic" editor is, well, Vladimir and Estragon had more luck waiting for Godot to show up.

I read my stories several times through to make sure I have continuity, word selection, story-telling elements, etc, before I post. Luckily, I have a friend who goes through for grammar since I'm atrocious at that.

After the fourth or fifth read, I get tired of my stories. I'm sick of them. I remember what I was doing when I wrote them but I just, ughh, don't like it.

The worst part: My stories do well when I multi-proof and read them several times, mostly netting 4.4+ and a big chunk getting that really awesome "H." That kills me that it works so well since I don't care for it.

Does anyone get that feeling? How many read-throughs do you do before you post a story? What could I be doing different?

This indicates to me that what you're talking about isn't proofing, but developmental editing. In other words, your stories are being altered significantly from first draft to posted version.

If I'm wrong, you can correct me. But I have trouble seeing how the odd typo or odd word would do such damage. For instance, it took two years for someone to finally be annoyed enough to point out "prostrate" not "prostate." But he also stated his 4, not 5, wasn't for that, but because my male MC used his girlfriend's panties to masturbate. The fact she'd blown him in a dark and crowded auditorium while he'd fingered her was just fine, I guess (they'd been on the outs, but she surprised him by showing up at his class and she'd let him remove her panties and he'd kept them). And that masturbation scene was never going to be removed. Besides, you say grammar is taken care of.

As another comment states, I also do a fair amount of 'editing as I go.' This extends to nuking the beginning of a chapter in my new WIP because it ain't working. Instead of powering through and fixing it later, as so many writers guides and workshops mention ("just get the first draft written"), I can't do that. I initially put a line through the offending text and rewrite it. The strikethrough tells me to delete when I do the read-throughs.

I guess I really do more than four or five read-throughs, because I do review and edit what I wrote the night before, then begin adding. By the time the 'first' draft is finished, it'll almost always be 'in the ballpark' of the final. Yeah, I find typos and redo plenty of words or sentences, but only a couple of full runs. It's not definitive, but the couple of stories I did make major changes at this point are amongst my lower rated.

It's nice when the story just flows from first idea, you type it up, push submit, done. I've had one or two of my catalogue like that... but mostly it's, well, work.

 

[gordo12]

I read my stories several times through to make sure I have continuity, word selection, story-telling elements, etc, before I post. Luckily, I have a friend who goes through for grammar since I'm atrocious at that.

After the fourth or fifth read, I get tired of my stories. I'm sick of them. I remember what I was doing when I wrote them but I just, ughh, don't like it.

Some of them I've read through hundreds of times. I often start a new writing session by reading the story first, then adding to it. That way continuity and the sense of the story hang together. (I hope) And then I have to polish and edit when I'm done. I don't get that tired of them although I will admit I hate the editing process. Surprisingly, I go back and read my published stories frequently.

 

[HeyAll]

Editing is always tough because it's tedious. I read every line carefully to find typos and to make a bunch of small revisions.

It's worth it. Tough, but worth it.

Early in my writing, my editing was fast and there were lots of typos. I've since gone back and re-edited my old stories. Lesson learned, from the occational comments regarding typos.

Again, it's worth it to have a beautiful final product.

 

[sophism]

Some of them I've read through hundreds of times. I often start a new writing session by reading the story first, then adding to it. That way continuity and the sense of the story hang together. (I hope) And then I have to polish and edit when I'm done. I don't get that tired of them although I will admit I hate the editing process. Surprisingly, I go back and read my published stories frequently.

If I start feeling sick of my writing I like to give myself a couple days to just put it away and not think too much of it. I find that the biggest pieces of editing for me has to do with continuity anyways, so giving myself space and then reading through the whole thing tends to help.

I like to try to think of the editing process as fun as possible, like "I'm reading this as if I were a normal reader" and not "I need to find all the mistakes that are bothering me". Otherwise I probably wouldn't edit much at all

 

[Lady2020]

Writers and editors both get sick of it.

 

[TadOverdon]

Yes.

Over the last three years I've made a practice of finishing everything I begin no matter how discouraged I get with it. I'm not sure I can keep that up.

One issue with rereading is second-guessing. I'll write something the first time in a dramatically exaggerated manner, for example, and on rereading I pare it back, qualify statements and so forth. I often have to stop myself from doing that. Being ridiculous is better than being boring with this kind of story, IMHO.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Nah. Editing is important. After all I don't want my story to look like something dragged from the pits of UseNet. When I don't see the word repeats or punctuation errors in the morass of words, I hand my work over to my editor for a decent polishing pass.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Kinda. Yet, I write what I would like to read, so rereading what I write isn't a struggle.

Plus I edit as I go and once finished I give it a complete read through and then run it through Grammarly. After that I set it aside for a couple of days to a week and work on something else.

After a week or so, I reread it and find all the little mistakes that your eye glances over when you were writing it. Then another run of Grammarly and I'm ready for submission.

Sometimes I let them go a little longer if it's a long story. I may read it on my tablet and do a markup of what is wrong. Don't change anything just mark the parts that need changing with a note attached to the part. Then the next day I change the original accordingly.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have so many unfinished stories that by the time I'm almost finished one I'm starting to get bored with it and am eager to get it published and move on to the next one. I do a lot of proofing and editing as I go, so sometimes I rush the proofing process at the end--something I shouldn't do. I agree it makes a big difference if I take time with proofing, especially concentrating on:

1. Misspelled words, like unconsciously choosing synonyms like "waste" when I meant "waist." I do a ton of that and my Word editor won't always pick it up.

2. Scrutinizing my word choices. Did I choose the best word?

3. Avoiding repetition. If I think I've overused a word I'll sometimes do a document search for it and eliminate some of them or find good replacements. One of my readers pointed out that I overused a term in my last story, and he was correct.

It's very tedious, but it's worth doing.

 

[MrPixel]

Do I get sick of my stories on the re-read? Not at all. I write for myself, completely, and enjoy what I write because it replays the mental movie and associated emotions that created it in the first place. I feel the same pathos when I read certain scenes as I did when writing them, and the same investment in my characters.

Outright typos are rare, usually fixed on the fly. That's been my writing style since school; I had a couple of great English teachers (here's to you, Dr. McKinney!). Most of what I find when "proofreading" are continuity or voice issues, and the occasional overused word. Some are easy to fix, some are not, especially when the scene or scenes are follow-ons in a serial with preceding material already published.

I guess my role as an "author" here is different - I write from emotion only, and not for writing's sake. My father was that way with his poetry, only discovered after his passing as I was packing his household.

 

[TadOverdon]

I find myself adding elements to a book sometimes, even on final revision. That makes the process more immediately rewarding. This morning, working on a chapter late in the current book I discovered a connection between two events early in the story that's fun and strengthened one character a little bit, I think.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Not really. I go through a few times, and every time I meet a hurdle that prevents the section either being erotic or advancing the plot, I work to smooth it down.

Then I leave it a bit and ideally get a nice volunteer to provide some comments about pacing and general order of content. Then give it another look and consider rearranging parts, excising bits that are only really relevant to stuff I haven't got round to writing, etc. That's the tricky bit but as an intellectual puzzle it's quite fun. Does require sitting up and a big screen though, as on a phone moving sections about is a right PITA.

Then some more reading and polishing, and if I'm not enjoying it I can hardly expect anyone else to. Not that I expect many people to like what I like - I'm still trying to get 100 followers - but the few people who do like my stuff like it quite a lot.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Not really. I go through a few times, and every time I meet a hurdle that prevents the section either being erotic or advancing the plot, I work to smooth it down.

Then I leave it a bit and ideally get a nice volunteer to provide some comments about pacing and general order of content. Then give it another look and consider rearranging parts, excising bits that are only really relevant to stuff I haven't got round to writing, etc. That's the tricky bit but as an intellectual puzzle it's quite fun. Does require sitting up and a big screen though, as on a phone moving sections about is a right PITA.

Then some more reading and polishing, and if I'm not enjoying it I can hardly expect anyone else to. Not that I expect many people to like what I like - I'm still trying to get 100 followers - but the few people who do like my stuff like it quite a lot.

 

[yukonnights]

I think what Zeb said about not rushing the process is the most important part of editing. It's hard to delay the pay-off moment of getting it posted, but well worth it. The fact that we often read in a rushed review,"what we thought we wrote", is a blind spot. At least it is for me.

I usually find someone to beta-read before posting a story. But even that isn't a guarantee of an error free story.

IMO, and based on experience; many LitE readers take their role very seriously. The grammar and spelling patrol is always ready to inspect the words in minute detail and then rush to leave a comment on the horrendous error — an error that ruined an otherwise good story. Then the next reader sees comment about the shameful mistake and adds another comment — this time explaining why they gave a great story a 3 instead of a 5. This very thing happened to my current V-Day story, prompting a delayed edit to fix the egregious trespasses.

Therefore, for me, patience is probably the best solution to "edit fatigue".

 

[jsmiam]

Not so much sick of the story. But sick of spending the time. As in, “this took too much time and I’m taking a break because it took so much time.“

 

[Paul_Chance]

I don't get sick of it. For me, they are two different tasks.

By the time I am through the draft(s), I've done a lot of the editing for structure, plot, theme, and flow. At that point, the final draft, I consider a story done.

Then, I detach from the story and approach it from an editing point of view, which combines both proofing and traditional final editing.

If I'm going to abandon a piece of writing, that happens in the draft process, usual because of some element that just doesn't work for me as a writer.