Editing Tips?

[Anjasa]

Hi there,

I'm a writer, along with my partner, and we currently edit one another's work. I will do the first major revision (working out huge kinks, editing things down for clarity, removing redundancies, fixing flow), he'll check it over for the same, then I'll do another two or three (or more, depending on how many errors I catch) passes for things like grammar and phrasing.

Needless to say, it takes a lot of time and effort, but I know it's worth it in the end.

I currently have a huge, huge, huge backload of written stuff that I'm trying to get edited (I'm talking about 1 million words), so I'm looking for any tips from some professional editors on how to keep my head clear while editing. What's your process?

 

[sr71plt]

I currently have a huge, huge, huge backload of written stuff that I'm trying to get edited (I'm talking about 1 million words), so I'm looking for any tips from some professional editors on how to keep my head clear while editing. What's your process?

Time--and another activity--between reviews. Reading it out loud. At one time, copy was scanned backward for spelling, so you could focus on the individual words out of context, but that's not needed much any more because of computer spell check--not because the spell check gets it right all of the time, but because it highlights a lot of the questionable words. Look especially for its/it's, there/their, to/too/two types of problems. I always have to do a separate "find" run for dialogue quote marks, making sure there's both an open and a close quote.

I don't do a lot of repeated reviews of my copy, though. Each review reduces the spontaneity and free flow of the original (for me).

If you're well grounded in grammar and punctuation, you won't make nearly as many mistakes in the original as you would otherwise. I recheck any word that looks the least bit screwy in a print Webster's dictionary.

And whenever I can, I have someone else review it. You can't catch all of your own mistakes. Invariably your eye pays more attention to what you thought you wrote rather than what you actually wrote--no matter how many times you review it.

 

[Innuendos]

I currently have a huge, huge, huge backload of written stuff that I'm trying to get edited (I'm talking about 1 million words), so I'm looking for any tips from some professional editors on how to keep my head clear while editing. What's your process?

I'm not a professional, and have even recruited an editor to help me vet my own work, so take this for whatever you think it's worth. My step process:

1. Spelling/Grammar - This isn't generally a problem for me, but mistakes do happen; as long as you're working in a word processing program, it's generally not an issue. Having someone look it over can be helpful if it's a problem for you.

2. Read Aloud - Once and only once, because unless you're at your first draft revision, it shouldn't change that much at this point. This helps me identify things that just sound weird, even when grammatically correct, particularly in character speech or mechanical functions of how things work.

3. Consistency - Making sure my details match the character they're attached to. More problematic the more characters involved. As simple as attaching POV names to a section and then making sure the data is consistent, but there's always the magical panties and other such clothing to watch out for!

And of course, keeping it consistent with what you've written elsewhere if it's multiple chapters or shared universe.

4. Pronouns - This is one of the things I got tagged on for my first chapter, and am trying to be careful to watch in further chapters. Too much 'she' and 'he', and the identity of the person I'm handling can be difficult to discern. Just a matter of checking the page.

5. Plausibility - Before reviewing, identify the parts that are most likely to give you trouble here. From my reading experience, the most common examples are people dealing with vague outlines of sexual tropes that are only explainable by female retardation or the mental flip-switch that is common to reluctant sexual participants who, without a word of explanation, suddenly turn from wilting lillies about to be raped into raging nymphomaniacs simply because the male sex god in front of them said. "Do it." A little insight into the thought process goes a long, long way.

Just a few thoughts from my pov.

 

[Darkniciad]

Changing the font size/face to something other than what you usually write in can also help errors stand out. The "preview" you can get when you submit if you copy/paste into the "story text" section or upload plain text is quite good for this, and you should always take the time to read back through the story one last time in preview before hitting the submit button.

Even though the grammar checkers on most programs aren't the greatest, and are geared toward technical/non-fiction, it can't hurt to run the story through one ( or more. I use both Word and Wordperfect to check mine ) because it will sometimes stop for completely different reasons on something such as a homophone error that you might have otherwise missed.

Just expect to do a lot of hitting the "skip" button on suggestions that make absolutely no sense in a fiction story - let alone an erotic one.

Letting a story sit and simmer for a few days while you write something else can help dull the impact of seeing what you meant to write rather than what you actually did. When used in conjunction with a change in the font, you'll probably be amazed ( and slightly embarrassed ) with how many screw-ups jump out at you.

 

[Anjasa]

Time--and another activity--between reviews. Reading it out loud. At one time, copy was scanned backward for spelling, so you could focus on the individual words out of context, but that's not needed much any more because of computer spell check--not because the spell check gets it right all of the time, but because it highlights a lot of the questionable words. Look especially for its/it's, there/their, to/too/two types of problems. I always have to do a separate "find" run for dialogue quote marks, making sure there's both an open and a close quote.

Thank you! I'm finding the blue squiggle in Work 2010 to be really helpful, surprisingly. It asks me if I meant another word based on the words surrounding it, so it can catch to/too and you/your, though it's obviously not perfect. It asked if I meant to say "clock stuffed cunt" the other day.

2. Read Aloud - Once and only once, because unless you're at your first draft revision, it shouldn't change that much at this point. This helps me identify things that just sound weird, even when grammatically correct, particularly in character speech or mechanical functions of how things work.

5. Plausibility - Before reviewing, identify the parts that are most likely to give you trouble here. From my reading experience, the most common examples are people dealing with vague outlines of sexual tropes that are only explainable by female retardation or the mental flip-switch that is common to reluctant sexual participants who, without a word of explanation, suddenly turn from wilting lillies about to be raped into raging nymphomaniacs simply because the male sex god in front of them said. "Do it." A little insight into the thought process goes a long, long way.

Yea, I'd probably read aloud after the first pass, once I get the biggest kinks worked out.

And the holy penis trope. Vampire Lesbian Killers anyone?

Changing the font size/face to something other than what you usually write in can also help errors stand out.

I'd never thought about this, but I did notice a few issues once the story was published and I was reading it in epub format on my tablet. It's like all of a sudden, now that it was published and in final format, a few typos suddenly jumped out at me. Maybe it was the different font. I tend to read in sans-serif, so maybe reading through it in a serif font before publishing will help.

 

[Anjasa]

Wow, I gotta say... reading out loud is probably the best thing that I've ever done for editing. I've been able to fix so many awkward sentences that I wouldn't have even noticed before.

 

[inflagranteloti]

One trick that some editors use is to print out a hard copy of the text and edit it the old-fashioned way. I don't do that, but the wisdom is that your eye travels over text that's been printed differently than it does words on the screen.

What I do is use tracking changes to make my first round of revisions, and then I'll turn off the red-marked revisions so that I only see the "final" copy. You'll catch so many little mistakes that way. Giving yourself time between edits is important, too.

But like writing, editing is a skill that you get better at the more you do it. And I've found that my editing ability has had a direct effect on my writing. I make fewer mistakes in my first drafts, which makes editing a lot easier.

Also, don't be afraid to kill your darlings. If a phrase or scene isn't working, don't be so in love with it that you can't cut it out.