Re-reading your work... Editing is shit...!

[gunhilltrain]

During the Grammarly stage: don't just look at the suggestions; read through the whole text. That is a good time to make style/wording/content changes. Sometimes you many want to add a few lines, sometimes you may remove some. You may notice that you've used the same word too frequently, and it's then it's thesaurus time. It's subtle, but sometimes it's worth using some synonyms.

Anyway, somehow that is a good stage to review the whole story and get a sense of the entire thing. Usually stories are written over days or weeks, and it may be hard to grasp what you did earlier.

That reminds me: if you are coming back to writing something (few stories are written in a single day) it may be worth reading down from the top again. That way you'll catch some things, and you'll also have an idea of how the new material fits in.

 

[Small_Island]

Fortunately it's easier to fix forum entries than stories. Although maybe God does have something to do with it.

That reminds me that filmmakers (directors and editors) have trouble when they have to watch the scenes over and over again. They lose track of what it's all supposed to mean when they are editing the thing. And Michael Cimino would do, say, 127 takes on one scene. But he knew which one to look for because Robert De Niro and Michael Savage eventually collapsed from dancing too much. That was the take he used, I think (The Deer Hunter).

This just happened to me today. I thought I was doing my final read, when it finally registered that I had an entire location wrong. Young couple had been hooking up at his place. Then I had them go "to hers for the first time." But I still wrote the chapter as if they were at his place. I let that go for 8 edits before I caught it. Glad I took the time to do so many reads.

 

[Small_Island]

On reading out loud. I definitely do this and it helps. The twist I put on it is to read out loud really, really fast. Not trying for nuanced delivery, but for speaking every word on the page. Not only does it expose missed or overused words, it really points out awkward phrasing. if you can't read it out loud quickly without stumbling, it's probably worth a rewrite.

 

[StillStunned]

I actually like editing, but perhaps that's because I'm paid quite handsomely for correcting other people's work for publication and my stuff is, in comparison, fairly simple. However, I do prefer to have a healthy break between composition and correction.

The pitfall is that it's too simple, I find. I get sloppy, because I'm not looking as carefully as I do when I know the quality poor (and when I'm getting paid, as you say, quite handsomely).

 

[KeithD]

So, a little advice request here.

I re-read my latest chapter that got published, and OMG... Its like I didn't edit it the first time at all.

I know that submitting edits post-publish is a hornets nest... but does anyone have any tips or advice on what to do?

Thanks!

It isn't clear to me what you're asking--what to do when? What to do to prevent or cut down on the mistakes? If so, you're getting good advice by others. What to do with this specific instance? Whether to try to get what was posted corrected? If that's what you're asking, I suggest no, leave it as it is unless there are serious substantive mistakes. Take your lumps and use it as incentive to review better the next time--using some of the techniques that others are suggesting here.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Wise advice from one often offers sage counsel.

It isn't clear to me what you're asking--what to do when? What to do to prevent or cut down on the mistakes? If so, you're getting good advice by others. What to do with this specific instance? Whether to try to get what was posted corrected? If that's what you're asking, I suggest no, leave it as it is unless there are serious substantive mistakes. Take your lumps and use it was incentive to review better the next time--using some of the techniques that others are suggesting here.

 

[JaxonHill]

It isn't clear to me what you're asking--what to do when? What to do to prevent or cut down on the mistakes? If so, you're getting good advice by others. What to do with this specific instance? Whether to try to get what was posted corrected? If that's what you're asking, I suggest no, leave it as it is unless there are serious substantive mistakes. Take your lumps and use it was incentive to review better the next time--using some of the techniques that others are suggesting here.

Yeah. I was asking the latter. And that’s the drift I’m catching for sure.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah. I was asking the latter. And that’s the drift I’m catching for sure.

I agree with that, too. Catching mistakes after the fact is discouraging, but I let it go, move one, and try to do better the next time. I think it's a better use of creative energy and time.

 

[Mr_Neb]

I certainly do not have a fool proof method but as someone else mentioned, print the story out. Reading it off the paper makes a huge difference.

At least for me, the reason typos and other errors get in there is because when I am reading, the reading becomes skimming because I get the message and the speed increases. To avoid that, in the latter stages of checking, I read the story one paragraph at a time, starting from the end of the story and working my way back to the beginning. This way I don't get hung up in the story itself.

Again, not fool proof but just a couple of suggestions.

 

[ChloeTzang]

So, a little advice request here.

I re-read my latest chapter that got published, and OMG... Its like I didn't edit it the first time at all.

I know that submitting edits post-publish is a hornets nest... but does anyone have any tips or advice on what to do?

Thanks!

It happens. I always miss stuff. It's got better since I got a couple of good volunteer editors but mistakes still slip thru. My advice, for what it's worth, which is what you paid for it, lol, is just put it down as the learning curve we all go thru for our entire lives as writers, and edit the next one more thoroughly. Don't waste time going back and editing a story that's already published - 80% of the people who will ever read it have probably already read it in the week after it went live. Just move on to the next story and make it that much better.

For myself, I have never yet gone back to edit a story that's already live, even tho some of them would be way better if I did. I'd rather put the time into the next one.

 

[Vintage_DM]

So, a little advice request here.

I re-read my latest chapter that got published, and OMG... Its like I didn't edit it the first time at all.

I know that submitting edits post-publish is a hornets nest... but does anyone have any tips or advice on what to do?

Thanks!

The old saying is ... it is what it is. Leave it be. However. In the future a suggestion or two. After you have finished writing and editing a story, put it aside, say, for a couple of weeks. Do something, anything. Then, when you've forgotten what you think is in the story go back and reread it. Bet ya, you'll see the story with fresh eyes. Also, find someone not as an editor but rather a beta reader who can read and comment on your story.