Your Editing Process

[HeyAll]

Here's something I wrote on my Patreon, will share it here, feel free to share yours:



-- I never edit grammar when writing. I leave the red marks on the screen as like a book mark for the final editing. Otherwise when you're doing the final edits and the screen is clean, is give you less motivation and a false sense of security.

-- What works best for me is finishing something, then forgetting about it. Ignore it for a while until the deadline is coming. Then edit it days before submission. This gives you a fresh perspective.

-- The most basic form of editing is grammar check, which is super tedious. No way around that.

-- Look out for repetition. You don't notice repetition when writing because it can take a long period of time to write, so you don't realize you're repeating yourself, but when you read the whole thing at a casual pace, you notice it. Again, this is the benefit of forgetting the story for a while and reading it fresh.

-- Cut out unnecessary words and details. When writing, your goal is to fill the page, but with editing, you'll realize a lot of that is junk and adds nothing to the story. Look at stand up comedians telling a story. There's no waste. Everything is important, every word.

-- Use your instincts, this is something which can't be taught. Is something boring? Is some part too long? Too short? You may need to cut down things, while adding things to others. Just a few days ago, I submitted a story but wasn't totally satisfied with the length of the ending sex scenes, went to bed unhappy even though I thought it would be fine when submitting... in bed I knew I had to expand the scene in the morning, when I woke up I added a few hundred words. Even after submitting it, I had to edit the thing.

-- I use grammarly.com for a free grammar check. They're great at catching small things. Missing words has always been a weakness of mine, they catch that along with other tidbits.
[Literotica note: I don't use the AI feature for grammarly which apprently gets people in trouble, not even sure how to use it, it's a new feature. So stay away from that, just use the basic grammar check]

-- Prowritingaid is also really good, but they give way too many suggestions and the screen is overloaded with red lines, so I tend not to use them.

-- Even after that, before submitting, I give the whole story a quick skim on the submission page. It's becoming something of a ritual that I quickly go over the whole story and make a few small changes here and there. Hard to explain, but it's like instinct. If I do a final skim and don't change anything, feels like something is wrong. I keep skimming until I find little things to change.

submit, all done

 

[KeithD]

-- I never edit grammar when writing. I leave the red marks on the screen as like a book mark for the final editing. Otherwise when you're doing the final edits and the screen is clean, is give you less motivation and a false sense of security.

-- What works best for me is finishing something, then forgetting about it. Ignore it for a while until the deadline is coming. Then edit it days before submission. This gives you a fresh perspective.

I'm with this down to this point. I don't check for grammar, though, and I don't trim in review--I usually add. I let it sit before reviewing it, and I run both a spellcheck and a check for quote mark placement before putting it to bed. Then most of them sit for three months to two years before I submit them to an editor, at which time I both do a full review (again, usually adding), a spellcheck, and a check for quote mark placement. Then the whole process again after the editor has returned it and before I submit it anywhere.

 

[Voboy]

• I type stream-of consciousness, and am usually able to catch grammar, spelling, usage, or syntax errors as I type. So I fix them immediately and then move on. There are a reasonable number of these, but I'm a rapid writer with a good understanding of English and excellent spelling, so there are probably fewer than many other writers have.
  • I've disabled spellcheck. Over the years, I've learned my eyes are more reliable than spellcheck. And autocorrect is completely outside my idea of what "writing" is, so I disable that too.
• I believe, as I go, that I subconsciously "bookmark" passages that don't flow as well as I'd like them to, because I frequently pause for a drink of coffee or whatever and then look back over what I've just written. Invariably, my eye goes straight to those awkward sections; I fix them right away and then move on. There are few such passages.
• Once finished, I let the story sit for a day, or a week, or a month, or several months, before opening it again and reading it through one time and one time only. I'm looking for continuity errors, especially on stories I wrote over a several-week period with gaps in between. Obviously, I also fix whatever other errors I find, but as far as substantive changes, I make none.
• Once finished with that pass? I decide whether it's worth publishing. If the answer is yes, up it goes with no further alteration. If the answer is no, it will probably languish in my computer until I die. Either way, I'm not making any other changes.
• If a reader's eyes see my work on Lit, about 97% of what they see is what came out of my brain and fingers in the moment, with 2% being changes I made within minutes of writing it, and the remaining 1% being changes made later, for continuity.

When authors of "real books" assert that any errors are their own, they don't really mean it because there are layers of editors and beta-readers in between. I do. Everything I write is mine and only mine. Mistakes or shitty writing? That's my fault, entirely.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

-- I never edit grammar when writing. I leave the red marks on the screen as like a book mark for the final editing. Otherwise when you're doing the final edits and the screen is clean, is give you less motivation and a false sense of security.

I turn off all grammar checking. For me it is all about removing any and all distraction. I never write with music on. I just can't have the distraction. The red squiggles are distracting. That's just me.

-- What works best for me is finishing something, then forgetting about it. Ignore it for a while until the deadline is coming. Then edit it days before submission. This gives you a fresh perspective.

Some form of 'letting it sit' is huge. Even if it's just overnight, often can freshen your perspective and help you find things that stick out. Every writer should do this in some way.

-- The most basic form of editing is grammar check, which is super tedious. No way around that.

Actually, this is a misleading comment. Fixing grammar is proofreading. It is not editing. Many new and amateur writers think that editing is just proofing, so they run it through a spell check and think that they're done even though they've done no actual editing. But yes, you have to proof your work, and yes it is tedious. It's also best to make it the very last step in your process and this last tedious step can be nerve-grating when all you want to do is hit submit. All you can do is suck it up. Proofing 20k words might take you a couple of boring hours, but the story will be posted forever, so it's worth it.

I also understand that proofing in the professional sense is more involved than just grammar, but the purposes of lit submissions grammar proofing separate from actual editing is the important lesson for newer writers.

-- Look out for repetition. You don't notice repetition when writing because it can take a long period of time to write, so you don't realize you're repeating yourself, but when you read the whole thing at a casual pace, you notice it. Again, this is the benefit of forgetting the story for a while and reading it fresh.

I'm always reading back for flow. I'm looking for a good mix of pronouns and actual character names. Every three or four hes or shes should have the character's name stuck back in, wherever it sounds best. Read the paragraph back and feel how it sounds. It should sound pleasant. If it sounds awkward or repetitive, change some sentence structure. "He did this. He did that. She walked across the room. They kissed." It's repetitive. Take one of those sentences and flip it around, or combine a couple of them. "He did this, then that. Walking across the room, she met him. They kissed." This flows better. Sounds more pleasant, more natural. I probably spend more time editing sentence flow than I do actually drafting.

-- Cut out unnecessary words and details. When writing, your goal is to fill the page, but with editing, you'll realize a lot of that is junk and adds nothing to the story. Look at stand up comedians telling a story. There's no waste. Everything is important, every word.

For me this is different. Due to my process, my file always tends to get bigger. That doesn't mean that I never cut anything. Stuff just tends to get cut earlier in the process. My process is a bit unconventional compared to most, at least as far as I can tell. But overall I agree with this advice. Don't be afraid to cut stuff that is clunky or that bogs down the pace. This is what 'kill your darlings' means. It has nothing to do with actually killing off characters. That waitress who brought the menus in detail bogs down the scene. She doesn't need to be there. Cut her out.

-- I use grammarly.com for a free grammar check. They're great at catching small things. Missing words has always been a weakness of mine, they catch that along with other tidbits.
[Literotica note: I don't use the AI feature for grammarly which apprently gets people in trouble, not even sure how to use it, it's a new feature. So stay away from that, just use the basic grammar check]

My editing process is basically intertwined with my drafting. I'm constantly re-reading what I've just written and editing it as I go, so when it comes to final edits, they're done fairly quickly, since the completed draft is already heavily edited. I'm pretty good with grammar and spelling myself. Sentence fragments stick out to me like sore thumbs, so the chances of one getting through to the end is about zero. The only automated checking that I do is when I paste into the submit window and scan through for red squiggles. It works for me because my grammar is quite sound. Others may want to use something stronger. Something always slips through though. No matter how many fine toothed combs that I run through my work, some typo or another always finds it's way into the submission. I have an "aaaaarrrghhh!" moment when I see it, but otherwise I don't sweat it.

I'll add a couple of things:

If you can get a beta reader, it can be invaluable. Find someone (a friend, family member, someone on the forum). They're a test audience. If your sex scene isn't steamy enough, if your characters aren't relatable enough, if your character's motivations are ambiguous, a good beta reader will let you know. Remember, if you've missed putting something onto the page, or have written it rather weakly, your brain will usually fill in the gaps for you since you are essentially god in your story. This is the writer's blind spot that makes it hard to catch your own mistakes. A beta reader doesn't have that omniscient power about your characters, so if anything is thin or missing, it will stick out to them.

Edit your edits! Almost all of my errors that make it through are in my final edits. It's maddening. As much as I know that this happens and I am determined to catch all of my errors in the final editing, I always change some little thing very late in the process and then after I hit submit, I see the error. When I wonder how I made the mistake, I realize that it was made in the very last hour of final editing. I didn't properly proof and edit my final edits!

 

[Trionyx]

“Write drunk, edit sober.” - falsely attributed to Hemingway.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I think grammar checkers suck (beyond checking for spelling mistakes and the basal rules which absolutely have to be followed). Any tool that tells me to "check for clarity", "check for tone", "check for repetition", or whatever it may be, is automatically bullshit. These tools funnel authors into a dreary, unoriginal, and economical style which is not good for fiction. If you are going to judge your work as unclear, tonally wrong, or overly-repetitive, then you should do that with a human eye - and you should correct it with a human suggestion.

As I write, grammar or spelling issues tend to iron themselves out. I can wield the English language well enough that I won't make any bad errors while I'm drafting. Small spelling or grammar mistakes which I spot, I fix on the spot, because it only takes two seconds so it doesn't break the flow of my work. If I left them, they'd play on my mind. That's an unnecessary distraction.

When a draft is completed, I'll put it away for a while. I think longer is better, but I won't be able to leave a manuscript for more than two weeks without growing terribly restless. Then I print it out. I think, if possible, you should read your draft through on physical paper, with a physical pen in hand. It makes the process of going through your story for the first time so much more tangible. There is no equivalent on a device. As I read my story for the first time, I make random ticks along the texts when I encounter things that I enjoy. I make marks for things I don't like, but I don't dwell on them. The first time reading through a story is dedicated to getting through the story quickly, as though I hadn't written it.

Next comes the proper editing. Me and my editor convene with my first draft. We discuss things over tea. And we begin the process of working through the story, start to finish, ironing things out. An editor is invaluable, preferably someone who you know and trust outside of their role as editor. Sometimes it takes many passes for me to deem a manuscript as finished, and sometimes it takes only a few. Sometimes I add and remove great chunks of plot, and sometimes I don't. It all depends on the story.

 

[Rob_Royale]

The best thing I've added to my editing process is the audio read through. Hearing it catches so much. Misplaced commas, missing letters, but the word still passes spell check (tuned/turned) and other stuff. It's my last pass.

 

[StillStunned]

I do my story editing as I go. I'm a pantser, with usually only the vaguest idea of where I'm going. So I'll write, then spend a few days thinking, then go back and add or change bits. Then write some more, and perhaps go and change other bits.

Spelling and grammar get corrected where I see them.

When I'm done, I go through the whole thing again to see how it reads. This usually involves trimming a word here and there and adding more description.

Then I do a Read Aloud, and submit.

 

[Bazzle]

Publish, then see all the mistakes.

 

[Demiurging]

I have trouble ignoring grammar/spelling mistakes when I notice them, end up having to go back and screw up my flow state. Recently, I've started closing my eyes outright while writing unless I absolutely have to see what I'm doing.

Learning to touch type was a revelation, was set in my ways for far too long.

 

[lovecraft68]

According to my readers its nonexistent.

 

[ofbuttons]

Something I have found is if at any point during the story, I felt like when I was writing it I was bored or impatient to get through it, I make sure to go back and reread it. Probably, it either needs to be cut or trimmed down/simplified, or, if it's vital to the story, it needs a rework to be more interesting and take its time. Pacing-related edits are probably the biggest part of the process, with a grammar/spelling polish as I go (usually I do a bad job at this part).

 

[Mal_Bey]

I have seen most of my process mentioned in various forms above, so I won't duplicate them. However there is one step that I did not see that has helped me tremendously. Gather yourself a small circle of fellow writers who agree to mutually beta-read each others works. Other writers understand not just the technical parts like grammar and story structure, they also know things like what is going to flop in LW. Each of my readers have significant contributions to my work by pushing me just that bit further than I wanted to go. I won't claim to be an expert in how to make your own group. Mine came together with occasional open invites here in the forums. But my group has been valuable to me, and if they read this, I want to thank them.

 

[Small_Island]

One unique way I've adopted of doing one or some of my many read throughs is to read it out lout very fast. Not trying to get character inflection or anything, just tearing through the words. If I start stumbling, it points out errors or awkward phrasing that will likely trip up a reader too.

I also put a word count with each chapter as I go. Then when I'm editing, I change the font color of each draft and leave each count in a line in its respective color. I'm generally hoping/aiming for a shorter count, but as others have said, it's also quite common to realize the idea in my head didn't make it all the way into words, so, if a chapter gets longer, I don't fret as long as I feel good about the change. When I've got two or three versions in a row with no changes to the word count, I know it's time to wrap up.
It looks like this (although no color available here).
Chapter One [727][710][712][698][698][698]

 

[NoTalentHack]

I let my ADHD take the wheel. Is it a writing day? Awesome. Edit the middle of the text for no fucking reason? Sure, it was going to happen eventually. Metaphorically chuck the whole thing in the bin (making sure to not actually delete it)? Right on! Pick up a half-remember story in six months and go, "Why didn't I finish this?" Yup.

I'm not saying it's a great way to work; it's not. But it's worked so far.

I will run it through read aloud, though, often obsessively, and correct as I do. That's the easiest way for me to spot repeated words, even more than a report from ProWritingAid. "You've repeated 'she' in close proximity 50 times!" Gee, thanks, PWA.

 

[Kadyia]

My Process:

• Go Wild: Let the ideas flow freely without worrying about making sense or being perfect.
• Find the Form: Once you’ve got enough material, shape it into a story. Organize the chaos.
• Polish and Perfect: Get critical. Edit, refine, and make sure every word is where it needs to be.

I picked up this approach at the University of Texas. Right now, I’m in the final stage of a 15,000-word story called Excavating the Heart. I’m polishing it up, switching from third to first person for a more intimate feel, and I’m about 5,000 words in.

I write 1,000 to 2,000 words a day during the Go Wild stage and get through around 1,000 words a day when I’m polishing. The middle stage? That’s something I tackle as I go, depending on my mood. If I’m not feeling up to judging myself harshly, I just let loose and write. But when I’m ready to wrap things up, like now, I focus on the critical part.

That’s my system. I also use Autocrit, a tool like Grammarly, to spot potential issues. But like any tool, you’ve got to know what to ignore; otherwise, you’ll end up rewriting your story until it sounds like it was churned out by a mass-produced clone.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Very much a pantser, my writing is very stream of consciousness.
I fix grammar and spelling as I see it, leaving more complex things like run on sentences and excessive comma usage(both of which I'm very prone to) for later.

When I sit down to write, I open my Works in Progress folder and see which story calls to me. There are dozens to choose from. This usually involves a read through from the beginning which may or may not involve some content edits if I find something I could have done better last time.

It also means that some stories sit for a while.

Once I get one to a point that I feel the story is complete, I move it to my Pending folder and let it marinate.

This is where the real editing begins. I read each of these stories critically about once a month, looking for places where a shorter sentence would be better, where the dialog just isn't quite right. Word's Immersive reader also helps with hearing the flow of the words and finding those wrong words that spell check let me choose. Some of my stories will sit in pending for months, a few longer than a year. One or two have undergone significant rewrites after months in Pending.

It usually takes three read throughs without changing anything before I'll schedule a story for publication, and even then, I've changed things last minute. The final decision on what to publish goes to my gut. Which story just feels like it's truly ready. Again, some of my stories have sat in pending for over a year.

The one thing I do is write everyday. I don't have a word target. Some days I'll crank out several thousand words while others just a few hundred. I wrote Pirate's Paradox in a single sitting. It's just over 14K words. Key point is that I'm at my computer for at least two hours a day working on a story.

Is this the best process? Who knows, but it seems to work for me.

 

[Mastered_again]

I do my story editing as I go. I'm a pantser, with usually only the vaguest idea of where I'm going. So I'll write, then spend a few days thinking, then go back and add or change bits. Then write some more, and perhaps go and change other bits.

Spelling and grammar get corrected where I see them.

When I'm done, I go through the whole thing again to see how it reads. This usually involves trimming a word here and there and adding more description.

Then I do a Read Aloud, and submit.

I'm not a pantser, but follow a very similar process. However insights to missing details/clarifications occur when I'm not writing and some little voices start clamoring for attention. "You forgot this." or ""That's not much of a description of her (or him). They're major characters, ya idjit!"

 

[Northstar4695]

I get a spicy idea and write this scene I’m excited about first. Then I daydream about the story arc, usually while hiking or driving and come up with an outline (usually in my head, but sometimes written). Then I write what parts flow easily, finally I stitch in the tougher parts.

For editing, I do lots of rewriting as I go. I’m not always happy with how a paragraph comes together, so I’ll do surgery. I frequently go back and reread and tweak sections before I finish the whole draft.

Once I have a draft, I start reading through several times. The first few times it’s for flow. There might be more major surgeries. Then I read through at least two more times for fine editing. I always take one overnight break during fine editing to clear my head.

Then I put it into the Literotica and read it in preview mode for HTML checks. I usually catch a few errors in this stage too. Then hit post and wait. I always find a few errors post- publication. I leave them as badges of courage.