Work With Me, Plot....
Editing is probably the most hated part of the whole writing process. No one likes to edit. It's a lot of work, it's frustrating, and depending on how long it took you to write the first draft, most people just want to kick their story out the door and be done with it.
You tell the plot to take a right turn and it decides to listen to the sexy girl voice on their GPS and turn left. Your characters are defiant and ignore everything you say simply because they hate all the crap you put them through during the course of the story. You soon realize that you have more typos than plot points in the story and you realize that you no longer have knowledge of the correct usage of grammar. All in all, editing is a pain.
I was babysitting last night for three kids. I put them to bed, looked at the clock, and realized that I had about 3-4 hours to myself to do whatever I wanted. I had packed a book with me, a notebook, my 3DS with some games, and my completed novel that needs to be edited. I decided to edit a little of the story. I lasted through the prologue and the first chapter. I then closed the folder and put it away. Why? I had no muse to edit at all.
The draft I am currently editing is the fourth draft. As I read through the prologue and the first chapter, I realized that there were a lot of mistakes that I either didn't catch the first three times, or I made even more mistakes as I tried to correct the previous ones. I added new words, new sentences, took out words and sentences, described things differently, and sometimes I even crossed something out only to reconsider and put it right back in.
The people I babysit for got a new coffee maker for Christmas. I chugged practically all of their coffee down my throat as I angrily edited my story...a whole two chapters. I've been wanting to continue editing this story for a long time and when I finally sat down to do it, I realized how hard it was and how much work that it was going to be, I stopped. It was ten o'clock at night and I was tired. Three kids plus one friend over was a lot of work...especially taking the friend home and then putting the other three to bed. It was a hassle and the last thing I wanted to do was argue back and forth with my characters and my plot about what should change and what should stay the same. If I had it my way, nothing would change and it would be a best-seller. The writing world, unfortunately, does not work that way. It sucks, but it's the truth.
I plan to have this draft of the novel edited by the end of this week...and it's Sunday, so hopefully I will be able to actually meet that deadline. Not only that, but I have to write a lot, as well.
Editing is such a pain; however it's necessary. It helps a whole lot and makes the story turn into a whole new story-a much better story. Editing doesn't always have to be a pain, though. It's a long process, which in itself can make it a pain, but here's what I do:
I write the story and wait a month. That way, I can take a breather from the whole story. Then (or maybe during my month break) I give the story to someone else to read and edit for me. Usually, it's my sister. When they finish, I look over it and add their corrections. Some I take, some I don't. Then I print it out again and edit it myself. Once more, I edit it myself printed out only reading it out loud this time. The ears tend to catch a lot more than the eyes do. After that, I edit it while it's still on the computer. Sometimes I read it out loud and sometimes I don't. Printing it out is the best option, which is while only one or two of my drafts stay on the computer. Sometimes that would be my last draft, but nine times out of ten it's not. My last draft is the draft that has little to no marking on it at all.
So, editing is long, yes. Editing is also a pain, yes. However, if you know what you're doing, know where the story is supposed to be leading to, and have enough patience to stick with it, then you're golden. How do you edit?
Editing is probably the most hated part of the whole writing process. No one likes to edit. It's a lot of work, it's frustrating, and depending on how long it took you to write the first draft, most people just want to kick their story out the door and be done with it.
You tell the plot to take a right turn and it decides to listen to the sexy girl voice on their GPS and turn left. Your characters are defiant and ignore everything you say simply because they hate all the crap you put them through during the course of the story. You soon realize that you have more typos than plot points in the story and you realize that you no longer have knowledge of the correct usage of grammar. All in all, editing is a pain.
I was babysitting last night for three kids. I put them to bed, looked at the clock, and realized that I had about 3-4 hours to myself to do whatever I wanted. I had packed a book with me, a notebook, my 3DS with some games, and my completed novel that needs to be edited. I decided to edit a little of the story. I lasted through the prologue and the first chapter. I then closed the folder and put it away. Why? I had no muse to edit at all.
The draft I am currently editing is the fourth draft. As I read through the prologue and the first chapter, I realized that there were a lot of mistakes that I either didn't catch the first three times, or I made even more mistakes as I tried to correct the previous ones. I added new words, new sentences, took out words and sentences, described things differently, and sometimes I even crossed something out only to reconsider and put it right back in.
The people I babysit for got a new coffee maker for Christmas. I chugged practically all of their coffee down my throat as I angrily edited my story...a whole two chapters. I've been wanting to continue editing this story for a long time and when I finally sat down to do it, I realized how hard it was and how much work that it was going to be, I stopped. It was ten o'clock at night and I was tired. Three kids plus one friend over was a lot of work...especially taking the friend home and then putting the other three to bed. It was a hassle and the last thing I wanted to do was argue back and forth with my characters and my plot about what should change and what should stay the same. If I had it my way, nothing would change and it would be a best-seller. The writing world, unfortunately, does not work that way. It sucks, but it's the truth.
I plan to have this draft of the novel edited by the end of this week...and it's Sunday, so hopefully I will be able to actually meet that deadline. Not only that, but I have to write a lot, as well.
Editing is such a pain; however it's necessary. It helps a whole lot and makes the story turn into a whole new story-a much better story. Editing doesn't always have to be a pain, though. It's a long process, which in itself can make it a pain, but here's what I do:
I write the story and wait a month. That way, I can take a breather from the whole story. Then (or maybe during my month break) I give the story to someone else to read and edit for me. Usually, it's my sister. When they finish, I look over it and add their corrections. Some I take, some I don't. Then I print it out again and edit it myself. Once more, I edit it myself printed out only reading it out loud this time. The ears tend to catch a lot more than the eyes do. After that, I edit it while it's still on the computer. Sometimes I read it out loud and sometimes I don't. Printing it out is the best option, which is while only one or two of my drafts stay on the computer. Sometimes that would be my last draft, but nine times out of ten it's not. My last draft is the draft that has little to no marking on it at all.
So, editing is long, yes. Editing is also a pain, yes. However, if you know what you're doing, know where the story is supposed to be leading to, and have enough patience to stick with it, then you're golden. How do you edit?
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