Consider This - Editing
Editing is an art and I have been told over and over that writing is re-writing.
When I first started to write my first book, I read an article in the University of Sydney Alumni magazine. A recently published author talked about how she came to love the editing process and had probably edited her book about 50 times! I had just written my first draft and done a couple of extensive edits. Was I going to have to do that 48 more times? I felt like crying.
That was 10 years before I finally published the book!
Also, during that time I read another book "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell". It had taken her 14 years to publish that book. At the time I thought "How could anyone persist on one project for 14 years?" Well, after 11 years, I could answer that.
So, editing. There are many phases to editing. Here are a few:
- Making sure the story works and everything makes sense.
- Checking for phrasing and that everything flows. That all the speech is real to life.
- Correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar.
The problem is, after writing and editing, the writer can get so close to the manuscript that they can't see the flaws. It is so good to have readers who are critical and pull your work apart and point out all the major and minor flaws. Don't use readers who just want to praise you - it doesn't help make it better!
But the best tool for good editing is time! Put that manuscript away for some time (be disciplined and don't look at it) - a few weeks or months, whatever it takes to feel like the next time you pick it up, it is fresh and you can view it critically.
And, when you think you've exhausted all your editing possibilities, use a professional to have a fresh look. Not every editor will work for you, but when you find one that can tell you one simple thing to help you edit a whole manuscript perfectly, stick with them.
I think I might have edited my first book almost a 100 times, but, I did enjoy it, in the end. I could go back to the Sydney Uni article and understand what that new author was talking about.
Happy writing (and editing).
When I first started to write my first book, I read an article in the University of Sydney Alumni magazine. A recently published author talked about how she came to love the editing process and had probably edited her book about 50 times! I had just written my first draft and done a couple of extensive edits. Was I going to have to do that 48 more times? I felt like crying.
That was 10 years before I finally published the book!
Also, during that time I read another book "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell". It had taken her 14 years to publish that book. At the time I thought "How could anyone persist on one project for 14 years?" Well, after 11 years, I could answer that.
So, editing. There are many phases to editing. Here are a few:
- Making sure the story works and everything makes sense.
- Checking for phrasing and that everything flows. That all the speech is real to life.
- Correcting spelling, punctuation, grammar.
The problem is, after writing and editing, the writer can get so close to the manuscript that they can't see the flaws. It is so good to have readers who are critical and pull your work apart and point out all the major and minor flaws. Don't use readers who just want to praise you - it doesn't help make it better!
But the best tool for good editing is time! Put that manuscript away for some time (be disciplined and don't look at it) - a few weeks or months, whatever it takes to feel like the next time you pick it up, it is fresh and you can view it critically.
And, when you think you've exhausted all your editing possibilities, use a professional to have a fresh look. Not every editor will work for you, but when you find one that can tell you one simple thing to help you edit a whole manuscript perfectly, stick with them.
I think I might have edited my first book almost a 100 times, but, I did enjoy it, in the end. I could go back to the Sydney Uni article and understand what that new author was talking about.
Happy writing (and editing).
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Consider This
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