2.23 Editting your NaNoWriMo or other novels
Yeah, this post is a bit overdue. I make no excuses. Life ate my soul. I had to bargain with some elder gods to get it back.
With NaNo a week or two cooling down finally, I've seen a few posts in NaNo groups as people begin to wonder 'well where do I start?' for editing.
I know some people like to edit as they write. This is a fine practice for some, but I personally find it is time-wasting and something I use as an excuse to not finish the WIP I'm trying to get through. As a result, I tend to oppose this method in general. My experience has been that many of the authors I've spoken to who do this suffer the never-ending WIP disease and I attribute an inability to 'just write' as one of the causes of this. Again, if this method is fine and works for you, that's great. It doesn't work for me, and I am sure this is true for others as well.
Yeah, every time I do a spelling and grammar check I'm usually horrified by all the bits I missed in my MS. It doesn't take long, but it is definitely necessary!
Wouldn't it be lovely to do a check and find no errors? Yeah, it would be.
If you write like me, sometimes a whole chapter or scene just 'bothers me' I have found that after leaving an MS for a little while, that feeling goes away, other times my brain is now able to work out what it was that annoyed me in the first place and re-crafting sections is sometimes necessary. This is probably the time that someone will change names three or four times and you should go through the whole thing again to see if you missed one of the previous names. You will still have missed one, but it will help, sort of.
Some folk like to repeat step 2 until their eyes bleed. Personally I sacrifice a small goat after one or two checks and go to step three.
Send it out.
For any novel, I send my work to about 3-8 people.
Yeah, that's a lot. That is because of those 8, I will probably not hear back from 3, find that 2 have little to give me and end up relying on the last two for their contradicting suggestions.
Some folk like to send their MS to as many beta readers as they can after repeating steps 2 and 3 in a never-ending cycle. At some stage, you need to remember that not everyone has the same taste, not everyone is going to want it back 15 times, and you cannot polish a story indefinitely if you want to eventually publish it.
I have one friend who's magic number is 20. I also know someone who is in God-knows what numerical revision point (possibily the high 60s at a conservative estimate) because she wants it to be 'perfect'.
Take a deep sip of my cool-aid and listen; Perfect prose does not exist.
Good enough is good enough. You can write another book that's better than this one later. You will write better, worse, stranger, mundane-er stuff.
Learn to let go of your work and know that you've polished as much as you can. Learn to move on.
If you are writing Fic for Wattpad or Fanfiction, you're done. You've polished and uploaded your chapter and folk will heart and review you.
Self published authors now hire editors for developmental edits and copyedits.
Traditional published authors now send their work to agents and editors for querying and edits on successfully being picked up.
Stephen King is famously attributed to have said the only tolerable state of writing is having just written. This is pretty true in my experience as after finishing a novel I enjoy a high and after edits, I enjoy an even better high. Then I inevitably go to writing something new because I cannot escape the urge to write for very long.
With NaNo a week or two cooling down finally, I've seen a few posts in NaNo groups as people begin to wonder 'well where do I start?' for editing.
Controversial opinion:
I know some people like to edit as they write. This is a fine practice for some, but I personally find it is time-wasting and something I use as an excuse to not finish the WIP I'm trying to get through. As a result, I tend to oppose this method in general. My experience has been that many of the authors I've spoken to who do this suffer the never-ending WIP disease and I attribute an inability to 'just write' as one of the causes of this. Again, if this method is fine and works for you, that's great. It doesn't work for me, and I am sure this is true for others as well.
Step 1, spelling and grammar.
If you are like me, you probably scoff at the idea that you might have made typos or spelling mistakes. Those red lines are just proper nouns, right?Yeah, every time I do a spelling and grammar check I'm usually horrified by all the bits I missed in my MS. It doesn't take long, but it is definitely necessary!
Wouldn't it be lovely to do a check and find no errors? Yeah, it would be.
Step 2, rewrite and add/remove scenes.
If you write like me, sometimes a whole chapter or scene just 'bothers me' I have found that after leaving an MS for a little while, that feeling goes away, other times my brain is now able to work out what it was that annoyed me in the first place and re-crafting sections is sometimes necessary. This is probably the time that someone will change names three or four times and you should go through the whole thing again to see if you missed one of the previous names. You will still have missed one, but it will help, sort of.
Some folk like to repeat step 2 until their eyes bleed. Personally I sacrifice a small goat after one or two checks and go to step three.
Step 3, betas or CPs.
In fanfiction culture you'd now ask for someone to beta-read your story before you upload it. This term has leaked into general writing community and as a result people get verrry confused because traditionally betas come after editors, around the ARC time. Critique partners is the accepted step 3, but people use beta reader to mean this step too.Send it out.
For any novel, I send my work to about 3-8 people.
Yeah, that's a lot. That is because of those 8, I will probably not hear back from 3, find that 2 have little to give me and end up relying on the last two for their contradicting suggestions.
Some folk like to send their MS to as many beta readers as they can after repeating steps 2 and 3 in a never-ending cycle. At some stage, you need to remember that not everyone has the same taste, not everyone is going to want it back 15 times, and you cannot polish a story indefinitely if you want to eventually publish it.
Step 4, fuck it, that'll do.
My magic number is 5 passes. If I don't like the story after five lots of self-revision, I won't ever like it. I think that's pretty low, but I also think it's probably a lot healthier for writing more stuff than others.I have one friend who's magic number is 20. I also know someone who is in God-knows what numerical revision point (possibily the high 60s at a conservative estimate) because she wants it to be 'perfect'.
Take a deep sip of my cool-aid and listen; Perfect prose does not exist.
Good enough is good enough. You can write another book that's better than this one later. You will write better, worse, stranger, mundane-er stuff.
Learn to let go of your work and know that you've polished as much as you can. Learn to move on.
Step 5, onward!
If you are writing Fic for Wattpad or Fanfiction, you're done. You've polished and uploaded your chapter and folk will heart and review you.
Self published authors now hire editors for developmental edits and copyedits.
Traditional published authors now send their work to agents and editors for querying and edits on successfully being picked up.
Step 6, the only tolerable state of writing
Stephen King is famously attributed to have said the only tolerable state of writing is having just written. This is pretty true in my experience as after finishing a novel I enjoy a high and after edits, I enjoy an even better high. Then I inevitably go to writing something new because I cannot escape the urge to write for very long.
Comments
Post a Comment