How Much Editing Is Enough?

Discussion in 'Revision and Editing' started by Catrin Lewis, Dec 6, 2016.

  1. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    GIMP is free.
     
  2. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

    You can check out YouTube for some good beginner tutorials.
     
  3. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Here is a speech synthesis service that I literally just used: http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/

    I converted a chapter of my book to speech and listened to it while I read. I definitely picked up some things listening to it that I have not seen by looking at it.
     
  4. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    @Alex R. Encomienda you can download GIMP for free. So yeah, it is worth it.
     
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  5. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    @Alex R. Encomienda you can download GIMP for free. So yeah, it is worth it.
     
  6. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Thanks, I just tried it on the chapter I'm rewriting now. It's pretty good, especially for a freebie. You're right--- one does pick up new things listening rather than reading.
     
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  7. Youssef Salameh

    Youssef Salameh Senior Member

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    In my point of view, every writer has his own talent and skill. However, it depends on the subject that he/she takes.
    If he/she understands it very well, then he/she will find it easy to express it into words. If the subject is complicated, then sure, it will take time simplify it and revise it.
    Furthermore, we are all human beings, and every one has his own pace of finishing a literary work.
    But practicing and practicing seems to be the best solution.
    Good luck to all.
     
  8. nastyjman

    nastyjman Senior Member

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    Art is never finished, only abandoned. - Leonardo da Vinci

    I think there is a lesson to be learned when letting go. Also, the time you spent editing and editing again could have been used in writing new material.
     
  9. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Don't hurry. Why hurry? Is there some outside deadline that you're reacting to?

    I've made it clear that I'm opposed to self-publishing, and that's in large part because the self-published books that I have bought have been not quite good enough. They were a waste of what could have been a good book.

    So if you're going to self publish, at least don't rush it. Put it away for a few months. Let it get stale. Find out whether it strikes you on re-reading as being quite good and you can't recall what you disliked, or whether you see that it needs a whole new fresh polish from top to bottom.

    That doesn't mean that you can't start the next thing while this one is getting stale.
     
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  10. Rosacrvx

    Rosacrvx Contributor Contributor

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    Wow, I didn't know about that! And they have a Portuguese version too! Of course I just gave it a try!
    It didn't sound as bad as I had thought it would! It would definitely sound worse if done by me. (I'm not good at reading out loud, maybe because I don't like the sound of my voice so I tend to mumble softly.)

    What put me off was the robotic pace of the reading. Does it sound robotic in English as well?
     
  11. newjerseyrunner

    newjerseyrunner Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Yeah, there are better ones of course, they just aren't free. For my purposes, that worked fine.

    Let's you see when a character is out of breathe rather than out of breath. I definitely would not have caught things like that on my own, but it's quite clear, even with a robot voice.
     
  12. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Why hurry?

    Because I've been rewriting and expanding the novella this work is based on for over three years and I'm 62-and-a-half and at this rate I'll publish maybe two or three novels before I drop dead, if I'm lucky. Which I might do sooner than later, the rate my non-writing work schedule goes (Retirement? Who can afford to retire?). And I have a lot more novel ideas than that in my head.

    Because my mom is nearly 87 and I'd like to get a printed copy into her hands before she shuffles off this mortal coil.

    Because my house is full of half-finished projects, and I'm afraid if I don't get this book done and out, it will be one more of the same.

    Because there's a chance I'm using all this editing and re-editing as an excuse not to push it out there, because I'm afraid nobody will like it and this way I don't have to run the risk of rejection.

    Because I spent good money on my ISBNs and my DBA for my own publishing house last July (!) and I need to try to make a buck or two from my writing ASAP so I don't lose the deductions with the IRS (I thought I was going to get this novel out by the end of August!).

    Because I've got potential readers asking me about it, and if I don't publish before too much longer, they're liable to think I'm all talk and no action.

    Because I'm rather obsessed with this project and need to feel free of it before I can in good conscience go on to another.

    That's "why hurry."

    Once I'm done assimilating the final beta reader comments, I just may be able to do what @jannert suggests and give a rest of two months. Doing so might save me time in the long run. But I can't promise that, should I in the meantime think of something to improve the book or recall something I need to delete to make it better, I won't open the file and deal with it right away. :write:
     
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  13. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    A little. Some places it's quite good.
     
  14. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Yeah, OK. I've just moved you from the mental category of people that I worry will make an impulsive mistake, to the mental category of people who have had a good analytical look at the pros and cons and what they want. Not that that categorization is my business anyway, but there it is, in my head.
     
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  15. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I can certainly relate to a lot of what you said, except for the financial aspects and the ageing mother. Mind you, my friends are ageing as well, and they've been pestering me....

    Don't look at the 2-months off as another delay, though. Use it as a head-clearing exercise, so that when you go back a final time, you'll wallop through it like a dose of salts, and won't waste time tinkering because you can't see the big picture. Really. It pays off.
     
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  16. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    For what it's worth, the site has developed a glitch today where the "narrators" are pronouncing the punctuation about half the time. Kinda ruins the dramatic effect.

    That aside, I want to get the book so polished that when I listen to it read out loud it doesn't even sound like I wrote it. I want it to strike the ear as right and inevitable, as if it fell whole out of the sky.

    The scene I just converted was getting there as to the narrative. But a few lines of dialogue clanked absurdly. More editing required . . .
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2016
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  17. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    Off topic but its weird how the picture you develop of someone in your head doesnt match reality - from your writing i was picturing someone about my age (early forties)
     
  18. Catrin Lewis

    Catrin Lewis Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023 Community Volunteer

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    Thanks. Walking around living my life, I feel about that age or younger. I have to be my own taskmaster and make myself be objective about the fact that I'm not.
     
  19. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Y
    You could do a lot worse than have a robotic reading programme read it back to you. A friend of mine who has eye problems always uses Jaws to write with, and gets everything read back to her via Jaws. So if she can make her prose sound lively (which she can) when read by a robot, she's aced it.
     
  20. Alex R. Encomienda

    Alex R. Encomienda Contributor Contributor

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    Update on my WIP:

    So I talked to one of the speakers at the writing convention I went to and she told me to edit everything from top to bottom and have family beta read. I've edited 20 pages of my manuscript so far and with formatting and rewriting it took a week.

    Beta reading might be tough though because don't you think it would be useless to give it to a family or friend? I mean, I'm the only reader in the family so I'm afraid they'll think it's this brilliant piece of work and when I give it to an agent they'll think otherwise.

    Who do you all give your rewritten works to? Old colleagues? Other writers?

    I'm asking ahead of myself because I'm probably not going to finish editing until mid 17'.
     
  21. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    Some family and friends can be great betas, but they tend not to be.

    If you can connect with another writer - here or elsewhere - that's probably your best bet, especially if they write in a similar genre to yours.
     
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  22. Chris Before

    Chris Before New Member

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    Writing editing software will pick up many simple issues such as commencing sentences with the same phrase and over-used words. Some are free or low cost. They may be useful for highlighting issues that you had not noticed, from grammar to over-use of passive sentences. However it is essentially a machine reading your writing, following rules with no sense of context, flair or emotion. I found editing software ok for highlighting issues end encouraging me to consider the familiar from a different perspective. They can also be frustrating and make very strange suggestions. Not a substitute for humans but ok for highlighting particular issues. At the end of the day, you still have to say - enough.
     

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