Is the best way to polish works is reading what you have typed and then deleting out what you don't need, or you think you dont need. Or put it onto paper and editing it that way. What do you think?
I think the answer to this question is different for everyone. Personally, I like to write my beginning draft by hand and edit on paper, then type it all up and make further revisions by computer. There's just something about writing it out on paper first that helps me with my writing.
I find the best way is to let it sit for a while and then go back to it and read it. Read it in your head then read it out loud. Every sentence think 'can I cut this down or make this more effective?'
I do the first draft by hand, so the first light polishing happens when I'm typing it in. For further revisions, I print a copy and work with that. I read it aloud, which helps locate the typos that my brain autocorrects when I read silently. Then I read it into a tape recorder and replay it -- that helps me catch flow issues, places where the prose gets sing-songy, etc. Then the real work starts when I go over sentence by sentence to scope out those nasty, unnecessary words.
'polishing' is the final step in the editing process... and it's really best to print out your ms and do that last edit on paper, as one tends to keep missing the same mistakes when reading work only on the monitor... besides, the hard copy is what you will be sending out for agents and editors to read, so you need to see it the same way they will, to be able to make that final fine-tuning 'polish' be as perfect as possible...
I write my first draft by hand, type it up and lightly edit as I go...then when it's all done I go over the entire thing (preferably hard copy) and do an intense edit. ~Lynn
As was mentioned in above posts - Do all you can do onscreen, then leave it to gather the clarity of objectivity before giving it another going over. Then print it out and find your red and green pens, because this is where the real workover begins. Only when you're satisfied you've brought it as far as you can should you hit the keyboard and update your ms.
There are a number of ways you can do this and it's based primarily on what you like unless you're getting it published---then you have to take into account the pulisher's requirements too. I've heard many ways that works for people, including reading it backwards. I find printing part of it out and reading it like, and then retyping it helps me spot things better.
I'm not a good editor, so I can't say. I can comb through the same chapter twenty times and still miss a silly mistake.
