1. naruzeldamaster

    naruzeldamaster Senior Member

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    Best Time to Go Back and Edit?

    Discussion in 'Revision and Editing' started by naruzeldamaster, Apr 24, 2021.

    So...I don't...really edit my stuff before posting, this current original story and another original story are my first attempts at a 'second' draft. I'm debating weather I should continue writing until I hit writers block and then edit or edit as I finish the chapters. For a shorter story it might be better to just continue writing and edit when I hit writer's block but for a longer story it may be best to write and then edit each individual chapter.
     
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  2. GrittyWriter

    GrittyWriter Banned

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    Do whatever it takes to write a great story.
     
  3. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Each story might require a different process. Just don't try to edit and write at the same time. That being said, I usually simultaneously write and edit my freelance nonfiction with a final edit at the end, but I've had a lot of practice.
     
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  4. naruzeldamaster

    naruzeldamaster Senior Member

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    So finishing a chapter and then writing the second draft after finishing the first is better than editing as I go?
     
  5. Madman

    Madman Life is Sacred Contributor

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    Personally, I like to edit once I'm done with the first draft of a story. That way you can go back and forth with ease, and know the details of the story and what its goal is.

    Editing as you go can get difficult, you may end up in a cycle of going back and forth constantly changing things.
     
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  6. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I'm a firm believer in creativity first, editing later. Writing one chapter, editing it, then writing the next is a process that would drive me nuts. Try concentrating on the creative part of the writing and don't worry too much about editing anything until you're done.

    The problems I've found with editing chapter by chapter are 1) it breaks up my creative flow, 2) the story is likely to take a different path than I expect, making it necessary to change previous chapters, 3) concentrating at any point on editing makes it awfully easy to avoid writing fresh material. If I hit a brick plot wall that requires the very difficult work of staring into space and thinking, I sometimes use that time to go back over what I've written to refresh my memory and make any obvious changes.
     
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  7. MusingWordsmith

    MusingWordsmith Shenanigan Master Contributor

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    Yeah I'd also not recommend editing till you finish the first draft. First drafts are for you to tell the story to yourself, second drafts are for when you start figuring out how to tell the story to other people. There's a lot of mental shortcuts you might take telling the story to yourself-- because you know 'X character is doing this for Y reason' and so on. First drafts that's totally fine! You're figuring out the story. Second draft is when actually making sure it's understandable outside your head becomes a concern.
     
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  8. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I could see editing chapter by chapter if you're uploading the story to a website that way, or if you're posting something here for critique and don't want people concentrating on SPaG and typos. Otherwise most writers seem to prefer finishing the entire first draft before switching into edit mode.

    There's a big difference between simple line editing (fixing SPaG and typos) and a full developmental edit, where you're changing content and moving sentences or paragraphs around and reshaping the entire story. I find line editing isn't too destructive on the creative process, and like I said it might be necessary if you're going to show parts of the story to other people before it's finished and don't want them getting distracted by surface issues. But hold off on deep editing at a story level until the 1st draft is finished. Otherwise you can spend endless hours (days?) fiddling around with things that will be completely removed or rewritten in the next draft.

    The main purpose of the 1st draft is to show you the shape of the entire idea so you can see what needs revising. No sense futzing around with it at a deep level before you get to see that. Trust me, I've wasted lots of time editing things that I then decided need to just be removed anyway. Not fun!
     
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  9. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    You'll get equally compelling arguments for either route. And it all depends on personal taste. Some people prefer to write entire novels before they edit a word of it, mainly because they believe the editing chokes the creative flow and once they start editing they will be able to get it back and finish the blank pages. Or, if you're like me, sometimes reading back through what I've written discourages me because it looks like random pig vomit. I mean, my first drafts always look like pig vomit, but if already completed the novel, at least it's finished pig vomit.

    Others edit everything as they go with issue. Or they'll get halfway through, realize they want to make a major change, then go back and edit it into everything else they've written.

    Dif'rent strokes for dif'rent folks. No right or wrong.
     
  10. Thundair

    Thundair Contributor Contributor

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    I procrastinate sometimes a week or more, so to get back into my story I'll edit a few chapters to get me rolling again.
     
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  11. hyacinthe

    hyacinthe Banned

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    i make in-progress adjustments as I am writing, because if I know something's wrong and I don't fix it I'll stop writing

    then ideally i shove it in a drawer and forget its existence for a while

    then I can come back and fix it for real.
     
  12. Damage718

    Damage718 Senior Member

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    Exactly what I do as well. Since the bulk of my freelance pieces are short (3-500w advertorials), I edit/tweak as I go and then give them a final once over before submission.

    For fiction, it's all up to you really. Whatever works. There's conventional wisdom to write the whole draft first, typos and all, and finish it before going back to edit. I personally find that a challenge, since I can't help but hit that backspace button to AT LEAST fix misspellings. Like an earlier post said, however you fine tune the process to get the story you like, go for it. There's no real wrong answer.
     
  13. petra4

    petra4 Active Member

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    I'd edit until the very end. If this is too difficult, then break it down by chapters; or several chapters at a time.
    Letting someone else go over a 1st draft is a good idea also.
     

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