So I was wondering, do you edit your drafts (short stories, novels, scripts, poems) on print or on screen?
I do a bit of both. It's kind of strange, actually. It seems like it should be easier on screen-- moving deleting changing etc... Yet I find I'm a better editor when I use a printed page. Not sure why.
On screen, and then when I know that I've gone over everything so carefully that it just isn't possible for any errors to remain, I print out the whole thing and find a few I missed. Sigh.
both. I do a good read through on screen, then print it, leave it alone for a while, then read it and edit again from the page. I don't know why, but changing it up and giving it some time to get out of my head helps me see more errors.
Same here... feels like there's something magical about paper. I think it's better on paper because it's tangible and immediate. Whereas on-screen, you have to scroll up and down, and your view is limited to a section.
Print, for the most part. I really dislike doing anything on screen. I know it's horrible for the environment, but I print everything...articles that I'm reading, stuff that I'm reviewing...I just can't concentrate when I try to do it on the computer.
Since technically, I haven't gotten to the edit stage on any novel I've written (I'm a very new writer, lol), so I can't say for sure. But I can definitely see myself editing on-screen. I do a lot on my computer, considering I have my own personal laptop and a desktop computer to write on. I do a lot of different writing, planning, etc all on my computer.
I mostly edit on the screen. It saves paper, and I don't have the extra step of transferring all the changes back to the digital copy. Still, I like to do at least one edit on paper, with lots of notes and corrections in red ink. I tend to pick up mistakes in print that I've overlooked on the screen, too, as if I'm seeing it through different eyes.
I do both as well. I find it easier to edit on paper though. I can physically scratch out my choice/usage of words etc.
This is pretty much identical to my editting process- the text looks different in print, and also I'm able to mark up a piece of paper in a way I can't with my monitor. Well, I guess I could but...
I find editing on-screen a lot easier - I type in Times New Roman - then I change the font to Calibri or similar and find the typos etc more evident. It feels as if I am reading from a different perspective. So far it is working, I blush to think the typos I do find. The most irritating the..... instead of they!
I can't afford the paper and ink to do that. Once every year or so I do a mass print-out of everything for my paper archives of my stories (at home home, wasting my dad's printer ink ), and that involves some reading through that might have me running off to change stuff. But I'm so used to using a computer for 90% of the process I can edit pretty well on-screen anyway. If I need to re-write something I'll go back to my normal process of either a notepad for whole scenes or on-screen for fiddly editing.
(Should have added "both" option) Yeah, I was wondering since I'm planning to submit a short story. I printed out my final draft, confident that it had minimal errors -- boy was I wrong. The grammar is fine, but the pacing was terrible. One thing I noticed with paper editing is that the error stays there, mocking you with its ugly face -- it makes slip-ups more personal.
you should have included 'both'! i do both and advise new writers to do so, since you will catch things on the page that you keep missing on the screen... and it's also a good idea to read what you write the way agents/editors will... with anything longer than a poem, i'll usually do two printouts... for the first draft, to catch goofs and glitches and stuff that needs adding/deleting/changing... then for the final draft, to make sure it's as polished and perfect as i can get it...
Both if I'm ambitious, otherwise just on screen. I find what i need to change on paper, and changes it on screen. And I change font every step when i do it when I do it to give a slight mental boost to the "seeing it with diffrent eyes"-mindset.
Almost all of my editing is onscreen. For long pieces, I will print the whole thing when it's near done because I can spread out the pages and see more of the document at the same time than I can with a screen. And I do seem to catch just a few final errors when I'm looking at the paper, probably just because it looks different.
The first go has been all on screen, but since the overall thing will be getting shorter, I think it will be easier to do now.
I edit mostly on paper. That way, I can read it over and mark it up in the comfort of my easy chair, which is where I do most of my reading, anyway. Reading at my desk feels stiff and formal and uncomfortable. I like doing markups in ink, anyway - the manuscript looks great afterwards, like a piece of modern art. It's fun! Also, knowing that I have to copy the edits into the computer, forcing me to do another pass, allows me to edit more freely.
Same. But because printing costs money (and I'm a poor student ), I only edit writing for uni on paper, and edit the rest of my writing on screen. Although, I tend to have two documents open side by side - one the original and then the other is me typing out a new edited version.