How many of you print out your first drafts so you can edit on paper, as opposed to just doing everything on the computer?
I do that for my second draft. My first draft is a rewrite and copy edit. Then it's onto hard copy editing. Bear in mind that there are at least three levels of editing: 1. Content editing - the high level stuff. Storytelling, characters, plotting, setting, etc. If your story doesn't work here, it will fail to succeed as well as it could. 2. Copyediting - A hard look at sentence and word choices. This is the polish that every manuscript needs before it is sent out to be published. 3. Proofreading - A thorough look for missing words, punctuation, typos, etc. Do this AFTER ALL other changes have been made.
I always print out my drafts. I freely scribble over them all in various colors of ink. I need my work in hard copy before I can muck around with it.
If I have a particularly complex section, and I know I need to do some maneuvering, I'll print out that section, plus a page or so before. Then I literally start cutting it up, moving it around, seeing where things work best. Then I go back to the computer and do the cut & paste there.
Not til I'm basically done with it. One thing I always do is read it aloud into the tape thingie on my phone. Then I listen to it as I'm about to go to sleep. Really helps. Ha ha! Sometimes NOT in the way I'd like it to either!
i usually will do that once for short works and 2-3 times for books... it gives one a different perspective which is really needed when searching for goofs that can easily be overlooked on the screen...
I'm with mammamaia. I work it over and over on the computer until I'm not finding much to fix, and then print it out. I find things on paper to fix that I didn't on the screen.
I'll do a quick read through and tidy-up on the computer, then print it out and hack it up properly with a red pen and flagon of coffee. Then give it to readers, then repeat.
