I Love Editing

[kriadydragon]

I really do, more so than the writing process. Which is saying something because once upon a time I used to be one of those crazy writers who thought I had the story right the first time, so leaned toward being lazy when it came to editing. Well, not lazy; more a control freak. I didn't want to change a story too much because I thought it fine as is. My favorite part was the actual writing, not fixing everything. But back in the day, I looked at editing as fixing technical mistakes rather than bringing the story together, so it was something I didn't particularly enjoy.

Now I love it, because I'm able to see the story come together. There was so much I wanted to fix with my current story but had to hold back at the risk of spending too much time fixing things rather than writing. So as I wrote, I didn't feel the story all that good as it wasn't doing what I wanted. Now it is doing what I want. Or, I should say, what I have written is pointing me in the direction the story and characters need to go. Outlines are awesome, but I don't see a story and its potential until it's written and start editing. Really, the first draft of a story is my outline.

Comments

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

I used to write and go back to each paragraph to ask myself, "How can I improve this paragraph?" I used to love that....

Back when I was writing...

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking about trying that for my next story: reaching a point where I can stop, go back and read over what I have. What slowed me down with my current story was that I wasn't seeing what it was accomplishing, and there was so much I wanted to fix but refused to until I was done.

So it may be that I need to change my tactic. I'm a tad reluctant, though, as it means possibly getting so caught up in fixing things that I don't get anything more written.

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

I only waited to go over each paragraph after I'd written the entire fic. Then I'd pick it apart paragraph by paragraph. I could never stop writing to edit it.

But, when I did pick it apart I just concentrated on THAT one paragraph. I love the way Thomas Harris writes (Silence of the Lambs). Not the content, *how* he writes.

For example, here's the first paragraph of a fic I wrote:

(sorry, It's a Farscape fic)

"His module hung silently in space. Oxygen crystallized from his breath and the frozen condensation was glistening on the inside of his hatch, creating a sparking effect that might have looked pretty to John Crichton’s eyes had it not been for death looming over him. Incredibly, Moya had been sucked down a wormhole of all things. He could still hear Jool and Pilot screaming. He found himself alone, with no fuel in the middle of space without a planet nearby. Not like the last time. He had found a planet in which to save himself."

I loved Harris' ability to describe succinctly and tried to emulate that.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Ah. I've heard other writers talk about stopping during the writing process, going back and looking the story over to make sure they're on the right track. I'm considering giving it a try. But we'll see. Sometimes I have to get a story down as quick as possible or else it will never get finished, so the method of starting and stopping may be out of the question for me.

Right now I'm tidying the original story up - making all those changes I wanted and then some. I'm starting to get why it's called a "rewrite." Afterward, I plan to give the story a second read but nit-pick it a piece at a time: paragraph by paragraph like you, or chapter by chapter.

My big things is word choicing. There are some authors - like Jim Butcher. Barbara Hambly and Ursula K. LeGuinn who always seem to know the right words to use. A single word can go a long way in just a single sentence, and that's something I'm striving for in my own stories.

But it's hard when your mental Thesaurus tries to blank out on you :P

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

I went out and bought a HUGE thesaurus to assist my mental one. It's called a 21 Century Thesaurus and is two inches thick. I also utilize Webster's online as well as other sites.