The love of Editing

Once upon a time I hated editing my own work, had I the money I would have payed for someone to do it for me. Luckily I'm a poor writer without the income to pay anyone to edit my work, the most I can afford is a copy-editor. Luckily I said, you read right, had I the money I would never have learned to love doing it myself.

Sure they say one can't possible edit ones own work to perfection, but so can't someone else. Nothing in life is perfect, not even the sun. Though someone else will be able to see what you will never able to and catch the mistakes you have missed. Best is to have an editor edit your own work after you have self-edited extensively, this will iron out most mistakes. For the writer without ample budget self-editing and a copy-editor will have to do.

How did I come to love it? Simply by doing it. The more you practice by doing, the better you get at it, the better you get at it, the higher the chance will be you'll like doing it. Loving something will help in the rate you improve, because I hated self-editing it went slowly for me. My dislike was a ball of iron chained to my leg, it took me a mind adjustment to break the chain.

We people like to put borders for ourselves which we are reluctant to pass. Thinking we are not good in something, or that something is difficult, or that you can't possible do it by yourself, we limit ourselves in what we can do. By changing your thoughts into what you want to do and by not putting a ceiling for yourself, you will be able to go further than you ever thought would be possible.

I stopped thinking negatively about editing and focused instead on the good, and what I wanted to accomplish. By not thinking negatively about editing, I felt with each passing day the abhorrence of editing fading. I'm pushing more work now and have good hopes I'll finish my current WIP before years end.

Editing, my way!

Well yes! Editing the thing I suck at most. And why? Because I dislike it. And the why I dislike editing is; I tend to make many spelling & grammatical errors, and because of this I've do do a lot of corrections. The drawback of having to correct so much and not having the money to pay someone to do the brunt of correcting, is that it slows me down in finishing my books.

I love the creative process of coming up with a story and writing it down. I write a story down fast, but my editing always lags behind. When you do something with passion you will always do it better and the time will fly by like it was done yesterday. Without the passion things will drag and seem to last an eternity.

I'm trailing off. I didn't want to rant about my dislike of editing but I wanted to write about how I edit. This is what I do. I quickly go over the text, sentence by sentence, correcting the simple spelling errors. When I finish doing that I'll go over the text again, and correct the sentence structure. I also do this on the sentence level. I'll repeat doing this till I'm satisfied with the text. I'm no spelling God, when I'm satisfied there probably are many errors still left in.

It takes me as long to edit a novel as it takes me to write one. I'm slow like that. I can't do much about it. Well I could become better and more diligent in my spelling & grammar, that might do the trick, but that takes time and experience. I can live with the slowness for now, but I discovered something else that's wrong with my editing. By doing my correcting per sentence the flow of the whole get distorted at times and my text will read clumsily because of it. (More than it should)

Driving home (I do a lot of thinking driving) I thought about my editing woes, and I came up with that maybe I should correct my work taking into account the whole paragraph. That way I can make sure the whole reads okay, and that not each sentence stands on its own unrelated to those surrounding it. I'll try this new way out and hope that it will improve the readability of my writing.

In fact I'll start with this blog-post.

Review: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

In March I wrote about receiving two books, one about grammar and the other about editing. I finished reading "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" and as promised I would write a more in-depth review.

Before I start, first a bit about the authors.

Renni Browne: She used to be a senior editor for William Morrow and many other companies. In 1980 she left mainstream publishing to found the book-editing company The Editorial Department.

Dave King: He works as an independent editor at home and online at his website.

Now about the book; I want to start with saying I loved it and it helped me in better understand certain things.

The book has twelve chapters in total. I will not write about all the chapters but only those that had the most impact.

The first chapter is about "Show and Tell". Sample writings are used to explain how "Show and Tell" works. Everything is explained in a clear and understanding, easy to read way.

It helped me understand a concept of writing I knew a bit about it but could not place yet. I am confident now that I will be better in knowing how and when to show and tell. This chapter alone had enough value for me to justify buying this book.

Chapter three covers a subject many writers struggle with; "Point of View". In much the same way as the previous chapter and following ones, the subject is explained by example. To me this is a great way to open ones eyes about how things should be done.

This chapter taught me about how to better utilize POV and made it clear why not to ping pong switch the POV between characters. By showing how it's done, you get to see how much better and clear a story can be. It's easy to get lost while reading when the POV keep changing at random.

Chapter four "Proportion" describes why not everything should be written. Somethings are better left to the imagination of the reader. Too much explaining can slow down the pace and bore or frustrate a reader. E very important lesson.

I used to write too much detail about the goings of my main Character. While reading I kept thinking about my first manuscript and how many things I still needed to edit and I know now how I will improve my writing.

"Easy Beats" chapter eight showed the way to better add beats or omit them. Before I read this book I already recognized the need for beats. Though I already used beats I am still thankful to this chapter. I now know better the why and how to add them. This will make you book read much more flowing and when needed to slow down the pace.

The last chapter is about "Voice" It explains what voice is and that it will grow with practice. Before reading this chapter I have to admit I had no clear idea about voice. I always thought my voice was the way I write and surprisingly to myself that was in a sense correct. By having it explained to me, in the way this book has, I now feel more comfortable about the knowledge.

As I understood Voice is something that we writers develop with time, the more confident we become in our own ability the more clear our voice will be. It's okay to observe other writers voice but not to assimilate and try to make that voice our own, because that will only hurt our own writing. It's just better to let it become what it will become.

I have said before and will say again I am happy with this book and I believe it will help my writing and probably in those of others.

The chapters are clearly written with many samples, all is explained in an easy way to understand. At the end of each chapter there is checklist and Exercises.

The checklist is some questions about the subject at hand in combination with your own writing. This is an wonderful way for you to think about how you yourself write and by doing so making clear the mistakes you might make.

The exercises are sample text given, on which you must use the techniques taught in the chapter. The answers are at the back of the book. By doing them you remember better what was taught.

I think this book is a must have for those starting with writing and good buy for those of intermediate skills but not clear yet with all the techniques. For those with greater skill the book might not be of much use but for freshening up the subject.

I sincerely recommend this book.

Books, books, I ordered some Books and recieved them!

I came home from work after a long drive and lo and behold, on the table stood a package waiting for me. I felt giddy inside, I did not expect the package to arrive so soon, being I placed the order just a week ago. I hastily opened the package and saw my new books, I contained myself making the new book dance. (My wife suffered a lot of my dancing already.)

I bought "Practical English Usage" and "Self-Editing for fiction writers" from Amzaon. Enthusiastic I searched for my digital camera and made a picture.

The book "Practical English Usage" I came upon by searching for a grammar book on Amazon. It's a book aimed at non native English writers, I fit the bill here, on that and the good reviews it received, I bought it . I browsed through it and the content shows promise, I am exited to delve a bit more into the subject.

"Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" was recommended on the forums of the website "Absolute Write". On basis of good advice given on this forum, I bought it. I read part of the first chapter "Show and Tell" and I have to say, it's clear on the subject, explaining with examples.

I am exited to read both books, when I finish reading them, I will explain in depth about the contents and what I got out of it.