Why are introductions always so awkward? At some point the beginning of my blog entry is going to be articulate, inspiring, and all together beautiful. Obviously today is not that day.
Anyways, I had a question recently asking how I edited my work. Strangely, I had to think about this one. A real quick look into my archive of Word Documents, and more thinking, finally revealed the answer.
I don't write every chapter of a story on the same document.
*Les Gasp*
Ok, now that that's done, allow me to explain.
I write everything from short-stories, to lengthy books/fanfiction. So, to begin, because editing has to start somewhere, I have different folders for different works. I.E: Fan Fiction has its own folder, my books have its own folder, and all of my short-stories belong in one folder together. This is to keep them accessible, and easily organized.
The next step to easy editing is to write every chapter (if it is multi-chapter) on a different document. This makes the editing process more smooth, for easier add-ins and notes. So, let's say I have a story labeled, "The French Goodbye." Not a fanfiction, so saved under books. The first chapter will be saved under "The French Goodbye: Part 1." So on and so forth, until there are usually about 25 of these documents.
Once the work is complete, I open the first chapter document, and read it aloud, slowly, fixing only spelling mistakes. I will then read it a second time to someone, and will continue to fix grammatical mistakes. After all of that, I will read through it in my head, and fix plot mistakes. (I.E.: inconsistent age, wrong name, wrong species, etc.) I will then do this (Usually spaced over a week) with every chapter, fixing only those things. (Remember to edit after at least 24 hours of having written something. You'll want the fresh mind-set.)
After all of that is done, I copy and paste everything to a new document (Chapters all pasted on the same document now) so that I can keep the original, but still have fun in toying with the plot.
Now that they're all together, I edit it as if it goes together. Fixing transitions, plot inconsistencies, adding or deleting unnecessary/necessary scenes or descriptions. The first time takes about a week. I usually do this last process another five or six times, then "Ta-da!" You have written your own book/work of fan fiction/short story. (Short stories obviously take an enormously less amount of time).
So, that's that.
With Love,
Gwen
