Making time for both writing and editing requires some balancing acts.
I love to write. Getting the words out of my head and onto the page and screen is exciting. But while the process tends to go fairly quickly for me, there is another step that is less fun – but necessary.
Editing. I need to edit what I write.
While editing can be a challenge – it is still an important necessity. There is nothing worse than encountering written work with lots of typos, misspellings, poor grammar, and other easily corrected mistakes.
Unedited work is sloppy and feels unfinished. What’s more, I think it’s also rather disrespectful to the audience. Why? Because not taking the time to give your best and present the most complete product you can speaks volumes.
Also, finding lots of errors in someone’s work is a major turn-off. It becomes difficult to read and rather than gaining anything from the content you become distracted by the sloppiness.
Editing, like most things in life, is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Further, how you edit one work may differ from how you edit another.
Also, there’s a big difference between self-editing and hiring an editor. I’ll cover this ahead.
The examples I will be presenting here are from my practice of balancing writing with editing. There are other options other than what I am suggesting here. But considering this is the main point.
Editing nonfiction – blogs and articles
I write daily.
Specifically, I write blogs five or six days a week. The topics that I share tend to focus on mindfulness, conscious reality creation, positivity, self-help, inspiration, life lessons, and general ideas for living as you would most choose for yourself.
Additionally, I write about politics and the craft of writing (as you may have noticed here). Whatever I write of this nature to be posted – to my blog, my website, or on Medium – gets edited before I post it.
What that looks like, for me, is this: I will write this whole thing out. When I reach the end I will pause, take a break, and walk away for a bit.
Why walk away? Because if I need to take time to let my brain reset. Going from writing to editing – while it can be quick – is more effective with a break involved.
When I start to do the edit, I do so reading aloud. Why reading aloud? Because then I hear what I wrote. It never ceases to amaze me how errors crop up that you HEAR and may not see.
Part of that is we are adaptable. Oftentimes the brain will insert words and letters where you left them out. Where you meant to put a “to” but skipped over it, a “the” that should be a “they,” and so on. Reading aloud will often show these to you.
Because of the volume of these works, balancing the time in completing and posting doesn’t allow for having someone else read. So, I use the free Grammarly app to look for misused phrasing, mistakes I missed or didn’t see as grammatically incorrect, and a last check-over.
Grammarly, FYI, is not perfect. It sometimes wants to correct things it doesn’t need to. But the software is still a huge helper.
Balancing editing and writing fiction
For a lot of would-be fiction writers, editing is a trap that they tend to fall into.
What does that mean? Rather than write to completion, they pause to edit.
That, generally, is a very slippery slope. Pausing to edit is an excellent way to distract yourself, make unnecessary changes, and even avoid completing your work.
It’s usually a well-meaning notion. But it gets caught up in a quest to create a perfect work. Especially if you are writing a first fictional story.
Done, in this instance, is far better than perfect. Pausing to edit will distract you – especially as a new writer. I guarantee you’ll find corrections to be made. And finding one will lead to another then another and another until you lose sight of the goal.
Balancing writing with editing – for me, at least – means I write to the end. No pausing to look back and edit along the way – just keep going. Get it done.
Yes, there are exceptions to this. If, in the process of writing you have made a REALLY major change – and need to add some foreshadowing or alter a character’s introduction – by all means, go back and edit. Also, if you are looking back in your own story to make sure you are maintaining consistency – correct inconsistencies. It’s okay to fix typos when you find them.
Once you are done – step away. Like with the nonfiction, it’s best to take a break and reset your brain before changing from writing to editing.
Editing books and novels.
Okay, so when you have a work of 50,000+ words, editing by itself is going to take some time. For me, this is a three-fold process.
Part 1 – Self-editing
I go to the beginning and start reading – aloud. Again, just like with nonfiction, reading aloud will find errors your eyes will miss.
This will take time. As you find errors you correct them. This includes typos, grammar, and plot holes you may have left for yourself. Maybe you forgot some foreshadowing.
Overall, I find that using Grammarly for fiction is untenable. The work is too long and Grammarly likes to correct things like names – and when you make-up your own like I tend to for sci-fi and fantasy that’s going to render the app unusable.
Editing tends to go deeper for fiction than non-fiction. But when you edit, you are adding time and care to your craft to make it the best, strongest work that you can. I know that I want to make the best impression and have a positive impact on my readers. Not editing is an insult to the readers – because it tells them you don’t care if your work is the best it can be.
Note: You WILL miss stuff. What is why you have the next option:
Part 1.5 – Beta readers
Beta readers can do a lot of different things. They can help make sure your story makes sense. Also, they can serve as editors. What’s more, they can help you find consistency problems, story development issues, and all manner of other things you are likely to miss.
Beta readers are generally unpaid. They volunteer to read your work and comment on it for you. They can be invaluable when it comes to getting perspective on your work before you pay to have it edited.
Which brings me to the next part:
Part 2 – Professionals
Hiring a professional editor is a matter of care. Caring for your reader and giving them your best means you get someone to go over your work to make sure it lacks typos, glaring errors, and other problems.
Editors can cover a lot of ground. Balancing what you use an editor for can be a challenge, too. Some editors are strictly all about grammar and types. Others will look for contextual issues and storyline problems. They can help to make sure you don’t shift perspective too abruptly or do anything else that might confuse and frustrate your readers.
The editor you hire is going to cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars. What you get out of them is entirely subjective – and some are the right fit while others are not.
The first editor I ever hired cost me $3000. She was worth every penny because not only did she make my work come out a LOT better – she taught me tons of different lessons. I credit my ability to work as an editor to her. Had she not taught me all that she did I’d be unable to share this idea with you – or to have worked as an editor myself.
My writing is exponentially better because of her.
The editor I use nowadays tends to cost me between $200 and $400. Keep in mind, word count is a factor. Even the cheapest editor will cost more for 100,000 words than 50,000.
Make sure before you hire an editor that they make you feel comfortable and confident in their work. Also – be sure you have a timeline for how long they expect to take (especially if you have a timeline for self-publishing in place).
Which brings me to the last part:
Part 3 – Post-professional edits
When your work comes back from the editor YOU go over it again. That’s because some edits that an editor made might not be appropriate to the story.
For example, I had a poetic “song” in one of my books. My editor suggested several changes that would have obliterated the meter. So those were disregarded.
Also, depending on the level of work the editor did, they may offer more than one suggestion for a change to be made. But what you do with that will be up to you. But you need to take the time to make sure all of their edits work for you.
I suspect this is a very different animal when you are not self-publishing.
Balancing writing and editing
Balancing what you wrote, what your editor has suggested, and overall content and intent can be tricky. But it is how you differentiate between an okay work, a good work, and a great work.
Making time for both writing and editing requires some balancing acts. But the end result is ultimately worthwhile as you put your best foot forward and share your vision with the world.
Thank you for being part of my ongoing journey.
Thank you for joining me, and for inspiring me and my craft.
This is the eightieth article exploring the ongoing creative process. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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