Tuesday Tips: Editing fics

[thtwzjustadream.livejournal.com]

Tips and thoughts - and please share yours. Do you enjoy editing your fics?


Hey! Am keeping the Tuesday Tip short this week, partly because the only writing device I have handy requires 'hunt and peck' typing and it is driving me bonkers.

Anyhow, thought I'd share a thought and some links on editing fics.

A quote attributed to Stephen King says your second draft should equal your first draft minus ten percent. I've trimmed as much as 500 words from a 2,500 word story. In other cases I find I have little trimming to do.

Some find editing a chore. I enjoy it about 85% as much as the actual story composition process. Sometimes I wait until a fic is done to edit, but I'm far more likely to edit as I go along-- I.e. write about 500 -1,000 words and then rework them all, then repeat.

Editing is, for me, mostly about making a fic less wordy and looking for places where the dialogue needs to flow better or be made more in character. I'll still look back later and see where I could have done better-- but it helps.

What's your self-editing process? Have any tips? Would love to hear them.


editing fiction

Tips for self-editing

why I'm not going to read your fan fiction (didn't agree with all of this article, but enjoyed it and it made some good points)

Comments

[thtwzjustadream.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's interesting how differently we all see the same task.