I haven’t written a full novel yet, but the time I spend editing is equal to time spent writing. I don’t have a checklist as in a written document, but I have a house style in my head and I refer to this as I write. That way, SPaG’s sorted and I can expend editing energies on plot, characters, etc. Publishers have their own house styles, of course, but -- getting way ahead of myself here! -- I’d be happy to amend my work to meet requirements. (I’ve been a freelance editor for almost a decade.)
I don't. Not as such anyway. But tend to follow roughly the same pattern:
1st Readthrough. This is where plotholes get fixed, together with any difficult bits I either knew I wasn't happy with to begin with, or I'd missed out altogether. Plus I'll fix any glaring typos. It takes a pretty long time going back and forth through the story, as later alterations often need 'signposts' earlier.
2nd Readthrough. This concentrates on 'readability' as well as fixing a few more typos.
3rd and further Readthroughs. Everything should be pretty good by now, but if it's not and still needs improving (which often happens) the story will need a couple more. I reckon it's silly to skimp on time and effort once I've got this far. 'Spoiling the ship' etc
After I know the story off by heart (or I'm getting fed up of it, whichever comes soonest) I put it away for a few days. Then I do a grammar, punctuation and spelling check.
The last book went through the publisher's editor for comment/error checking and back to me for further alteration, some of which I agreed with and some I didn't. Then It went back to them for approval before I got the 'proof', when I sent them 10 pages of alterations which, to be fair, were mostly re-instating italicised text their ebook formatting system had removed. That caused a fair few grumbles, as proofs are supposed to be sacrosanct, and wouldn't have happened if I'd understood how they usually worked.
I have to stop editing at some point because I'm one of those who could go on and on ad infinitum. And at least some of the passion and excitement I felt when I wrote the first draft needs to remain, otherwise everything feels a bit...flat.
So I sort-of cover everything, but not in a particularly regimented way.
Hi Adrian,
I haven’t written a full novel yet, but the time I spend editing is equal to time spent writing. I don’t have a checklist as in a written document, but I have a house style in my head and I refer to this as I write. That way, SPaG’s sorted and I can expend editing energies on plot, characters, etc. Publishers have their own house styles, of course, but -- getting way ahead of myself here! -- I’d be happy to amend my work to meet requirements. (I’ve been a freelance editor for almost a decade.)
Fliss
Hmmm... I am just starting to edit my novel so not yet.. But I guess it will take me atleast 6 read throughs to edit it.... ::)
I don't. Not as such anyway. But tend to follow roughly the same pattern:
1st Readthrough. This is where plotholes get fixed, together with any difficult bits I either knew I wasn't happy with to begin with, or I'd missed out altogether. Plus I'll fix any glaring typos. It takes a pretty long time going back and forth through the story, as later alterations often need 'signposts' earlier.
2nd Readthrough. This concentrates on 'readability' as well as fixing a few more typos.
3rd and further Readthroughs. Everything should be pretty good by now, but if it's not and still needs improving (which often happens) the story will need a couple more. I reckon it's silly to skimp on time and effort once I've got this far. 'Spoiling the ship' etc
After I know the story off by heart (or I'm getting fed up of it, whichever comes soonest) I put it away for a few days. Then I do a grammar, punctuation and spelling check.
The last book went through the publisher's editor for comment/error checking and back to me for further alteration, some of which I agreed with and some I didn't. Then It went back to them for approval before I got the 'proof', when I sent them 10 pages of alterations which, to be fair, were mostly re-instating italicised text their ebook formatting system had removed. That caused a fair few grumbles, as proofs are supposed to be sacrosanct, and wouldn't have happened if I'd understood how they usually worked.
I have to stop editing at some point because I'm one of those who could go on and on ad infinitum. And at least some of the passion and excitement I felt when I wrote the first draft needs to remain, otherwise everything feels a bit...flat.
So I sort-of cover everything, but not in a particularly regimented way.