Approaching Editing

This week has been a productive one, at least over the last 72 hours. After discovering 750 words.com, I have managed to write on there for the last five days. I have rediscovered Morning Pages. I had forgotten how much i liked doing them and how much of a help they are. It’s not work on my work in progress but it just allows me to get all of the baggage out of my head and onto the page. If you’ve never tried Morning Pages before then I recommend them.

As for the first draft of the novel, so far, so good. I have written just over 3,000 words since the beginning of the weekend. My problem now, is keeping the momentum going. As I may have mentioned before, I have a habit of reading what I’ve written too soon after writing it.

One of the questions I like asking other authors, is how they edit. Everyone it seems, has a different system and way of approaching the editing process. Some edit as they go along and some wait until there’s a first draft. Others write many drafts, some write 20,000 words as a skeleton and then build on it.

There is a process as a writer of finding your feet and I am still attempting to find mine although at the moment, I think that waiting for a first draft would suit me better. You can’t edit what isn’t there and I am spending so much time in re-writes too early on and am therefore getting too caught up in the quality of the first draft.
It is of course, your writing journey and one that is unique to you.

If you’re looking for some more tips, I found this article, written by Jessica Majewski really useful. It’s got a lot of tips for how to approach the whole writing process – https://whenyouwrite.com.

How do you approach editing? Do you edit as you go along or wait until there is a first draft? Do you have any advice for people approaching editing for the first time?

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.