The Print Edit

While Stumbling around online I found this Blog by a book editor. They gave a few tips on how to improve editing your own work and prepping it for submission. Some information about how to write was a little too specific in that it left no room for a difference of opinion. I had later stumbled on excerpts from Stephen Kings book on writing and he gave almost the exact opposite opinion on how to write a book. Mostly the debate was over plotting, sticking to your plot and also how often you should be writing. I felt torn because it is true the editor is the one reading it and approving it. On the other hand though, Stephen King has written a great many book, all the same way, and I feel if anyone would know the best way to get out a great story, it would be him. But I digress, that is not the reason for this post.

The reason for this post is that I did agree with a lot of the other advice and information provided on editing a book. The editor, whose name I do not mean to forget, suggested printing out your novel or work in the format it would be sent for a submission. Once it is printed out, edit it for grammar, plot holes and all around story development. It is true that when writing and editing on a computer you have too much temptation to just scroll past a section or skip down when something strikes you. When its in your hands, ready to be nipped and tucked its so much easier. You can cross out a line or a word and if you decide later to put it back in its not lost because you deleted it from the computer. Having the page there lets you see how many times you've used the word 'I' or 'Well'. I know I often repeat words, mostly because I go back and forth with writing and if I dont re-read the section before it, I dont know what word's I have already overused. On top of it all I find that when I look from one chapter to the next I see that perhaps there should be a better segue, that maybe there was more information I could have provided. On the bottom of the paper I make a note to myself to fix this issue. Its much harder to do this on the computer and I feel you have a better chance of skipping over it while scrolling, simply because you didnt see it.

I would never advise doing this on something you havent already looked over and developed a solid story line. It shouldn't be a story that you may add another 30-40 pages to. The one thing all writing adviser's have agreed upon is, writing the story first and worrying about editing later. When you dwell on perfect spelling, sentence structure, hell even plot structure, you risk stifling your creativity and developing writers block. Focusing solely on getting the story out is your main concern. Once everything is in place and the story feels finished, then print it out and find out that you made Tom the vampire 100 years old one minute and 200 the next. Theyre quick, simple fixes, but if dwelt upon while writing it could throw you off course and cause you to forget that great scene you were just writing.

I will say this about the print edit though, it is not fun. I know for me once I read my stories I dont often feel like re-reading them right away. Printing it out and going over every word right after writing it is the last thing I want to do. Some writers suggest putting the print edit away for a month and coming back with a clear head. Others say to force it and push through while the story is still fresh in your mind. Ultimately, your print edit will look like my 5th grade math test- littered with red pen corrections and notes from the teacher. Something along the lines of, 'What in the hell were you thinking?' and 'This makes no sense whatsoever.' In the end, you will feel better for having corrected it yourself, and learning better editing for future writing.