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Editing is the devil



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Sat Nov 06, 2010 4:03 am
SaraAnne says...



Hiya all,

I have finished my novel (as in I have written "the end" not actually finished working on it). This is about the sixth draft and I am finally ready to do some sentence by sentence editing.

I am wondering if others who have been in this situation might be able to share some editing tips?

Sara
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Sat Nov 06, 2010 4:29 am
Kale says...



Don't do sentence-by-sentence editing. Get someone else to do the proofreading. It will keep you from wanting to kill yourself and dissolve your novel in acid.

But if you insist upon sentence-by-sentence editing, break it down into manageable chunks, and only do one or two of the chunks at a time. It will keep you from burning yourself out and losing the will to edit/finish.

Then again, considering this is your sixth draft, I don't think motivation and perseverance are issues for you like they are for me... >.>
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Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:06 pm
carbonCore says...



I'll agree with Kyllorac above. It's crucial you get someone else to look at it. They'll point out things you don't notice, and they may save some very good passages from being otherwise cut.
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Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:39 pm
Elinor says...



You should probably do both. Definitely get someone to proofread it for you, and when they're done, have them give it back to you so you can go over one more time and check for things that they may have missed. When you do it though, Like Kyll said, break it down into chunks so you don't burn yourself out. ^^

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Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:47 pm
Sins says...



I've also just finished writing my novel, and I'm starting the process of editing it. Fun... *cough* :lol:

I agree with what Eli said. If you really want the novel to be proof read, it's a great idea for you and another person to read over it. One thing I'd actually suggest though is to not give your novel to a family member to proof read, simply because they'll probably tell you it's amazing anyway! It's up to you, but I'd suggest showing it to someone you know won't just say "It's great."

Good luck with the editing!
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