{"id":1559,"date":"2022-08-17T10:16:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T17:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theshortstoryeditor.com\/?p=1559"},"modified":"2023-02-27T17:02:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T01:02:50","slug":"how-to-hate-editing-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theshortstoryeditor.com\/how-to-hate-editing-less\/","title":{"rendered":"How to hate editing less"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Writing Twitter (and their kin from around social media) are open about their disdain for editing their own work. As someone who comes to writing from editing, I can understand why. Writing is (terrifyingly) unbound from rules. It is careening out of control with every option available\u2014every idea a step toward an infinite number of other ideas. To descend from such freedom (insanity?) into the technical, even delicate work of editing would feel oppressive. How would one even begin to narrow down ideas and follow each to its logical conclusion, meticulously testing, examining, and evaluating outcomes? And after that, genuflecting to endless rules, conventions, and expectations. Not to mention the repetitive and incessant rereading of the same words until they don\u2019t make sense and you hate yourself and doubt everything you\u2019ve ever learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In editing, this is the moment I live for. The ache for relief as the self-hatred dissolves into exultation; just when all is lost, perfection is attained. Perfect logic, perfect phrases. Clever and perfectly duplicitous words. The final copy. I realize I may never be able to transform your loathing for self-editing into love, but perhaps I can help you hate it less?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if instead of a prison, the rules, conventions, and expectations of the revision process were a gauntlet, with freedom on the other side of a series of trials?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Editing: A definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I suspect that when it comes down to it, writers don\u2019t like editing for at least two reasons. One, because editing and writing are not the same skill, though you have probably been led to believe they are. You can be an exemplary writer, and not be able to identify why<\/em> you put a comma here <\/em>but not there<\/em>. And vice versa: my writing is intelligible, but I edit like a mfing boss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason number two is that from the outside, no one seems to agree on the editing process. I mean, if you look up editing, it is confusing. There are different systems of dividing the work: multiple words used to describe the same processes, single words to describe multiple processes\u2014don\u2019t get me started on regional differences\u2014all the jargon to describe the markup, all the little symbols and grammar rules, plus the ninety-seven uses of the comma. It makes you feel like you have to have an MFA to be a writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you zoom out beyond the opinions of Strunk and Chicago, editing is working through the story, layer by layer, from the big picture down to the fine details, to arrive at the exact thing you mean to say, while avoiding putting time and effort into ideas that say, well, something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here\u2019s a map of the gauntlet. For each trial, called \u201cphase\u201d of editing, I\u2019ve outlined what I\u2019m looking for as an editor, some DIY steps you can take to approximate the same process while self-editing, and since each phase can be a vocation in its own right, a few resources for the nerds amongst you who want to deep-dive. Who knows, maybe a few of you will join me on the dark side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Phases of Editing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I divide the editing process into five phases, from the broadest to the finest in detail: developmental, structural, stylistic, copy, and the proofread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important not to skip ahead. For example, you don\u2019t want to concern yourself with word choice (a copy-edit decision) when you haven\u2019t decided on the POV (a structure-level decision), because that word might not make it to the copy-editing phase. Likewise, it is best to pick a focus within a phase, such as pacing and work through the entire manuscript before moving on to paragraph transitions, etc. That being said, you can and will need to go backward in the process if you need to, it is just painful and should be reserved for dire circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay? Okay. Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Phase I: Developmental Editing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because developmental editing involves the development of ideas into story elements, I think of it as a bridge between writing and editing. You know you need to work developmentally because, though the logic of the story is clear, the copy feels raw. In other words, it is missing some of the parts that make a story feel complete. Sometimes it needs a beginning, middle, or end. Once in a while, a character or a scene is missing. Often a part of the story just isn\u2019t meeting the reader’s expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an editor, I’m identifying these missing pieces and working directly with the author to examine solutions and their various implications on the other elements of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-Editing<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n