Editing gone wrong

[S. Borne]

Sooooo, I'm editing my manuscript, easy right? Before I know it, I added three chapters..... Dammit! Three more chapters to edit!

 

[Zilver]

I'm terribly glad you said it. There's this common view that editing will make the story shorted, while I already know that when I come to editing phase, there will be whole chapters that need to be added - and was starting to feel anxious about that...

Glad I'm not alone.

 

[pmmg]

First things first. Give the story what it needs, and sometimes, that is more chapters. Pairing it down is after all the pieces are in place.

 

[Mad Swede]

It's very common misconception that editing a story will make it shorter, that somehow all you're doing is paring it down. And it isn't. Editing is about improving a story, and if you ever work with a professional editor you'll learn that the first stages in editing (what's called developmental editing) are a mixture of taking some things away, shortening other bits and adding things elsewhere. It can result in a longer story.

If your story is at the stage where you start adding several chapters when you go through it again then in my view you're not editing, you're writing a new draft of the story. Which is perfectly OK. Sometimes that's what you need to do.

 

[S. Borne]

It's very common misconception that editing a story will make it shorter, that somehow all you're doing is paring it down. And it isn't. Editing is about improving a story, and if you ever work with a professional editor you'll learn that the first stages in editing (what's called developmental editing) are a mixture of taking some things away, shortening other bits and adding things elsewhere. It can result in a longer story.

If your story is at the stage where you start adding several chapters when you go through it again then in my view you're not editing, you're writing a new draft of the story. Which is perfectly OK. Sometimes that's what you need to do.

You are spot on! My thoughts were just that. While editing I asked questions: I need to show, at least one scene of gods interaction with one-another, a god interacting with his/her worshipers, before and after the god-wars, and I realised... Vorath needs a while chapter... To show her slow deliberate hunger, and her slow, deliberate, painful Syphon and how she starts enjoying it... Now I'm writing paragraphs while only agreeing with you. This feels like a curse sometimes.

 

[DesinKalaScribe]

You are spot on! My thoughts were just that. While editing I asked questions: I need to show, at least one scene of gods interaction with one-another, a god interacting with his/her worshipers, before and after the god-wars, and I realised... Vorath needs a while chapter... To show her slow deliberate hunger, and her slow, deliberate, painful Syphon and how she starts enjoying it... Now I'm writing paragraphs while only agreeing with you. This feels like a curse sometimes.

I just went through this myself. I was able to cut down in some areas that definitely needed it, but other spots felt sparse on context. So I ended up adding in 6 short interludes that focus on non-POVs to give the reader more understanding of everything that was happening outside of the three primary characters' stories. I think this ended up really enhancing the story.

 

[S. Borne]

We're up to four new chapters, my first book didn't have these issues. I suspect because it was living in my head for so long.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I'm terribly glad you said it. There's this common view that editing will make the story shorted, while I already know that when I come to editing phase, there will be whole chapters that need to be added - and was starting to feel anxious about that...

There are two sides to this. Firstly, while editing the plot, it's common to find that either you missed some important scene which needs to be added. Or alternatively, that you included a bunch of scenes that didn't go anywhere and thus need to be cut. Both happen.

The other side is that writers in their first draft tend to be either overwriters or underwriters. That is, when writing a first draft, some people tend to explain too much or give too many details for a given scene, while others write too few details or forget to include sensory input or that sort of thing. The first group (generally) needs to shorten their work to get a good pace in it, while hte second group tends to increase wordcount while editing.

I've found that I usually land in the second group. My wordcounts always increase while editing, both because I missed a chapter or two. But mainly because I underwrite and thus add a couple of 100 words in each chapter as I edit. Last novel I went from something like 80k to 105k words or so.

 

[Karlin]

I work with a developmental editor. I can't see some of the issues on my own. I have not counted before and after, but I think I've added more than deleted. Issues are pacing, things out of order ( the character doesn't know something yet), confusion as to who is talking, lack of closure for an important character.

This is besides awkward sentences and the like.

 

[Finchbearer]

I’m not sure if what you mean is the first revision? If you’ve only just completed your manuscript, that’s where you would take the pile of garbage and start wading through it.

 

[Karlin]

I’m not sure if what you mean is the first revision? If you’ve only just completed your manuscript, that’s where you would take the pile of garbage and start wading through it.

I'm not sure if this is aimed at me. In any case, i go over the manuscript several times before paying an editor to help me out.

I don't think in terms of " this is my first draft, this is #1 revision, this is #2, and so on." Maybe because i never took a writing course. So I don't know the correct recipe.

I just 1. Write. 2. Fix it as best as i can on my own. 3. Get help from my editor.

 

[Finchbearer]

Ah, no Karlin , it was a reply to the OP. I’ll direct reply generally by quoting. It was me suggesting that if it’s a first manuscript, then it’s usually very unpolished, and revision is the first step.