As someone who has a hard time editing my own work, I thought it would be useful for us to have a place to share editing tricks. A few have popped up in various threads, but why not have a place for them. The two most reliable for me, are the most time consuming. The first is Time. Waiting until the words that I wrote have left my mind to review to see if what I wrote makes sense. If I edit too soon after I write, my mind fills in missing words, doesn't catch the homophone errors (my most prolific error), and in general reads what I think I wrote other than what I actually wrote. The second is to edit in a different medium. If I write long hand, I naturally edit as I type it up. If I write while typing or even, sometimes after I've transferred from long hand to typed and then print it up and read it with a pen in my hand to make notes, I see errors and awkward phrases easier than if I just read on the screen. What are some other favorites?

Before I got my first word processor, in 1994, I used to compose everything by writing long hand and then typing it up on a traditional typewriter. But I can't imagine being able to do that now -mostly because years of disuse have rendered my handwriting nearly illegible unless I make a great effort otherwise. It's sad. I do often find myself reading something out loud though (if no one is within hearing distance) as a way to edit though, as then I'm less likely to overlook mistakes or clunkiness than if I'm just reading. I agree that letting some time pass and then going back to something is the best way to spot what needs fixing or improvement. I like to do that the morning after, with a cup of coffee in hand, when I'm still too groggy to really compose new stuff but I've got a fresher mind and can see what I've done previously with more objectivity. Rereading to edit also helps me pick up my train of thought and "get the story back in my head" so that, later, I can keep on writing.

Oh yeah - definitely put it down for a while (I try to leave it at least 12 hours) and come back to re-read. I also, when I'm editing (and especially when I beta for somebody) print the document out and read it like that, with my trusty green pen handy to make changes. I also read things aloud - always dialogue, but also other portions that don't quite seem to work.

I just re-read over and over... and every time I find something to change!

I always end up editing on the fly- and then deleting most of what I've written. It's the literary equivalent of two steps forward, one step back.

Time, definitely. Letting my story or whatever sit for a little while and working on something else to get me out of the mind frame of how I think it reads. I find that if I don't then I miss silly little mistakes like missing articles and tense changes. I used to print everything and then go over it with a red pen (once a teacher, always a teacher *snicker* ). I never thought I could live without doing that, but I've been without a hooked up printer for nearly three years now and so have had to adapt *sigh* I have one in a box staring at me right now, I just need to find the motivation to set it all up....

I always write long hand first, this method starting from way back my study days, when I would have sat down and written by hand all the notes, from scratch, I had to study in order to engrave them in my mind, finding the method most effective! I then type down what I would have written, with all the already existent manual editing, making other amendments as I go along. I usually stop after I would have typed a chapter, (in the case of a foreign language, I even make a lot of stops after sentences and phrases, for me to be confident of their right structure!) rereading it, over and over again, in order to feel it and to be able to make more constructive amendments! After having typed, and amended, from top to bottom, I like to leave some time pass, as many have already suggested, so as I would see things from a different angle. I then like to start reading from scratch, again! Like TJ has said, I always find errors each time I go through a piece a work! It's a rather time-consuming process, but I wouldn't be satisfied if I were to do otherwise!

Whether it's fiction or advertising copy, the usual advice is to put it aside for a while and do something else. Reading aloud is also good. You do catch things you might not notice while reading silently. (And yes, printing it out and then reading it works. Probably because of the way we tend to read text on a monitor.)

Originally posted by Transmute Jun I just re-read over and over... and every time I find something to change!

I do that too...then hand it over to someone else these days to see what was missed.

Sorry I have been busy the last week or so first trying to get back into the school/teaching routine and then recovering from the "first week back" syndrome. This is a great thread. I love seeing the different methods people use to edit their stories. A few of them I may even try - especially the reading conversations out loud. Although I usually find the conversations come out fine in my writing. Like some of you have said, I tend to do my work for the day/night and the set it aside. When I return the next day I will reread what I wrote editing it and also getting myself back into the flow of where I left my writing. When I have completed my work I usually read and reread the story, editing until I feel comfortable with what I was trying to describe. Sometimes I will read a section just to see if I can cut words and try to be less wordy in my descriptions.