Editing: A Dreadful Process

Congratulations! You have finally completed your story. You've gone through torrential brain storming, being tortured by the blinking cursor and surprise late night writing sessions. It's time to edit. Shit!

Editing is probably the most dreaded part of writing (and video, but I've always liked video editing, it's calming). You don't know what to cut (because everything is needed *smiles*), you're going over your vague descriptions or dialogues (because you suck at those) and there's so much red you're wondering is there anything left. It is a stressful process. As writers, we go through many drafts. Me, I usually go through 5 major stages of drafts, but they are constantly being revisited (ie: stage 2 is grammar, so 2.1, 2.2, etc until grammar is fully corrected because of all the changes).

This is a process that I tend to take when editing and I hope it helps:

1st Draft:  In this stage, I am ready to type up my script. I've handwritten the pages and its time to put the words in their proper format. During this stage, better ideas may come to mind and I'll adjust as I go, but generally, I'll type up my pages making any minor changes (different words, noticeable grammar mistakes), staying true to my notebook.

2nd Draft: With the script typed and done, I print it out.  I read through the pages making my spelling corrections and grammatical errors. I tend to use different colors to edit my pages. I try not to use red because red is scary. It reminds me of school when teachers mark up your essays. It makes my pages look angry, but if I have to I will and instead I use purple, blue or orange.  I also like to use Grammarly to help edit my pages. While editing in this stage, I'll read the pages out loud, especially the dialogues. Once changes are corrected, I make those corrections on my computer. 

3rd Draft: During this stage, I work on open scenes and dialogues that I haven't quite figured out yet. I usually work them out on my phone with an app called JotterPad. I can be at my desk at work or on the platform waiting on the train and the scene or dialogue just pops in my head. 

4th Draft: This is where I have unbiased opinions read my pages. There are two people who I've known for a while that are always happy to provide feedback (good or bad). They provide suggestions and corrections that they think will help my stories to progress. 

Final Draft: These are my final thoughts and approval.  This is where friends and people in my writing group get a chance to read the script and I receive audience feedback. 

As dreadful of a process, this is editing is essential to getting your work to be the best it can be. Writing or reading your work on different formats helps to see scenes in a different light. While making corrections and alterations, don't be so boring by using a red pen or marker. Have some fun with it and use different colors. Make an editing key and designate different colors for different purposes.

Hope these ideas help. Happy Editing!