Hey PS I was wondering if you could give some tips on editing? I know that everyone has a slightly different process that they go through and I was really interested in knowing yours since your stories always have little to no grammatical or spelling errors! Thanks!
Hello!
I’m flattered that you would ask me!! Thank you very much for the confidence boost :)
I began a series of posts on my writing process years ago, but it felt weird to continue it. You can read it here – Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3
Editing tips were to be the next post so maybe this can be Part 4 :) Sorry about the long post -- I tried to put a cut here but it screwed up the entire post by somehow adding the read more link to the ask itself? (Tumblr is drunk?)
‘You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.’ – Jodi Picoult
1. Time
No one wants to hear it, but the editing process needs time. The best thing would be to leave the piece alone for so long that when you return to it, it reads like something new. It’s not always possible but it’s undoubtedly the best thing. The term “fresh eyes” applies here.
The next best thing is to take a break – a few hours or a few days – and come back to it.
2. Start big and work towards the small
Don’t focus on spelling and grammar first.
Most people find it easiest to write dialogue, so write that first.
Come back and work on plot and structure. Play around with what happens and in which order.
Then work on action and emotion (what is everyone doing or feeling while speaking?).
Once that’s done, focus on the words.
3. Be ruthless
Cut anything that’s not working. Sometimes, your first and second drafts are just warm-ups for the final thing. It sounds demoralising but I promise it helps.
4. Read the sucker out aloud
This is especially useful if you haven’t got the time to take a long break between writing and editing – you know what you meant to write and sometimes you just can’t see the errors. When we read, the brain naturally fills in gaps and auto-corrects words. It’s our pattern recognition skills coming to the forefront. Very helpful in an escape room, not so useful when editing. Reading aloud helps you hear the missing words, the repetitions, the things that just don’t sound or feel right.
5. Check the tense and point of view
I spoke about tense changes in the second part of the series. Basically: pick a tense and POV and stick to them.
I always write in past tense, which means I have to be careful when I’m writing memories or flashbacks. I take extra care that these portions sound more ‘in the past’ than the action.
6. Less is more
Here are some things I look for while I’m editing:
Remove instances of “that” and “had”: Read a sentence, and then read it again without the “that” or “had”. If it still makes sense, get rid of the extra word. If in doubt, leave the word in.
For example:
Khushi said that she knew where Arnav’s laptop was.
Avoid sentence structures featuring “that that”.
For example:
She told him that that idea had come to her as she’d been watching a serial. She told him that she’d been watching a serial when the idea had come to her.
Remove unnecessary modifiers – find a better word: Look for words like “very”, “really”, “so”, and “quite” and replace them and the word they modify with a better word.
For example:
Arnav was so angry furious when he learned Khushi had washed his laptop with soap and water.
Look for redundant words and phrases : First (and second and third) drafts are often full of redundant words. Spotting them is a skill!
For example:
Tears fell from her eyes when Khushi realised she hadn’t helped by washing his laptop.
(Where else would tears fall from?)
I was only trying to help, Khushi thought to herself.
(You can’t think to others unless you’re telepathic.)
This is also where I’d look for someone putting down a book twice, entering or exiting a room twice, someone having three hands, that sort of thing. A common mistake I see is Khushi putting her hand on Arnav’s shoulders. She can’t put one hand on both shoulders, not unless she’s anatomically very different from what was shown in the serial.
Look for passive sentences and make them active: Passive sentences create a barrier between your reader and the actions or emotions of the characters. Sometimes this is exactly what you’re trying to do – keep them detached – but usually you want your readers right there with the characters.
For example:
The laptop was washed by Khushi. Khushi washed the laptop.
Sometimes, it’s a two step process:
The phone was picked up by Payal. Payal picked up the phone. Payal answered the phone.
That’s a personal preference – if I can say it with one word then I won’t use two:
She turned around spun to face him. He was sitting down on the bed.
This leads to an interesting problem. Just this week a reader told me that I use “such hard words to understand” and that they were “googling every minute to know the actual meaning of words”. The word in question, apparently, was “swivelled”, which I’d used instead of “turned”.
Take my advice with a huge grain of salt!!
You need cadence and rhythm: Short sentences have impact. Longer sentences help you build your world and characters. Join sentences together or break them up, see what works.
She spun to face him. He was sitting on the bed. She spun to find him sitting on the bed.
My writing style is economical. This is not always a good thing: I’m often told my updates are short :( But I’m not inclined to take 2500 words when 1800 will do.
6. Check for words/phrases you like using
I overuse “gaze” and “eyes”, I talk about the pulse too much, and I forget to talk about what people’s hands are doing. It’s a learning process.
7. Check for repeated words.
This one only stands out after multiple re-reads, but I try not to use words twice in one update. In this sentence, I used small twice and didn’t need “looking” to describe what he was doing:
Earlier, as he’d rummaged in the wardrobe looking for night clothes, a small yellow notebook had fallen between his feet with a small thud.
8. Check spelling and grammar
I’ve added “Arnav”, “Khushi”, “Jiji” and many other words to the dictionary of my computer. That way, the chance I’ll publish something with “Anrav” or “Kushi” is lowered.
Sometimes, the spelling and grammar check misses things – you’ve written then instead of the – this is where read out aloud comes in very handy. Other things, like the difference between principal and principle, are harder. Grammarly is free and works with Chrome. It picks up a lot of these things and I use it for all my stories.
9. Check your formatting
Are italics and bolding applied consistently? (I use italics for Hindi words but don’t use them for titles in Hindi)
Is everything aligned the same way?
Don’t use ellipses (…) instead of full stops (.)
10. Change the font or the font-size
Sometimes, our eyes or brains become used to where words fall in a sentence or paragraph. If you change the font or the font-size suddenly things fall into different places and you can find the errors more easily.
I draft in Scrivener but I always paste everything into Wattpad and Tumblr as a way of checking. The difference in font-size and paragraph width (margins) of both platforms helps me pick up errors.
Thanks for asking :) I hope that helps!!
