Harrowhark insisting on dragging around a sword that was too big for her, dousing it in arterial blood and never letting it leave her sight despite its hatred for her. Harrowhark trying to sacrifice herself to Cytherea so Gideon might live, and lobotomising herself to preserve Gideon's soul. Pushing herself to be the best necromancer of her generation at the behest of her House and the girl in the Tomb. So much of the way Harrowhark loves is tied up in suffering. now do you think she gets that from her parents, her religion, or both!
At the doctor's office, I saw a poster that was like. "World-class medical care right here? Possible."
This struck me as kind of hilariously weasely wording. "Are you gonna get medical care on par with the entire planet in this very building? Maybe." "Some of the best goddamn healthcare in the world? Hypothetically." As if they wanted to make it clear that this isn't necessarily going to happen. Y'know, just in case.
These are like, first steps to start editing. I’ve got stuff that go into ways to tackle making actual changes under the tag #developmental editing
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If you can, once you finish your first draft, wait. Give it at least some time before you come back and start to edit.
The reason this is helpful is because it gives you the distance to see your story more wholistically and makes it easier to be objective when making edits and changes - especially big ones. (this is why lots of big-name authors wait)
How long should you let your draft sit?
This is going to depend on the draft. If it’s super rough and you already have a sense for what you need to fix, the wait might be shorter. Letting a messy draft sit for too long and getting too distanced from it can mean it’s harder to get back in your head what you were going for, and what you’re trying to work toward, and if your POV is messy, it can be hard to get back in your MC’s head.
If you finish your draft feeling pretty good about it, like it’s a solid draft, you may want to let it sit for longer, as it will help you gain more objectivity about your work, and it will be fresher when you come back to it.
As a general ballpark, many authors say at the bare minimum give it a week or two. I had a fairly messy draft and took about five weeks (in retrospect, four probably would have been more ideal). If you can manage it, some authors suggest anywhere from 3-6 months.
During the time you’re letting your draft sit, you can do other things. I planned out another book and did the bulk of the worldbuilding for it. Other things you can do include: work on building your author platform, focusing on other major Life things so they won’t be as pressing when you come back to writing, continue working on other WIPs if you have multiple, etc.
What’s step one after the wait time is over?
DO NOT GO BACK INTO YOUR MANUSCRIPT AND START DELETING ALL THE CRUTCH WORDS SOME WRITING SITE TOLD YOU TO AVOID YOU ARE NOT ON THAT STEP YET*
This is useless at this step and honestly a waste of your time. You’re going to need to do more substancial edits that involve moving around/rewriting/taking out chunks of your story, and surface-level edits are the equivilant of frosting an uncooked cake - it looks pretty, but it’s still gonna taste like shit and if you look too closely you can see it’s still a mess underneath.
*the word-by-word stuff comes in during line/copy edits, which come AFTER you’ve finished all of your developmental edits
Do not worry it will get better.
With that out of the way, step one is, if you can, get a printed out version of your book. I got mine printed and spiral-bound at Staples through their website and then picked it up when they said it was ready. Make sure to pick the black-and-white option wherever you’re getting your WIP printed because the default is probably going to be color, and it’s like three times the price.
When you’re picking the file you want them to print, make sure you’ve got the margins and spacing are big enough that you can make notes to yourself. Yes, it will be a little bit more expensive, but it makes it so much more usable.
The reason you want a printed out version consists of a couple different facets:
1 - it’s damn satisfying and everyone deserves to see how much work they’ve put into the first draft
2 - it keeps you from doing all those little time consuming surface edits when that’s not really the focus
3 - developmental edits are fairly intensive and it can get really overwhelming/confusing very fast if it’s all digital
4 - less eye fatigue
5 - okay but seriously it’s amazing how much of a difference it makes
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I know this post was more vague than usual about the editing process, but I figured a few concrete steps never hurt anyone. If you want more of a guide on how to really dig into developmental edits and going about big changes, definitely check out my other posts (#editing and #developmental editing should pull up all the relevant stuff), and also check out Alexa Donne’s youtube channel because she seriously knows her shit
'Weasel Words’ are words or statements that are intentionally ambiguous or misleading, and Darkiplier was just full of them in Markiplier TV.
These Weasel Words often have a double meaning and usually sound superficially very positive, but either lack substance or are actually snide.
Politicians and corporate management are full of people who use these Weasel words, and use them well.
Common examples of Weasel Words are “I'm sorry if I offended you,” "With all due respect ..." and "It is recommended that...". These phrases all imply meaning and authority, but don’t actually impart any.
And Darkiplier employs these Weasel Words with abandon. From Markiplier TV:
‘I appreciate what you’ve done for us’ - Appreciate is a weasel word. It doesn’t actually imply you liked something. It sounds like it should be positive, but it’s not. It really just means that you acknowledge something.
‘We’re the heart and soul of this channel, after all’ - What exactly does ‘heart and soul’ mean? That’s either a very weak and meaningless term, or (a more interesting possibility) a literal one. Either way we have no information.
‘Will’ as a nickname is probably a Weasel Word, especially when Warfstache refers to himself as either Warfie or Willford. The nickname, and the implied familiarity, is potentially insulting. It’s also diminutive and can be used to infantilise the other person, denying their maturity or experience. Warfstache, being who he is, either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, but you can bet Darkiplier doesn’t tolerate nicknames from anyone else without express invitation.
‘I respect you’ - Respect as what, exactly? As an authority? As a powerful ego? Or just as a very basic level of respect that should be awarded to other people in general? Or is it another Weasel Word, ‘the respect you deserve’.
‘But you’re missing the point‘ - These are Weasel Words because they don’t elaborate on what the point is. They also imply ‘you are an idiot’ without saying it outright.
I have no doubt at all that all of these phrases are deliberate. I’m sure it’s in Darkiplier’s nature to be manipulating all the people in that room, but there’s also a cotton candy killer who likes to take spoken words literally with a handgun at the other head of the table.
"According to ancient wisdom" is an example of weasel words - a statement that might superficially appear meaningful, but lacks actual specificity, which actually renders it meaningless.
When you see someone claiming that "ancient wisdom" says something, you should ask yourself:
How can I find out whether ancient people really believed this, or whether this person is putting words in their mouths?
Which ancient people believed this? What time and place did they live in? What was the historical context behind these beliefs?
Is there any evidence for this, or is this simply an appeal to tradition?
Who criticizes these kinds of claims? Have I seen what they have to say? How well-reasoned and evidence-based is their criticism?
