#writing editing

[adharagranley-writer]

editing makes me go insane

[thespooniewrites]

Editing???

I've read the draft, pointed out a few things I wanted to change... now what? Do I make a new outline? What do I do? I've always run into editing blind and it always ended in failure so tips and tricks are appreciated.

[rapidfiction]

Prompt: tree

Word count: 200

Sunlight speckled the ground, shining between leaves and branches. Something shifted, and the light now shone onto their book. It was far too bright for them to read. They frowned and reached behind their head to rap their knuckles against the Tree's trunk.

"You offered to give me shade, remember?"

Leaves rustled and wood creaked as the gap closed, shutting out the excess light.

Sorry.

They sighed as they redirected their attention to the book. The creaking wood sounded again before a few leaves fell onto their shoulder. They took a deep breath. Any minute now.

What are you reading?

"You're the one looking over my shoulder! I can’t even read with how distracting that is!"

More creaking and rustling. The leaves fell from their shoulders onto the ground.

I'm sorry.

They adjusted the book in their lap.

Will you read it to me?

"Why can’t you read it yourself?"

I'm a tree. I don't even have proper eyes.

They let their head fall back against the Tree with a dull thunk.

"I forgot again."

They cleared their throat as the leaves rustled quickly for a moment. After taking a deep breath they began to read.

"Once upon a time..."

[monstersandmaw]

Hey, so uh, you've inspired me to actually try to get into writing my own monster stories but I'm at a bit of a roadblock and thought I'd ask your advice. I feel like a need a beta reader but almost none of my friends are monsterfuckers and the ones that are have sexual orientations that may not line up to the story's intended audience (EG a gay man may not be into reading a story about lesbian werewolves). I'm very new and shy about having strangers read my unpolished work, what should I do?

Oof, yeah, you’re definitely not alone with this one, Anon! I also have no beta reader or editor, so I completely understand the struggle. Editing your own work is hard! But here are some tricks and tips that might help. And do remember that no one is ever perfect, and you will always be 1000% better at proofreading after it’s posted. That’s just a fact, and you may have to learn to live with it!!

Put the text into a different font. Now, hear me out, but Comic Sans is really good for editing... Change the size and font, and it’ll help to trick your brain into thinking it’s never seen the text before, and you’ll be less likely to skim over things that are wrong.

Read it aloud. It’ll help you to pick up repetitions and phrases that don’t ‘feel’ as polished as they could be.

Pretend you’ve never read it before, and try and look at it with the eyes of a new reader. That might help if you’ve done the first point about changing font and size.

Don’t edit immediately after finishing the last sentence of your first draft. Let it sit for a day if you can, overnight, or at the very least a couple of hours.

And don’t stress too much about it - people are more willing to skim over the odd mistake than you think they are, so long as the general flow and pacing is there.

Good luck! And have fun!! (edit: the tags ‘writing advice’ and ‘blog advice’ on my page might throw some more advice up regarding those topics too, if you’re interested)

[waltzingwithsouls]

Looks like I've lost my beta readers so I need some new ones. Anyone want to beta read my novel, Reaper's Guide?

Here's the blurb: Tamashii has been a Tyro Reaper for thousands of years, going into the human realm daily to collect souls of the deceased. After receiving a quest from Grand Elder Souji to discover why monstrous Ghouls have suddenly cropped up, Tamashii needs to find their creator before the delicate Balance of Life and Death is thrown out of whack. Things turn out a lot more complicated when Tamashii falls in love with a servant of Mother Nature.

Faced with the decision of choosing between loyalty and love, Tamashii must make peace with the sacrifices he makes for the sake of restoring the Balance.

Genre: fantasy, lgbt

If you're interested just message me :)

[confessionsofawriteaholic1]

For authors looking for Copy Editing, Development Editing, Proofreading, and/or Beta Reading Services. I provide quality feedback and will work with you to retain your voice throughout your book while I polish and shine your manuscript. Click here for detailed information on the services.

[witchstone]

I asked a while ago if anyone would be interested in having me proofread or edit their writing, and the answers came back positive! Besides the standard proofreading and editing, I also do hands-on editing where the author is involved as much as possible to truly realize their vision. I have experience in both writing and editing: I've had an article published by a national newspaper and recently edited a 200k word fantasy novel. 

If you have any more questions, feel free to send me a message! You can hire me here over at Fiverr!