So, as you may have guessed from the post title, I've been playing a few hours of MMORPG this week, and as WriYe (or Jono) would have it, my prompt for this month is editing. In my currently pixel-ated brain, the two functions seem to mirror one another, so I'll run with that.
Why do they mirror one another? because both take time, skill, and effort to be of any use. You need to be invested in the craft- be it weapons making or writing- and then refine your work to create a useful item. Writing without editing is like gathering without crafting- just so much extra stuff in your inventory. Aren't you glad you don't live in my head?
And now for Jono's questions: What is your favorite method of editing? Do you print it all out and paint it red? Do you use a computer program like Scrivener or Liquid Story Binder to arrange things? Or maybe you just trash the first draft and try it all over again?
I like to print it all out and attack it- I need paper, and at minimum, a pen.
Optimally, I want a pen (black or blue), a red pen, sticky tabs, blank lined paper and a highlighter.
- The highlighter (battle axe) is for the obvious stuff, like spelling and run on sentences- things that fix easily once I get back to the keyboard.
- Regular pen and paper (sword and shield) are for notes- adding plot twists, things that I need to re-write into intelligible English, character connections I just thought of making (Oh, wait- the Ambassador, Kei's uncle- he's the other captain in Capt. Darien's back story!), those corrections.
- Tabs (map markers) are for plot holes, the urgent ones- the why does my MC tell five different back story timelines to three characters in less than ten chapters?- plot apocalypse level urgent.
- The Red Pen (bow with multi-shot) I use mostly for punctuation errors- mark your target so that it's easier to find.
With these weapons equipped, I then read through the entire dungeon- I mean story- with appropriate music blasting into my headset.
What do you find the most in your editing? Are you a repeated-word-abuser? A comma-phile? Or maybe your grammar just ain't no good?
The punctuation errors- They are the minions of my editing dungeon, popping up everywhere and often. This is mostly due to my typing skills being sketchy around the edges. I almost never have repeated words- the writing program I did in high school made me almost allergic to that error; they drive me insane. Recently I've become something of an "en-dash-phile," I suppose but I try not to let it get too out of hand while I'm working.
The dungeon bosses, however, are definitely the alternate plot lines- time consuming and difficult to kill, and sometimes rather disorienting. They are always deserving of tabs, so that they may be found and beaten into submission of the main story.
Bonus: Give us a picture of one of your stories mid-editing.
This picture will randomly appear when I do my next camera upload ;)
