RS, Author, Novelist on Nostr: #WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 29 — What is your editing process? How do you know it ...

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 14 Nbr 29 — What is your editing process? How do you know it is done?

[Little late, but consider today's prompt (ch15 #12)... —R.S.]

I edit little bits all the time.

When I feel done with a work, the next thing I do is do is a regEx search for my hedge and weasel words. This helps me find extraneous phrases, and to remove (In Dalek: Exterminate!) words the soften or weaken my prose. Often I can simply remove flagged constructions, though sometimes I need to recast a sentence. Here's the string I use in Scrivener:

about|almost|already|barely|bit|begin|began|can|certain|generally|guess|just|kind|like|maybe|mostly|near|course|perhaps|possibly|potentially|really|probably|seems|some|sort|start|still|surprisingly|think|usually|could|saw|heard|felt|knew|read|noticed|recognized

Sometimes I do my regEx as a I read through the novel. Sometimes I do it all at once, then read through the novel.

To be precise, I read through the novel aloud, doing my best to give it an impromptu dramatic reading. I don't do voices, though.

I also listen to chapters read to me by my iPhone with the heavy-weight Alex voice. Iy passably pronounces words with a pleasant and mostly natural intonation.

I keep going until it seems clean.

Then the beta reader gets it.

I then fix-up the return edits. I usually remember to reread aloud all my changes, because if a typo will show up, it will show up there.

And that's it!

You ask, "Where do you revise plot holes and things out of order, or fix foreshadowing issues, or delete unneeded scenes or characters?"

Hmm. I thought I said it: "I edit little bits all the time."

[Author retains copyright (c)2024 R.S.]

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