Finding your own editing method

A post I saw on Twitter today got me thinking about editing and revision strategies. This is something *super* topical for me right now. I’m making some solid progress on my WIP (cue: applause). And I’m trying to figure out my editing process. I used to think my style was vomiting out a first draft then going back to edit it. Nope, doesn’t work for me. I’ve also tried editing as I go. Nope, doesn’t work for me either. I think the best solution for me is writing a few chapters, then editing those. Writing another chunk, then editing. Repeat. I think this process will also work well in terms of my search for critique partners. If I have some polished chapters for critiquing, I can work on new chapters while they are being critiqued. Then if I’m making certain mistakes repeatedly, I can try to fix those as I continue writing.

I’ve done a read-through on the first 30,000 words of my WIP – trying to catch the glaring issues. Then I decided to give Margie Lawson’s Deep Editing: The EDITS System a go. Part of the system involves lots of highlighting with purrrrrty colors! I like colors. It’s hella time consuming, but I absolutely see the value of it.

I think I need a system like this, or some sort of layered editing system, to tackle my writing. I know a lot of writers who read through there work and fix all the things as they go. I’ve tried to do that…but…I just can’t. I need to do a pass thinking about dialogue vs. internalizations, then setting, then active voice and showing vs. telling, etc. I think it stems from my day job. I work in PR and do a lot of editing, but I also edit for design issues (inconsistent bolding, missing colors, etc.). I can’t edit text and design at the same time. I think I’ve gotten used to doing targeted editing and that’s carrying over to my fiction writing.

Another thing I’ve learned about my editing style is that eventually I need a print-out. On my initial read-through, reading on the computer works fine. But when I change the font and spacing, my eyes read it fresh and I find all sorts of things. And I mean all sorts of things.

I own the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Have I read it? No. Should I? Yeah, yeah I should. Here’s a great post with tips on writing tight. And this post breaks down all the things you should look for (and would be helpful for layering). And this fantastic post reminded me of taking the time to edit the scenes for purpose, not just content (probably a good idea to do that before you get down to the nitty gritty editing in case you need to cut or majorly overhaul a scene).

What’s your editing style? Do you follow a certain method? Enlighten me!