Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36257
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36257
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

> Just to be clear - I'm not trying to change the amount of work, or the reduce time it takes, I'm merely asking for ways to avoid excessive editing (something I don't enjoy) by doing other things such as (thanks to Amadeus for his suggestions) 'planning, detailed outlining and world-building and character building' (things I do enjoy).

Editing _is_ planning, outlining, world-building, and character building.

What you will find is that once you've finished your first draft, there will be (at least) two serious problems: Your characters are not consistent throughout your story, and the ending does not call back to earlier events as much as it could have. This is simply because you won't have a real chance to look at your story as a whole, with all of the details in place, until you've finished your first draft. This is impossible to avoid.

Once you've finished your first draft, you're not going to go over it with a fine-tooth comb to make sure all your commas are in the right place and your words are spelled correctly. I agree that's boring, tedious work, but it's not second-draft stage editing, either. Instead, you're going to think about things like how you can foreshadow the ending better, how you can use symbolism to tie the most important points of your story together, how you can make your characters stronger and more consistent throughout your story...

This is very much still world- and character-building! Now that you have your entire story in front of you, you'll be aware of the weaknesses in the planning you've already done and be in the best possible position to address those weaknesses. I think you'll find that, although challenging, it still scratches your itch.

At some point, your story will not only have a strong foundation, but work as a complete whole. When you reach this point, editing will become focused on removing parts of the story that don't contribute enough to justify their inclusion - purple prose, verbose descriptions, scenes that don't move the plot forward, character interactions that can be tightened up. This part is probably the most challenging to your ego, because you have to be willing to throw out entire scenes that are excellently written on their own but don't contribute to the whole. But you're still working on this with an eye towards character- and world-building and your overall plot's outline.

Only when you feel that your story is tightly structured, with every part of the story pulling its weight compellingly, do you tediously dot your i's and cross your t's. Compared to the amount of time you've already invested, this won't take as long as everything else you've already accomplished.

Original score: 4