Hope all who celebrated had a brilliant 4th!!! Because of Hurricane Arthur, our local celebration fell on July 6. I’m fortunate in that I live next to the Maritime site, and the party comes to me. Here are a couple pics from last year (both borrowed with respect from the superlative Social Palates). Can you spot me? I’m the one in the white tee and green skirt.
ON TO THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
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Don’t put off ’til tomorrow…
I engage in a practice many writers consider indefensible—I edit as I go. Not only that. I frequently go back and make changes to chapters already drafted rather than wait to edit until after the manuscript is complete. For me, editing as I go is a way for me to “dig deeper” into my characters.
Many of the edits I make while writing are based on revelations that come to me as I move through the story. While I always see and hear a scene in my head as I write, I often visualize the scene more clearly once I’ve left it—for example, when I first wake in the morning, or I’m in the shower, or when I’m writing a different but related scene. These moments often evoke emotions, or I may hear turns of phrase or see specific details and body language that I want to capture on the page while they’re still fresh in my mind. A months-old note reminding me to edit later does not allow the same visceral immediacy as editing in the moment.
I have tried a number of times to put my internal editor to bed and just write, but the resultant prose is always flat and unimaginative. Editing as I go is my process. I’ve embraced it, and it works for me. But the purpose of this post isn’t to persuade you that my process is better. It is to reassure others who edit as they go that regardless of what they’ve been told, they are not “doing it wrong.”
What you need to know about editing as you go:
1. The writing still comes first. Editing as you go is a process, not an excuse to procrastinate.
2. Editing as you go is not a mortal sin. I get weary of being shamed for the behavior, and I’m guessing I’m not alone. Simple fact: editing as you go can deepen your characters and add texture to your work.
Most important:
3. Editing as you go does not take the place of editing your completed draft. It is IN ADDITION TO, NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR, editing your full manuscript.
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Have you tried editing as you go?
Be honest, did you feel guilty?
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VR BARKOWSKI 
I can see where editing as you go could be helpful, depending on how you create. You’ve made a great point here, either way isn’t wrong and each person needs to follow what works best for them. Sometimes trying to follow ‘the rules’ can break your flow of creativity. BTW, I like those shoes you had on in the photo. 🙂
Thanks, Mason! Those are my favorite sandals. 😉
I write exactly the same way. I’m not a plotter, so as I move along in my story, and a plot twist comes to me, it may change something already written, and that’s where I have to go back and make it work. Maybe “editing as you go” applies more to those of us who are pantsers. We start out with an idea, a plot, if you will, then create on the fly, knowing all along where we want to end up. That doesn’t mean we know exactly how to get there. I could never write any other way.
I think you’re right, Polly. We pantsers are much more likely to edit as we go because we’re exploring the story on the page. I love that aspect of writing. For me, nothing beats the joy of “finding the story.”
I edit a bit as I go if I see a word or two misspelled when I glance through to get to the next blank page, but as far as full on editing, nope, wait until the end.
I definitely do full on editing at the end, too, Pat. Maybe I just like to edit? 🙂
I used to be the type who would run through without editing, just like a good little writer should. I still do that with articles and blog posts i do for clients and publications, but my methodology for writing books has changed with my current WIP. I’ve begun going back and changing things as the story evolves in my mind. What’s the point of continuing to write in a direction you know isn’t working? While it has made the writing process longer, I believe it is enriching the plot of my book. I guess readers will be the ultimate judge of the final product, but I’m more satisfied with it thus far.
I hate the “this is the only way to write because it works for me” mentality some writers have. Come to think of it, human beings seem to have that attitude about living life in general.
Exactly, Steven. For non-fiction pieces and short stories, I do far less editing as I go. The depth and texture required when writing a novel just isn’t called for in shorter works. Also, I rarely “pants” shorter pieces because I usually know exactly where I’m headed.
As I work on a chapter, I always go back and review what I’ve written earlier–but just that chapter. And then I put the chapter up at my online critique group and incorporate any comments that make sense. It may be a bit slow, but it works for me.
My process is similar, Kathryn, except the chapter goes to my CP rather than to a critique group. Once those edits are incorporated, I consider that to be my first draft. I can’t imagine writing a book in a vacuum then handing it over to be edited or beta read, although I know many writers who do that.
Dean Koonz doesn’t leave a page until he is entirely satisfied with it and then he goes on to the next. THAT is editing as you go!
He doesn’t plot or outline — which is why, to me, he comes up with a brilliant premise and when you reach the end of the novel, you go: “That is what you were building up to?”
It’s how he wrote the trilogy that never was: the Christopher Snow trilogy which has TWO great book with a great cliffhanger that, after over a dozen years, he has yet to write.
I edit as I go along. Sometimes going back to the beginning to see if I have left any gaping plot holes, and in doing so, I see a way to add depth to my novel.
Great post as always. Roland
Fascinating, Roland. I had no idea Koonz wrote that way. I figure if there are surprises along the way for me, the writer, there will be surprises along the way for the reader. And editing is all about the surprises. It sometimes feels like getting at the center of a tootsie pop. I have to keep working the words to reach the rich, chewy middle.
I edit as I go. I don’t feel guilty either. Sometimes I do get hung up on the edit though and that’s when I’ve got to let go and remind myself this is just a draft.
The fireworks here came a day early and ended up competing with a huge lightening storm.
I’ve definitely got hung up on editing a paragraph or line far longer than I should have. That’s one of the pitfalls of editing as you go, but it’s not deep enough to make me stop. 🙂
After seeing that Boston had to cut short their fireworks because of the incoming storm, I was glad we had our 4th festivities on the 6th.
I have gone back a couple chapters to fix something that bothered me. I think we all have our own processes, and once we recognize them and own them, we become the writers we’re meant to be.
Absolutely, Liz, and I don’t think any two writers share the same exact process. Writing processes are kind of like fingerprints.
I don’t think you need to defend how you write. I edit as I go, also, and I liken it to cleaning the kitchen as I’m cooking…. 🙂
Great analogy, Claudia! Thanks so much for swinging by.
I have always been a straight-through writer. But I’m planning to edit my next book as I go. I’m looking forward to the change-up and hoping it works for me.
Whatever process works, Carol. You may love editing as you go, or it may make you crazy like writing straight through does for me. 😉
I do a lot of editing-as-I go. Does it make me feel guilty? Only a teensy bit, because sometimes I wonder if my process isn’t just a thinly disguised excuse to procrastinate. But I can’t help it. How can I move forward when something about what I’ve already written keeps niggling at me?
I don’t know why, but I didn’t receive this post via email.
Exactly, Susan! Although I worry about the procrastination thing, too. If I feel like I’m falling into the procrastination trap, I remind myself that no matter how much I edit as I go, when I tackle the whole manuscript, I’ll wonder what the heck I was thinking.
Odd about the post not emailing. I don’t think I did anything different.