It used to take me FOREVER, Reader. Weeks. Months even. And I used to dread it just as much as everyone else. Sometimes I’d put it off for weeks and start something new just so I wouldn't have to do it. Procrastination by means of doing more work. 😩 I’m of course talking about editing. More specifically editing a story. It used to take me months to do. Endless weeks of grueling tedious work. Now that I have an organized well-thought-out system, I can edit a third of a book in a week. No joke. So if the thought of editing makes you want to scroll the latest social media instead? Well, then you’re in luck because I’m about to show you how to do pain-free edits in 3 passes. First DraftIn your First Draft pass of edits you want to do the following: Go through chapter by chapter and catalog important details about the main cast of characters and locations.
Highlight any place where info needs to be researched: measurements, place names, uniform details—anything—just highlight it and use a placeholder or symbol like an asterisk. You can set up hotkeys to make highlights like this a snap in Scrivener Make sure there are no remaining plot holes. You don’t want any unused Chekhov's guns or unintentional red herrings. Lastly, make sure each scene flows into the next or that you properly utilize scene or chapter breaks. Second DraftIn your Second Draft pass of edits you want to do the following: Start at the beginning and fill in the info you highlighted in the previous draft. You know all those details you shelved to look up or research until later? Now's the time to do it. Check your characters and location descriptions against your continuity log to ensure they remain consistent throughout the story. This is why programs like Scrivener that offer a side-by-side view to display your log on one side and your story’s scene or chapter on the other are super helpful.
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KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 75 Whether your project isn’t exactly going well. Or you’re not putting in 100% effort at work because your cat just died. Or you’ve spent the last 8 months living with an overwhelming sense of dread that this conversation with your mom might be the last you’ll ever have with her because she's just that sick. Know this, Reader, it's perfectly okay not to be perfect. In fact, we should take the whole concept of perfectionism, crumple it up into a ball,...
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 74 “What’s this here?” my husband asks. He’s been editing one of my upcoming stories for me. “What’s what where?” “This asterisk next to a misspelling of ‘guard.’” “Oh, that. That’s a placeholder.” “A…placeholder?” “Yeah for a character that didn’t have a name yet. Of course, Find/Replace doesn’t work if you misspell shit.” I sigh. Guard/Guardian. One of those words I mistype like, half the time. But my use of placeholders is the much bigger story here...
KAT VANCIL THE STORYTELLER'S SAGA QUEST 73 “You fundamentally do not understand the concept of brevity.” — my 6th grade English teacher, the first time I was asked to write a book report in my life. I could tell you a story about literally anything. Keep you entertained until I literally died of thirst. But what I couldn’t do, Reader, was make a story short. This is no real surprise to anyone who’s ever had a real conversation with me. Or a meeting. I’m autistic. Something I didn’t...