Emma Stewart Writes

Tag: editing

  • Sunday Check-In: 22 Sept 2024

    Sunday Check-In: 22 Sept 2024

    Snoozy Miss Echo

    Welcome to my first Sunday Check-In. Every week I will post a check-in and corresponding vlog to keep you all updated on what I’ve been up to. Expect writing updates, reading reviews and sneak previews of my work in progress.

    For the vlog, you can find it on YouTube here. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want regular updates!

    My Work In Progress

    Word count update: 76, 041 words and 30 Chapters currently in my first draft

    I’ve been working on world building too and I have fleshed out the main characters and finished off their profiles. The world map is done. I’ve been working on fleshing out the details of the Spirits, the deities of the world. There’s a sketched out version of the Creation myth and I will be working on fleshing out the mythology completely.

    I’m doing a lot of world building because I’m hoping to write more stories in this world in the future. Also I really like world building! Knowing the lore and the background to my writing makes it easier for me to write.

    My plan is to get the first draft done by the end of October. If I do this, I’ll take a break from it and work on another novel I have in mind. Then I can come back to the second draft and feel refreshed on it.

    I’m thinking about writing some short stories, including maybe some of the myths and things. Maybe some short stories of my main characters too, and sharing them on my blog and even Wattpad or something. Let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in!

    My Reading

    As for what I’ve been reading, I recently read two books I remembered from childhood and really loved. I’m not sure why they came to mind but I decided to reread them. ‘Witch Child’ and ‘Sorceress’ by Celia Rees. I loved them when I first read them, but they had more impact on me now as an adult.

    I think perhaps it’s because I’m more aware of the history of the United States, and the impact that European settlers had on the Native Americans. The impact of religion, of disease and eventually war.

    The fear of witchcraft, which was a symptom of the oppression of women.  Women with knowledge were not to be trusted. Native American so-called ‘savages’ were not to be trusted. The story of Mary is one full of fear and heartbreak, but also love and self-discovery.

    I highly recommend these books, even for adults. It’s an emotional story but it’s worth your time.

    I’m currently reading ‘ When the Moon Hatched’ by Sarah A Parker. I’ve just reached the half-way point so things are beginning to get really interesting. I’m enjoying it so far, and I am curious to see where it’s going to go next.

    The main character is complex, somehow both really likeable and frustrating at the same time. She’s absolutely flawed in some ways and that’s always a good thing for a main character. I’ll report back when I’ve finished it to give a proper review.

    About My Characters

    Every week I’ll reveal a little bit about my characters or my setting. Since I was speaking of the traits and flaws of the main character in the book I’m reading, I thought I would share a bit about my main character, Shaine.

    Shaine is a kind-hearted and empathetic person. She is also very curious and loves learning new things, she’s an academic at heart. However her strong sense of justice and firm moral compass can lead her to be judgemental and overly critical of people who do things she doesn’t really approve of.

    This leads to some conflict and tension between her and Alonso. He’s an assassin and she judges him harshly for his chosen vocation. On this journey, they get to know each other better and she begins to realise she was wrong about him.

    Plans and Goals

    I’ve planned out a schedule for my content next week so look out for some blog posts talking about story telling methods in video games. On YouTube, Tuesday will be the continuation of the Old World Blues series. Thursday will be covering Vault 75. Saturday is for the Science of Fallout series and will be on Nightstalkers.

    I’m also slowly making progress on putting together resources to help writers when it comes to animals and medical subjects. It’s going to take me some time, but I am hoping it’ll be helpful. It’d be nice for my knowledge to not completely go to waste, you know? That said, if there’s a particular subject you’d like to see, or even just a question you have, let me know and I’d be more than happy to help.

  • Adverbs Are They Overused or Essential?

    Adverbs are sometimes overused but are they essential? Some people say that adverbs are redundant and that they weaken the verbs impact. Some say adverbs lead to messy prose and indicate lazy and cluttered writing. Is this true? To a degree, it is, but adverbs still have their place in my opinion.

    What is an Adverb?

    Adverbs are modifiers used alongside verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Adverbs tell the reader ‘how, when, where, why, or to what extent’ They can be used to modify other adverbs as well. This is how they can end up being overused as you might find a direct verb is more succinct and clear.

    A lot of adverbs end in -ly such as ‘quietly, quickly, loudly, slowly’. Any adjective that you can add -ly to will become an adverb. Be aware that sometimes adding an -ly isn’t correct. Avoid using it with linking verbs associated with using the senses.

    “The cake smells nice/nicely.”

    Using an adverb here suggests the cake is doing the smelling, so you need to use the adjective ‘nice’ instead of ‘nicely’. Nobody ‘feels badly’ after receiving sad news, as they’re not using their sense of touch. So they ‘feel bad’ about it instead.

    Degrees of Adverbs

    Adverbs, like adjectives, come in degrees. There is the standard form, the comparative form that compares one thing to another and the superlative form which compares three or more things. Here’s a couple of examples.

    Adjective:

    Positive: Good Comparative: Better Superlative: Best

    Adverb:

    Positive: quickly Comparative: more quickly Superlative: most quick

    In formal writing you should use these forms of adverbs. Nobody is saying you can never use adverbs at all, but you should consider carefully if there’s a better way to say something.

    How To Avoid Overusing Adverbs

    One trap a lot of writers fall into is using adverbs to add more description and qualification to things. Especially in dialogue tags where writers will add adverbs to each dialogue tag to keep them varied and ensure the reader knows how each character is speaking.

    So when you find this in your own writing, look carefully at it and ask yourself if the adverb serves an important function to convey your meaning. Or if the dialogue itself and perhaps a brief indication of body language is enough to imply tone of voice and emotions. Look at this example.

    “I’m done with you! Never contact me again. Goodbye!” he yelled loudly into the phone before slamming it down angrily.

    What do you think? I’d say that the exclamation marks indicate loudness, and the verb ‘yelled’ also implies a raised voice so we really don’t need ‘loudly’ in this sentence. Same goes for the action of slamming the phone down, nobody does that if they are happy. Let’s rewrite it.

    “I’m done with you! Never contact me again. Goodbye!” he yelled, slamming the phone down.

    See? You use less words but it’s still clear that the speaker is angry. There will be times where you need an adverb. Use them where you need to, but ensure you do need them.

    Thanks for reading! I’ve got some more Fallout content coming soon, so look out for that. Follow me on social media for more behind-the-scenes and follow my YouTube channel for gaming and story-telling content.

  • Seven Writing Myths Discussed

    Seven Writing Myths Discussed

    There’s always someone telling you how you should write, that you must follow these steps and this routine to succeed as a writer. Then you find other people who tell you that these rules are utter nonsense. It can be difficult to know who to believe. As with any creative pursuit, writing has lots of myths and accepted truths that might not be quite so set in stone. So let’s discuss seven writing myths.

    1. Write What You Know

    This is a common one. The idea that you should only write about what you know about. The problem is, it’s difficult to interpret what this actually means. Most people assume it means you can only write about your own lived experience. So there is something to this, but at the same time, depending on your genre, writing only what you have experienced can limit you significantly.

    A big part of writing, especially fiction, involves using imagination and creativity. If you want to write something that isn’t just an autobiography or a fictionalised version of your life, you need to think outside your own life experiences. You can use your own experiences and knowledge to embellish your writing and make it feel more real. But, if you want to include something you have no real world experience of, does this mean you can’t write about it?

    Well, it depends. If you plan to include something you don’t know much about, the key to making it authentic is research. Learn all you can about the topic. Learn from people who have lived that experience. Be prepared to accept feedback and change things accordingly. For example, it can be difficult for someone who has never experienced depression, to write it authentically in a character. Not impossible, but you might find you have to really face up to your own misconceptions about what it’s like to experience depression. The same can apply to disabilities, gender identities, different sexual orientations and to race and ethnicity of real world people. Caution is advised, and thorough research will help you write this in a sensitive manner.

    2. Reading Makes you a Better Writer

    To a degree, this is true. If you’ve never been a big reader, writing can be difficult. Reading lets you explore new ideas and worlds, learning different styles and writing techniques and understanding the genres you’re interested in. However, writing is a skill and it can only be truly improved by practice.

    Reading a lot won’t make you a better writer if you are not practicing the writing side of things. Analysis of what you read can help you identify techniques and skills that you can use as a writer, but you’ll only learn how to use them if you practice. Some people will say you should avoid reading too much, or you’ll end up copying other authors and stealing their style. This is also debatable. If you are writing for yourself, you will establish your own style, while perhaps taking influence from writers you like.

    3. Write Every Day

    A lot of writing advice is centered around this idea that you should write every single day no matter what. I disagree with this to some degree. I do believe having a good regular writing routine is a great idea, but like anything else, breaks are important. Just like going to the gym every single day and doing a full 2 hour workout is probably going to become counterproductive, writing is the same way. Forcing it too much will lead you to burn out.

    It also depends on your life. A lot of writers, especially those just starting out, are probably doing it around a full time job, family life, studies or any other commitments. It makes much more sense to set aside time in your schedule you can dedicate to writing. If it’s one evening a week, great! If you can fit in an hour or two every day and that works for you, great! It needs to be sustainable

    4. Writer’s Block

    There’s a lot of opinions here. People will say ‘Writer’s block isn’t real, it’s just laziness’. Others will be keen to give you a list of different things you can do to overcome writer’s block. Basically it is a situation which many writers and creatives face, where they are struggling to produce any work. They can’t come up with ideas, you can’t write anything you’re happy with or you have no motivation.

    It can be so difficult, when nothing seems to be working and you have no motivation or interest in your work. Personally, I do believe writer’s block is very real, I have experienced it myself. I find the key is figuring out why you’ve hit this stumbling block in your writing. Are you getting a bit burnt-out? Do you need to take a break? Are you just struggling to figure out what comes next?

    Knowing what has caused it may help you find a way to overcome it. If you need a break, take a break. You could try looking at another project. Go and do something else and leave it for a few days. Maybe watch a new TV show or read a new book. You might just get an idea when you least expect it. If you are struggling with the next plot point, take some time to review what you’ve written so far. You don’t need to go ahead and do a full edit, but re-reading it might help you pick up on the plot threads again and figure out what you want to do next.

    5. Your Idea Should Be Perfect Before You Start

    To me, this is flat out wrong. If you wait until you have a perfect idea and a perfect plan, you’ll never get started. Perfection can come later, that’s what reviewing and editing is for. You have the idea, you’ve written a rough plan from the initial idea and after that, you should start writing. Things might change as you write, you might come up with new ideas and plot points as you go. That’s okay. This is why you write drafts and go back and edit later.

    Very few pieces of media are published in their initial form. Movies and TV are edited extensively, a huge amount of footage filmed is removed. Music is the same, and writing is the same too. Some people advise against editing as you go, and recommend finishing the entire first draft before you go back and edit. Others prefer to edit a bit as they work. Either way, don’t be afraid to write everything that comes to mind.

    6. You Must Write in a Certain Order

    Some people will insist you should write your book from start to finish in that order. Even going so far as to insist you follow an established story structure format. Others will advocate for writing the ending first before filling in the rest. Is this really okay? I think it depends on you and how your brain works. As a rule, I tend to write from start to finish, but there have been times where I’ve had an idea for a specific scene that takes place later in the story than where I’m at.

    I think if your inspiration is leading you to a later part of the book, it’s okay to write it and figure out exactly where it fits in later. My current WIP came about from an old writing experiment I did years ago where I basically tried to write a description of a journey. I read over it, and an idea came to me, and before I knew it, I had four chapters written. And it went from there.

    7. Planning Stifles Creativity

    The old ‘pantser’ vs ‘plotter’ debate. Pantsers are people who fly be the seat of their pants, i.e they get in their flow and write without having a plan in place. Plotters are the opposite, preferring to have an outline in place before they start writing. And plenty of writers fall somewhere in between. People who are pantsers will often claim that having a plan stifles their creativity and slows them down. Plotters will often argue that having a plan reduces the risk of writer’s block.

    So who is right? Again, it depends. I do think it’s a good idea to have an idea of the overall plotline of your work before you start writing, at least having the ending in mind. You’re probably noticing a theme here, that these ‘rules’ are not as hard and fast as some people like to insist they are. There is something to most of them, but everyone works differently and I think these rules can be interpreted and applied to your work the way that works best for you. Or as they often say in Pirates of the Caribbean: “They’re more like guidelines, anyway.”

    So that’s a view on some of these common writing myths. I’d love to hear any thoughts or experiences of what we’ve discussed today, so feel free to chat about it in the comments. For more, stay tuned. We’ll be staying in this vein for the rest of the week. I post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe below to get an email whenever a new blog post is live.

    For more on writing advice, I have other posts including cliches and editing as you go. For more on writer’s block, this blog post on Reedsy has a lot of good information.

  • Understanding Verbs Part 3

    Understanding Verbs Part 3

    Part 3 Of Understanding Verbs

    In the first part we discussed verbs, what they are and the different kinds of verbs you might come across. In part 2 we covered the different tenses and forms of verbs., In this part we are going to cover the use of verbs within the sentence. Subject-verb agreement is essential for clear writing. If the verb and subject are not in agreement, the sentence can sound awkward and the meaning could be confused. We’ll also touch on split infinitives and implied subjects.

    Subject-Verb Agreement

    What does this actually mean? Essentially, the form of the verb used must match the subject of the sentence. Remember, the subject is what is doing the action of the verb. So a singular subject requires a singular verb, and a plural subject requires a plural verb.

    “The dog is in the kennel.”

    So above, the subject ‘the dog’ is singular, so we use the singular form of the verb ‘is’. If we said: “The dogs are in the kennels.” There is more than one dog so we need to use the plural form ‘are’. “The dogs is in the kennels.” would be incorrect, and it sounds awkward when you read it aloud.

    That brings me to a good way to tell whether your subject and verb are in agreement. Reading aloud is a great way to check your writing makes sense and is correct. It’s easier to tell if you have the correct words and word order, by hearing it out loud. You can read it out loud, record yourself reading it out loud or even use software to read it aloud for you.

    Exceptions and Rules

    As with all good English rules, there are exceptions. Using the first person pronoun ‘I’ means you need to use the plural form of the verb. If the verb is following up a main verb, in some cases you use the basic form of the verb. “He helped the old lady cross the road.” ‘Helped’ is the main verb so the secondary verb ‘cross’ is used in its main form.

    There are a few additional rules for certain circumstances. Detailed explanations and examples can be found here. The Blue Book of Grammar is a great resource for English grammar, with good explanations and there are quizzes too, so you can test your knowledge. A lot of people might say that this is intuitive, and it is to a native English speaker, however, mistakes are common and if you know the rules, then you’ll be able to apply them properly in all situations. Especially if you plan to be a proofreader or editor.

    Rules for Subject-Verb Agreement

    In a sentence with the word ‘of’ the subject will typically be before the phrase ‘of…’ and thus it is this part that must agree with the verb. Take the following pair of sentences for example:

    “A bunch of colourful flowers bring cheer to any room in the house.”

    “A bunch of colourful flowers brings cheer to any rom in the house.”

    Can you work out which one is correct? Try reading them out loud, and try to identify what part of the sentence is the subject, and what the relevant verb is.

    Did you think the second sentence is correct? You’d be right! The subject is the ‘bunch’. the flowers are a secondary noun, and the verb is ‘brings’.

    If you have two singular subjects connected by ‘either/or’ or ‘neither/nor’ requires a singular verb. If you have a singular and a plural subject in a sentence like this, the verb agrees with the noun or pronoun nearest to it. Caution is advised, as some sentences can end up awkward, even if they are grammatically correct. In this case, rewording the sentence might be the way to go.

    If you have two or more singular subjects connected by the word ‘and’, you will usually use a plural verb. Be careful, some nouns connected by ‘and’ become compound nouns and should be treated singularly, such as ‘breaking and entering’. It is often considered to be incorrect to place a personal pronoun first in a list of pronouns/nouns but grammatically, it is not. It is more a convention of politeness.

    Phrases separating the subject and verb such as ‘besides, along with, as well as, not’ are not part of the subject and should be ignored, so the verb matches the subject. The same applies to anything in parentheses (brackets).

    Prepositions and Amounts

    Sentences that begin with ‘there’ or ‘here’, the true subject is after the verb so the verb should match the subject. “There are the keys,” or “There is the key.” Singular verbs should also be used for distances, time periods or sums of money, when considered a single unit. “Ten years is too long.” But if you are talking about money like hundreds of dollar bills, then it becomes plural.

    Finally for portions of something, phrases like ‘some of, a lot of, the majority of’, the opposite of the first rule applies. The verb should agree with the noun after the word ‘of’. “Most of the cake is gone.” vs “Most of the cakes are gone.” With collective nouns, it can be subject to the writer’s intent but the phrasing of the noun might need to be changed to make it easier or clearer.

    Finally, if the phrases is expressing a wish or something that is contrary to fact, ‘was’ is replaced with ‘were’. “If your father were here, he would stop you.” Normally, ‘were’ is a plural verb but in this case it’s expressing a wish that is not factually true. This is called the subjunctive mood, a hypothetical or wishful thought, or a request. “I wish you were here.” In this case you pair a singular subject with a plural verb. Make sense? Hopefully I’ve made it a bit clearer. English rules are full of odd exceptions.

    Split Infinitives

    Infinitive verbs are verbs that are used with the word ‘to’ before them and are not the main verb of the sentence. “He is going to pay.” ‘Going’ is the main verb and ‘to pay’ is the infinitive. A split infinitive is where a word is inserted between ‘to’ and the verb, often an adverb. “He is going to grudgingly pay.”

    It is a held belief that you should never use a split infinitive, however, technically speaking it is not wrong. However, they can be awkward and clumsy, so they are usually not necessary and most experienced writers won’t use them unless it is necessary. You might find that there are other ways to word the sentence that read less awkwardly.

    Implied Subjects

    There are certain situations where the subject is not included in the sentence and is considered implied. This is usually when the sentence is a request or a command of some kind. “Stop right there!” or “Please bring me fresh towels.” Both of these have the implied subject of ‘you’ so it is not considered necessary to state the pronoun. It is assumed that the subject is ‘you’ and the context is enough.

    This is not as common in English, but is much more common in other languages, such as Japanese. In Japanese, for example, pronouns are dropped and implied all the time. While pronouns for ‘you’ and ‘i/me’ do exist in the language, it is generally assumed from the context that the listener knows who the subject is so it is not stated unless needed for clarity. Indeed, it is often considered quite rude to say ‘you’ in Japanese. It also means that it is not uncommon for a single verb to be a complete sentence. If you said “Eating.” in English, it would sound quite weird, without saying “I’m eating.”

    Conclusion

    That concludes our foray into understanding verbs and tenses. I hope this has been helpful and interesting. If you missed part 1 and 2 you can find them here and here.

    I’d love to hear any thoughts or questions. In the mean time, happy writing! Don’t forget to subscribe for updates on new blog posts three times a weekend come find me son social media for more updates. Next week we’re going to look at some myths about writing and some ‘rules’ that you should break.

  • Clichés are Cliché

    Clichés are Cliché

    What is a cliché?

    You hear it a lot, especially when talking about writing or producing media. So what are they? Clichés are phrases or ideas that are so overused that they are now boring and unoriginal, so the phrase has lost meaning or become a stereotype. Unlike tropes, which are story elements commonly used and liked by people, such as a ‘happily ever after’ at the end of a romance. Are cliches cliche?

    You can spell cliche with or without the accented ‘e’ by the way. It’s a word that has its roots in French. Many consider cliches tired and unoriginal, and you will be told to avoid them at all costs. I bet you can probably think of hundreds of them, a lot of them come from old sayings and idioms. Here’s a few examples:

    • “Think outside the box.”
    • “There’s plenty of fish in the sea.”
    • “Ignorance is bliss.”
    • “Good things come to those who wait.”
    • “Beating a dead horse.”

    How to know if it’s a cliché

    The way to tell is if you hear a saying and it makes you sigh or roll your eyes, it’s probably a cliche. They had meaning once, but overuse means they just don’t have any impact anymore. Some have been misused for so long, people have forgotten the original meaning. Like this one:

    “Curiosity killed the cat.”

    It’s a warning against asking too many questions or looking into things you shouldn’t. Curiosity is dangerous, so you might not like what you find.

    A fun fact, the original proverb was “Care killed the cat.” This means worry is detrimental to you. A different meaning, isn’t it? The earliest printed reference is found in Every Man in His Honour by Ben Jonson written in 1598, and again, a year later by Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing.

    The current version is more recent, it was notably used in 1916 in a newspaper report about a cat who had climbed up a chimney and gotten stuck, resulting in a fall that did, in fact, kill the cat.

    Are cliches always bad?

    Well, mostly, yes they are bad. Readers see cliches as lazy, so it will put them off reading what you’ve written. Cliches indicate you lack imagination and are unable to use your own creativity to say what you want to say in your own way. Avoiding using them shows you can think of other ways to say the same thing, and it therefore improves the impact of your writing. There are occasions where using a cliche can help you connect with your audience, by provoking that familiarity. Still, I would advise caution.

    Subverting cliches

    The other thing to do is to subvert cliches. Introduce a cliche but then change it around to make it more interesting. One of my favourite uses of this is, from a classic video game by Valve, Portal 2. Every syllable of dialogue in that game is absolutely amazing, but one of the best monologues is Cave Johnson’s recording around the halfway point, affectionately known as the ‘lemon rant’.

    A video by Ignis on YouTube of the Lemon Rant with typography.

    The context is that he has become seriously ill by crushing up moon dust, and he records a message talking about how he plans to make the best of the situation, ending with the cliched phrase: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” A bit later, he comes back to it, and goes on a rant, stating that “When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back. Get mad! I don’t want your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life’s manager…”

    I won’t transcribe the whole rant here, but I’ll link to YouTube so you can listen to it all for yourself. Or, better yet, play the game if you haven’t already, it’s worth it for the writing alone. The point is, the original cliche is telling you that when bad things happen, you just have to make the best of what you have. Turning it around on itself, the character is saying “No, I’m not accepting my lot. I’m going to do something about it.”

    Conclusion

    So, you know how to identify cliches, and why they are generally to be avoided like the plague. Yeah, I know exactly what I did there. They are everywhere, but using them in your writing can really turn your reader off and make them lose interest in what you’re writing. So use them sparingly, if at all, or find a better way to say what you want to say. Or give them a good twist like the writers on Portal 2 did.

    For more on editing and word choice, check here. For updates whenever a new blog post is available, subscribe. Check my social media platforms for bitesize facts and general updates.

  • Should You Edit As You Go?

    Should You Edit As You Go?

    People always tell you not to edit until you’ve finished the first draft. Is this true? Or is there something to be said for editing as you go? Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of each option.

    Edit As You Go

    Pros of editing as you go

    • Your first draft will be better, giving you a better starting point for your first round of editing.
    • You can catch plot holes, mistakes and other aspects that don’t work and prevent them becoming a problem later.
    • If you realise you’ve made a mistake or something doesn’t work, you don’t have to worry about remembering to fix it when you go to edit your work.
    • If you are a ‘plotter’ and you already have your story outline before you start your draft, you can make sure your scenes are following your plan.
    • If you have hit writer’s block, rereading and editing what you’ve written might help you get your flow back

    Cons of editing as you go

    • Editing as you go can be more time consuming and your first draft will take longer.
    • It’s easy to get bogged down trying to fix one part of your writing and stop making progress.
    • Perfectionism might lead to you losing inspiration and getting tired of your work, leading you to lose focus and put you off finishing the draft.
    • You might not save time, as when you come to do the first full edit of your draft, you find yourself rewriting or undoing a lot of the edits you have already made.

    Not Editing Until the End

    Pros of not editing as you go

    • It keeps your creativity flowing. Not stopping to revise keeps you in the zone and allows you to freely get all your ideas out without hesitating or reviewing.
    • If you are a ‘pantser’, stopping to organise and add logical structure can really derail you and drop your motivation.
    • All first drafts will need editing once completed, even if you have edited some as you go, waiting until the end to edit can help make sure the whole piece is cohesive and that it all works.
    • Some writers think this approach is more efficient, because you can focus on one part at a time. It stops your perfectionism slowing down your progress.
    • It gives you a chance to take a break from the work. Taking time away to do something else allows you to come back to edit with fresh eyes, making it easier to spot things you want to change.

    Cons of not editing as you go

    • The first round of editing can take longer. You might find yourself having to make a large amount of changes to tidy everything up.
    • It can become overwhelming. If you have not made any edits as you go, the prospect of editing the whole piece can be a lot to think about and seem insurmountable.
    • You might be reluctant to make major changes or remove parts because you’ve become so fond of the story. You might really love a scene you’ve written but it doesn’t fit the story any more and you know you really should remove it but you don’t want to.

    So Should I Edit as I Go?

    Honestly, there’s no one right answer to this. Some people will tell you one option is better than the other, but they both have drawbacks. It is also possible to do a bit of both. Realistically, even if you have been editing as you go, you will still need to do an overall edit once the draft is complete. So there’s not one correct answer.

    I recommend doing what works best for you. Everyone’s process is different and unique to them. How you like to write, if you are a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ or a bit of both. If too much editing will stifle your creative flow, you would be better waiting until you’re finished to start editing. If you have realised you want to change something, and it’ll bother you until you do, maybe make the edit while it’s on your mind. If you’re new, experiment a bit with both options until you find the method that works best for your brain and your work.

    Need help with editing or proofreading your work? Take a look at what I offer here.

    As always, happy writing! Discuss your thoughts in the comments. Until next time!