Apart from Amadeus Mozart I have never heard of anyone who wrote their first draft of anything and didn’t have to edit it.  You don’t think these posts never need editing do you?  I can assure  you that I do edit these every time but I do use a simple trick to help me out.

I use this little trick on everything I write because it means I write faster and I get stuff done.  Too much editing at the wrong time can stop your writing cold.

The simple trick I use is to edit after I have completed the first draft.  I don’t edit during the writing process because it hinders the flow of words.

Actually that’s a lie, sort of, I do simple editing like spell checking because the software I use shows me where the errors are and I can do those corrections while I’m thinking about the next bit.

Sometimes though I really don’t stop.  Particularly if I’m in the groove.  So if you find errors it isn’t because I can’t spell correctly it’s just that I missed it on the edit and my typing skills can’t keep up with my thoughts.

That’s why I prefer to write with a keyboard, I have never had a pencil or pen with a built in spell checker.

Proof reading and editing your own work is actually quite difficult.  We mostly read what we meant to write not what we did write.  It can be useful to leave your draft for a couple of days before you begin the process of proofing and editing it.

The ‘cooling off period’ will be beneficial to the quality of your edit.  One other method I use is to read a book or two between my draft and the edit.  I find that this brakes the creatinve flow enough to enable a more critical eye to be cast over the written work.

Unfortunately this can also cause you to become too critical and decide that what you have crafted is total rubbish and should be shredded before anyone else sees it and laughs at you.   STOP, don’t do it.  Almost no-one writes that badly and even those who do somehow seem to get published sometimes.

If you really think the quality is not up to your preferred standards then you need to consider this.

An extensive study into competence was done by Cornell University in the mid 90s with undergraduates.  The purpose of the study was to determine if those whose competence was poor would be less able to judge their ability or performance because of their lack of competence.

The argument is that because they don’t have the skills to perform the task well they also don’t have the skills to assess their ability to perform the task well.

Yeah, I know that sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo and psycological speak and it is but it is also relevant to what we are discussing here.  See the bit they were most surprised about was that those who were most competent at any of the tasks were also the most critical of their abilities.  To the point that many of them rated themselves lower than those who were actually incompetent at the task.

See the point?  If you think your writing is rubbish it probably isn’t, you just have high standards and you really should get some other opinions before shredding it.  That doesn’t mean that if you think you have just completed the Pulitzer Prize winning novel that it’s absolute rubbish not fit for wrapping fish in either.  You also need to get a second opinion.

It is extremely difficult to proof read or edit your own work but it can be done.  Start by checking for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, using the wrong word for the meaning you wish to convey.  Once you’ve done that check for changes in style, changes in tense, changes in the spelling of names both characters and place names.

If you are writing about real people or places get the names right.  Check that you’ve not been defamatory or slanderous.  Make sure that the era is correct and any tools or vehicles etc. are actually right for that era.  I can guarantee that if you get these things wrong you will get letters and or emails about the mistakes from people who seem to have an encyclopedic knowlege of spoke shavers cobs of the 17th century or whatever.

Once you think you have all the technical things right then you can read for the story.  Check for consistency and flow.  Hand it over to others to read, post it here and ask for readers to crawl over it for you.  You can publish for free initially if you like and then set a price for your work after any corrections from the feedback.

Remember that at least 1/2 the visitors to this site have never been here before so you are always exposing your work to new people.  They won’t know that yesterday the book was free and even if they do it doesn’t matter.

The really important thing is to get your book written, proofed, edited and published.  You can publish here for no cost and get feedback at no expense.  You get 50% or more of the sale price of your book.  The price you set.

Go on, you can do it.  Write it fast, edit it fast, publish it and get feedback.