Even More On Editing…

I had to edit down my post on editing…

So last week I talked about my experience getting an editor for self publishing, but that got me thinking more on editing. Specifically how much editing I do when writing.

A few years ago I was still weighing my options on whether to get an editor or not, and I came across WritingProAid. This is a great tool if you can afford it. It has helped me a lot with cleaning up my drafts.

If you’ve never used WPA, you can use it to scan a document, and it’ll find mistakes and gives suggestions on how to fix them. It’ll write up errors with grammar, spelling, country variant spellings, etc. It’ll also find changes for a better style–ease of reading, sentence variation, etc. Of course all of WPA’s suggestions are optional to implement.

One of the things I appreciate about WPA is when it shows that I’ve written something in the passive voice. Sometimes I do this by choice, and I turn down WPA’s suggestions. But other times it’s just something I do, and a little rephrasing does wonders.

I remember hearing YouTube writer advice warning against using the passive voice. But it’s appropriate and sounds good in some cases. I used to worry about avoiding the passive voice… now if it happens and works, who cares?

But this isn’t about the passive voice. It’s about editing and only editing.

So I use WritingProAid after I’ve finished large chunks of writing. And at this point I’ve found it doesn’t find as many of the stylistic changes, so it has definitely been a helpful learning tool.

As always, I get nothing from mentioning WritingProAid, just the satisfaction of passing on info for a great service.

Another aspect of my editing process is reading my work out loud. I often write in public spaces, so this is by no means something I regularly engage in. But when I know I won’t be bothered, and there’s no one around, that’s when I’ll do this.

It’s really helpful to read my work out loud. I can catch when the reading isn’t as clear, and tricky parts that’ll snag a reader’s progress. When I can (which is the vast majority of cases), I clean these segments up. I like to be left with a story that flows well when read aloud.

The flow of a story can be an oblique thing to chase, but I tend to find a point in my writing where the flow is good enough. I can’t spend forever on my manuscripts–I already feel as if I’ve waisted a lot of time not releasing material.

If you’re a writer, I would encourage you to find the place where your work is good enough. We have precious little time on this Earth, and I think with sadness in my heart about authors who have started a work and spend a dozen years between books.

I really haven’t had time to consider what I’ll be covering tomorrow, so that will be a surprise for both of us.

Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day,

Colin J Switalski

*This was originally posted on my old blog on June 12th, 2023.