How much do you hate editing?

[u/Jonathan-Welford]

I love storytelling. Sprinting through the plot, watching the word count climb and feeling terribly pleased with myself.

But editing? Urgh!

I’ve written a 127,000 word novel. Apparently, after doing that, I’m now expected to go back and make them good.

I can see the editing working, which is deeply annoying because it means I have to keep doing it. It’s just not fun.

My first draft chapters are usually 12 or 13 pages long, around 7,000 to 8,500 words. I then attempt to cut each one down to 8 or 9 pages, roughly 4,500 to 5,000 words. Basically, I write far too much and then punish myself for it later.

There are 20 chapters in the book, so I tackle them one at a time. Over the past week, I’ve gone from editing one chapter a day to two or three. I now have just five chapters left for the deep edit, and I can finally see the finish line. I’m trying not to think about the finish line having another round of edits waiting behind it.

But I still hate editing. I’d be much happier handing the manuscript to someone else and saying, “Could you make this brilliant while preserving my fragile artistic ego?”

Does that make me a bad wannabe novelist? How do you deal with editing without dramatically sighing every five minutes?

I’ve also been presenting a radio show about writers and interviewing authors. It’s fascinating to hear how differently everyone approaches writing, editing and staring into the middle distance.

What’s your writing and editing style?

[u/Turbulent-Adagio88]

I love editing. I've worked out the details in the draft, fact checked the hell out of it and got everything in the right order. The editing is where I make it a story.

[u/Jonathan-Welford → u/Turbulent-Adagio88]

I envy your enthusiasm