reposting from elsewhere
As my recent rant suggested, I think its the writer's responsibility even in traditional publishing to think of "editing" as their job. And yes, that means looking at the big picture of the story now that it is done, look at what was written and make that story the best it can be.
I think what some people get caught up in is that stayed fixed on the story they thought they were going to write and try to revise what's written back to that initial premise without realizing that the idea evolving, maturing, growing is actually a good thing.
And yeah that big picture look and then fix can be anything to rewriting big sections, tightening prose, or simply adding a few lines here and there to support a theme that slipped in quietly when you didn't realize it.
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I know I've said this in chat, but I think the most important first step in "editing/revising" is to look at the big picture all at once. Too many people try to do line editing, chapter by chapter, without looking at the full novel at once.
(This doesn't mean you can clean as you write, just be aware if you're cleaning as you write, you might be cleaning up to throw away.)
Once a story is done, look at the full story in one massive read through and think of it as a whole. Is there a complete story arc? What is the pacing? Does the tension steadily increase chapter by chapter? Does the character change? All the BIG elements that stay invisible if you stay at sentence level.
The point is that if you need to totally rewrite chapter one because it doesn't set up the character story arc and the pacing is totally blown, why do five versions of line edits first? Yet that's what people do when they finish a novel and start polishing chapter one without paying attention to the big story elements and the overall novel.
I think what some people get caught up in is that stayed fixed on the story they thought they were going to write and try to revise what's written back to that initial premise without realizing that the idea evolving, maturing, growing is actually a good thing.
And yeah that big picture look and then fix can be anything to rewriting big sections, tightening prose, or simply adding a few lines here and there to support a theme that slipped in quietly when you didn't realize it.
#
I know I've said this in chat, but I think the most important first step in "editing/revising" is to look at the big picture all at once. Too many people try to do line editing, chapter by chapter, without looking at the full novel at once.
(This doesn't mean you can clean as you write, just be aware if you're cleaning as you write, you might be cleaning up to throw away.)
Once a story is done, look at the full story in one massive read through and think of it as a whole. Is there a complete story arc? What is the pacing? Does the tension steadily increase chapter by chapter? Does the character change? All the BIG elements that stay invisible if you stay at sentence level.
The point is that if you need to totally rewrite chapter one because it doesn't set up the character story arc and the pacing is totally blown, why do five versions of line edits first? Yet that's what people do when they finish a novel and start polishing chapter one without paying attention to the big story elements and the overall novel.