Editing While Writing

My method for editing is to do as much as I can while I am writing, and not wait until the book is finished.

Normally, after I’ve written three chapters or so, I’ll go back and read them in sequence paying close attention to the content. I’ll check for flow of the story and make sure that I have not made any continuity errors. After I have finished that pass, I’ll go back and pay close attention to each individual sentence making sure that they sound correct by themselves and I’ll try to fix any spelling and grammar issues that I can. I say try because I was not an English major and being an engineering major probably put me at a disadvantage in this area.

After I have repeated the above process for three sets of approximately chapters, I will go through the process again for all of those chapters in sequence, checking the flow for a larger section of the book this time. Re-reading a larger part, and the fact that it would have been a longer time in between writing and proofing the earlier chapters than before, I tend to be able to pick out more sentences that can be smoothed out.

Once I have finished writing the entire book, I will go through with the two pass proofing method for the entire length of it. At that point, I’ll feel that the writing is good enough for some of my friends to give it a test read.