I recently finished cowriting my first novel ever with Crystal. This is the first time that I have seen such a massive writing project to the end. I have finished many short stories in my time, but this is the first novel that I have ever finished. And let me tell you, it felt great. Until I realized the next step of the writing process: editing.
I have never liked to edit, whether it be stories or papers. I generally prefer to leave things as they are and not look back. But with something as massive and as important as this novel, Dancing beneath the Moon, there is no way that I can do that. So begins the editing stage.
A little over a month ago, Crystal and I printed out two copies of the novel (luckily we were able to use the free printing offered through our college). The novel is massive and easily fills a large binder! I can only imagine how much it ways. Since printing it out, we have also begun editing it.
We first started when we were dog sitting a couple of weeks ago. We each started editing each chapter until we realized it would be easier to split it up. The novel is written with chapters that alternate point of view. I took the ones that I had written and Crystal took hers to edit. However, when we were editing them together, we were having fun making fun of our own mistakes. It is amazing how many simple, stupid mistakes we make when writing. Things that sound absolutely hilarious when reread. (Maybe someday I'll share some of the funniest ones I've seen.)
That made for great laughs. Another thing that we did to make editing funner and easier was to break it down even further. I now carry around a single chapter in a three prong folder. This gives me a much smaller (and lighter) portion to focus on. I have found it's easier to focus on something small rather than something large. It's also best if you can laugh at your own mistakes.
So, what do you do to make editing more manageable and the teeniest bit fun?
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