Helloo everyone and welcome back to #alexjostories! Creative Writing is a long process that requires much attention and that gives you reword in the end because you have created an entire universe out of your mind. The key element in having a good story is editing and today I want to talk to you about how important that is and why you should spend equal time between writing the story and editing it. Editing and Creative Writing go hand in hand!
Recently, I have received feedback from my creative writing teacher about my last short story and he said I found this story quite unsuccessful. Also, for the first assignment for the second university year the feedback that I have received was something sounding like this: if you would have spent more time editing your story it would have definitely changed the whole thing.
When you write, you don’t think as much about the grammar and the organization of the sentences. You think about the action and your characters. I will be totally honest with you and I will say that I absolutely hate editing my stories. That’s because it’s a very meticulous work and it takes lots of times. At a certain point, because I read my story various times, I feel like I know it word for word. Believe me, that’s really annoying. Before I go further on I will tell you a little story about my relationship with editing. I was writing my second book and in order to finish it, I had to edit the whole thing. I was so obsessed with the idea that I had to finish it that I tried to edit the whole thing in a night. My eyes were red and really dry and I couldn’t feel my back because I stood on the chair for hours. Of course, I didn’t edit it as I should have. I spent 6 hours editing my book or even more and there were still lots of things to be done to it.
The idea is that you need to spend quality time on each paragraph. I say this because the principle is very simple. You already know what you’ve written. You already know everything that you want to say and if you don’t look closely at each paragraph you will pass over the mistakes without noticing them. My advice for editing your story in the best way possible? Don’t think about how much it will take you because you will unconsciously do it faster and automatically bad work.
Get someone to have a look at your work. Ask a member of your family or a friend to have a look at your manuscript once you finish it. It’s easier for you to edit your work once you have few other opinions about your story and you have some set of eyes having a look at your grammar and organization. It might be very strange for you once you get your feedback back from your friend or your parents, but you will need it. Believe me! I say strange because you put a lot of effort in your book and you expect it to be perfect. So when someone else comes in and underlines all your mistakes it is frustrating at first, but you should see it as a way of improving and developing your writing skills.
I will admit, I tend to overpass my editing because I hate it as you could never imagine, but now I am trying to do it and do it the best way possible. Any other advice that I should give you regarding editing? Well, be patient with yourself and read as much as you can. If you read a lot you will be able to write better for the first time and also you will be able to see your mistakes faster.
This is it, everyone! I hope you guys found this article helpful regarding your writing. I hope you don’t hate editing as much as I do because it is a really important part of your writing process. Never give up your writing because you think you’re doing mistakes or something like this. Time will pass and you will get better and better. Have an awesome weekend everyone and I will #seeyousoon!