Editing or writing?

Which is your favorite process? The writing process or the editing process? Are you a mix of both?

For me, my favorite part is the writing. It's not easy, sure, but it's the adventure of "What's going to happen next? What should I do to them now?" -- yes, I'm a pantser. And I really, strongly dislike the editing, though I'm working on my attitude because it's so essential to writing. >.<

What about you?

I definitely enjoy writing more than editing. I like to create the story but then when it's time to edit, I just want to shelve the book and work on something else! (But I force myself to edit.)

Both.

When writing you get to discover the story, and get to know the characters.
When editing, you get to perfect the story. I'm CDO, so perfecting it makes my heart happy.

@Constance--Ditto! I'm a perfectionist, but the reasoning is the same.

I'm definitely more fond of the writing process. BUT I don't mind editing if there isn't SO much to do. Right now, trying to edit 58K+ words is just not working for me. Every time I think about it, I just get turned off. :/

Lol, I feel as if this question is pointed at me, because I'm probably the only one who'll answer just 'editing'. Then again, I've been absent for a week or so--just lurking without saying anything. (Still chipping away at my mountain load of coursework.) I picked editing, because I have to be in a certain mood to write, and editing is what I started out doing. It comes most readily, but that's probably more of a practice thing. I like analyzing, and when I constantly analyze my own work, it can get a bit depressing--where's the freedom?! I've been so stressed lately that freedom is something I don't have. Maybe over the summer I can find time to really get into writing.

Scribbler wrote:I definitely enjoy writing more than editing. I like to create the story but then when it's time to edit, I just want to shelve the book and work on something else! (But I force myself to edit.)

Haha, that sounds exactly like me!

Constance wrote:Both.

When writing you get to discover the story, and get to know the characters.
When editing, you get to perfect the story. I'm CDO, so perfecting it makes my heart happy.

That makes total sense! I wish I enjoyed them both. You're very lucky!

Amanda wrote:@Constance--Ditto! I'm a perfectionist, but the reasoning is the same.

*jealous*

Shahira wrote:I'm definitely more fond of the writing process. BUT I don't mind editing if there isn't SO much to do. Right now, trying to edit 58K+ words is just not working for me. Every time I think about it, I just get turned off. :/

I know what you mean! But for me, there always is a lot to do, LOL! So I just don't like it. And yes, 58K sounds awful. I have one that's 68k I think, just waiting for me to dig in. *glances at it*

Renee wrote:Lol, I feel as if this question is pointed at me, because I'm probably the only one who'll answer just 'editing'. Then again, I've been absent for a week or so--just lurking without saying anything. (Still chipping away at my mountain load of coursework.) I picked editing, because I have to be in a certain mood to write, and editing is what I started out doing. It comes most readily, but that's probably more of a practice thing. I like analyzing, and when I constantly analyze my own work, it can get a bit depressing--where's the freedom?! I've been so stressed lately that freedom is something I don't have. Maybe over the summer I can find time to really get into writing.

I think that's so awesome. Maybe you'll be an editor one day? But I think that's part of editing, is analyzing everything, but I do get depressed when I analyze my own because it just seems to get worse with every page I edit. That may be part of why I hate it so much. But this is so cool! Does Amanda make you edit for her?

I love line edits for my own work and editing other work, but I really prefer drafting. Mostly b/c I draft in a rush of adrenaline which makes me think it's fun. Editing a full MS sucks, though. Like right now I'm about to dive into an overhaul full of GMC and communication issues.

*gets down to business*

Writing, I hate editing! Though I don't mind story edits as much, like throwing in a few extra lines for a character or making them do something else before they reach their goal but that a lot like the writing process. Its the grammar, spelling, and does this really work? editing that I don't like.

Lizzy wrote:I think that's so awesome. Maybe you'll be an editor one day? But I think that's part of editing, is analyzing everything, but I do get depressed when I analyze my own because it just seems to get worse with every page I edit. That may be part of why I hate it so much. But this is so cool! Does Amanda make you edit for her?

Haha, yeah, I'm thinking that being an editor would be a good fit for me. What I meant by analyzing is that, while I'm writing, I can't turn my internal editor off, so I'm convinced everything's coming out horrible. I have to constantly remind myself that there's this thing called a 'rough draft' for a reason. That's why I have to be in a whimsical/reckless mood to write, because that's the only time my internal editor leaves me alone. (Coffee helps a lot with that. ) When I'm in that mood, writing is my favorite thing in the world. And yeah, I edit all of Amanda's work...repeatedly. I've probably gone over everything more times than she has.

@Lizzy--Make? lol, I resent that! Involuntary servitude was prohibited in the 13th Amendment. (I've been doing a lot of Gov lately, can you tell? ) But yes, right after I write anything(unless I hide it from her) she goes over it. I hide stuff from her sometimes because I know it didn't come out right. Or when I work on my new WIP when I'm supposed to be working on my rewrites, I don't let her know. Heh. I'm just so ashamed! It's like I'm cheating on my current novel.

Renee wrote:
Haha, yeah, I'm thinking that being an editor would be a good fit for me. What I meant by analyzing is that, while I'm writing, I can't turn my internal editor off, so I'm convinced everything's coming out horrible. I have to constantly remind myself that there's this thing called a 'rough draft' for a reason. That's why I have to be in a whimsical/reckless mood to write, because that's the only time my internal editor leaves me alone. (Coffee helps a lot with that. ) When I'm in that mood, writing is my favorite thing in the world. And yeah, I edit all of Amanda's work...repeatedly. I've probably gone over everything more times than she has.

Oh I see! Yeah, that would totally be hard. Haha, how hard! The editor and the writer are clashing, haha.

And for that reason, I envy Amanda. Imagine having a twin who edits your work repeatedly! Man, I would really kill for that right about now, hehe.

Amanda wrote:@Lizzy--Make? lol, I resent that! Involuntary servitude was prohibited in the 13th Amendment. (I've been doing a lot of Gov lately, can you tell? ) But yes, right after I write anything(unless I hide it from her) she goes over it. I hide stuff from her sometimes because I know it didn't come out right. Or when I work on my new WIP when I'm supposed to be working on my rewrites, I don't let her know. Heh. I'm just so ashamed! It's like I'm cheating on my current novel.

LOL! That's great!

@Renee Can you be my sister &edit all my stuff too??
Sometimes I have that internal editor thing going on in my head too which makes it so hard to just write. During NaNo last year I was really good about just getting the story written but now I'm back to over thinking things.

Lizzy wrote:

Shahira wrote:I'm definitely more fond of the writing process. BUT I don't mind editing if there isn't SO much to do. Right now, trying to edit 58K+ words is just not working for me. Every time I think about it, I just get turned off. :/

I know what you mean! But for me, there always is a lot to do, LOL! So I just don't like it. And yes, 58K sounds awful. I have one that's 68k I think, just waiting for me to dig in. *glances at it*

Lizzy, you make me feel SO much better. I thought I was the only one with a huge amount of editing that's being ignored lol. I'm just wanting to start something new without having to worry about editing. :/

@Shahira You're definitely not alone! I'm so terrible at going back and editing, because I either get bored or discouraged and give up. I'm trying to break this habit, because I'm starting to get serious about publication in the near-future, so hopefully that won't be the case much longer.

@Shahira--Want to feel even better? I have 110k to go over, once rewrites are all done.

In response to the general topic, I'm going to revise my answer by dividing editing into two categories--rewriting & line edits. From what I've done so far, I love rewriting, because it's kind of like drafting, but better, because you've already finished it once, and now you're discovering new, awesome things, and bringing the characters more to life. It's just fun. Unless I get stuck. But still mostly fun.

Line editing, however...I'm glad I have Renee' to go forth and point things out. I occasionally get into an extreme perfectionistick(teehee) mood and don't mind going through, line by line, and working with each word until it sparkles. But these moods are few and far between, so without Renee', I'd probably put off line edits until then--so, a long time. I do go back and edit the bit I last wrote every time I open the document to start something new, but that would be the only meticulous editing I do regularly. And the enjoyment varies, depending on how much work needs to be done.

[quote="AmandaIn response to the general topic, I'm going to revise my answer by dividing editing into two categories--rewriting & line edits. From what I've done so far, I love rewriting, because it's kind of like drafting, but better, because you've already finished it once, and now you're discovering new, awesome things, and bringing the characters more to life. It's just fun. Unless I get stuck. But still mostly fun.

Line editing, however...I'm glad I have Renee' to go forth and point things out. I occasionally get into an extreme perfectionistick(teehee) mood and don't mind going through, line by line, and working with each word until it sparkles. But these moods are few and far between, so without Renee', I'd probably put off line edits until then--so, a long time. I do go back and edit the bit I last wrote every time I open the document to start something new, but that would be the only meticulous editing I do regularly. And the enjoyment varies, depending on how much work needs to be done.[/quote]

OMG I am the exact opposite. I love line edits, but hate rewriting. Line edits means you're almost there. (This is also because I want to be a copy editor.)

Rewriting is like "Oh hey you have 70K of good words, and now you need to write 90K of great words." GAG

I've never had a project where I've turned 'good words' into 'great words'. So far, it's been 'pretty crappy words' into 'hopefully good/great words'. I'm sure I'll be much less in love with it when my first drafts come out pretty good to begin with, lol. Mostly all of The Night's first draft was written when my writing skills were decidedly sub-par, so rewriting is fun, turning a bad rendering of my self-proclaimed awesome ideas into a fairly good picture of what I always wanted it to be. Along with discovering new twists and turns for it to take. Now that my skills have improved, it'll probably be much less fun to have to redo words that were almost there, rather than not even close.

@Lizzy I want to get serious about publishing too so I should probably no keep putting off editing either haha.

@Amanda Thank you for making me feel SO much better. But good luck on that 110K! I think it's amazing that you've written that much lol.