Self-editing is a really tough game but I prefer editing my works myself, my friend and author Troy David Loy [https://www.amazon.com/author/troyloy] has edited quite a few of my works but then I fell back to self-editing again, he is a great editor but self-editing gives one more freedom plus there is the connection with author too! Then when you are editing your work you can ruthlessly change it, if you wish like it you can completely rewrite it, something someone else won’t do I feel.
Some steps that may be useful to you too if you self-edit your own work- these are the things I do.
Finish the story, edit it for the first time, look for typo, grammar, line-break, words and other things, believe me MSWord slips many mistakes, one too many for my liking, it can make your face turn into a beet-root if you don’t edit your work and publish them like I used to in my earliest stage, I used to type online and hit publish to blush later.
Don’t stop with the first edit, keep it away for a while after editing it for the first time and toy with it you can, then sit with it again and go for a serious edit, in this phase you may rewrite pieces of the story or sometimes just rewrite the whole story, you can keep the draft, I always do, till I pick up the one I like best. I keep them in one folder and then simply name them as first edit, second edit…. to final piece.
Once you have edited the work read it a couple of times and see how it makes you feel, will you love to read that story again and again? Because if you won’t like to read your own work multiple time then you should ask a friend to read it and share his/her views, but one tip, even if you share it with a close friend copyright it first then share. It is always wise to copyright your works before you share it with a pair of second eyes.
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Self-editing is a really tough game but I prefer editing my works myself, my friend and author Troy David Loy [https://www.amazon.com/author/troyloy] has edited quite a few of my works but then I fell back to self-editing again, he is a great editor but self-editing gives one more freedom plus there is the connection with author too! Then when you are editing your work you can ruthlessly change it, if you wish like it you can completely rewrite it, something someone else won’t do I feel.
Some steps that may be useful to you too if you self-edit your own work- these are the things I do.
Finish the story, edit it for the first time, look for typo, grammar, line-break, words and other things, believe me MSWord slips many mistakes, one too many for my liking, it can make your face turn into a beet-root if you don’t edit your work and publish them like I used to in my earliest stage, I used to type online and hit publish to blush later.
Don’t stop with the first edit, keep it away for a while after editing it for the first time and toy with it you can, then sit with it again and go for a serious edit, in this phase you may rewrite pieces of the story or sometimes just rewrite the whole story, you can keep the draft, I always do, till I pick up the one I like best. I keep them in one folder and then simply name them as first edit, second edit…. to final piece.
Once you have edited the work read it a couple of times and see how it makes you feel, will you love to read that story again and again? Because if you won’t like to read your own work multiple time then you should ask a friend to read it and share his/her views, but one tip, even if you share it with a close friend copyright it first then share. It is always wise to copyright your works before you share it with a pair of second eyes.
If yes then hit the publish button.