No long explanations needed here. Have you ever thought to edit out of order? Instead of focusing on the flow of the story as a whole, do you focus on the flow of just one scene? Does it have all of the elements; conflict, character development, motivation? How about the dialogue, does it move the story along as well as give a glimpse into the speaker? Are your characters staying true, and is there both a push and a pull in the scene?
Editing out of order helps you bring in the scope. Each scene, or chapter depending on how you write, should be able to stand alone as its own story. Once you’re satisfied with the smaller parts, the whole, chronological edit, will be a breeze.
Happy writing!
Ann
I think I'm going to do my edits a few different ways. Straight through for overall story continuity, out of order and maybe backwards, along with reading scenes out loud. Hopefully that will give a decent draft for the beta readers that will get it after those edits are completed.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing this for shattered, putting individual scenes under the microscope as I write them before adding them to the story. The first draft will take longer this way, but it will save time in the end I hope.
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