How I Edited My Fifth Draft (And What I Learned)

   I finished editing the fifth draft of my novella, Killing Snow, last night around 9:30. I was going to name this post Why I Now Hate My Story. But that seemed harsh. So here we are with How I Edited My (*cough* horrendous *cough*) Fifth Draft.

I started by gathering the info from beta readers that I still hadn't analyzed.

   After that, I was very tempted to hide in a hole for the rest of my days. My story was still a wreck (this is a fifth draft, already-been-torn-apart-and-mended-by-beta-info story we're talking about), and I didn't know what to do next.

   This edit was doubly complicated though, because I wasn't editing it to polish it. I was editing it in preparation to tear it apart again and turn it into a novel in April (seriously though - who even does that? Apparently me.). All that said, only parts of it needed editing: the parts that would survive the bulldozing in April.

   That being as it was, I went through all my notes (multiple times) and figured out which stuff needed to be done during this fifth draft edit. I ended up with three things that needed doing: finish editing the story according to Emily Drown's beta notes (I hadn't finished with her's yet), fix some typos that needed it, and use the Hemingway editor to cut some of the adverbs that I had overused (read: splattered very, very liberally throughout the story).

   This involved two run-throughs of the story. The first time, I edited the whole thing according to what Emily Drown had noted. The second time through, I replaced adverbs and tweaked any words that needed it - which actually took longer than I thought it would. It took about twenty minutes to half an hour to edit one chapter, unless I was moving pretty fast. It turned out to be pretty fun, except for the fact that now I low-key hate the messy story-thing. Someday this will be fixed xD.

So that's all well and good - but what did I learn?

   *promptly brings out the trusty list*

1. You don't need to cut ALL the adverbs.

   Adverbs are the bane of my writer-ly existence and honestly? I still don't know what to do about them. I went into the adverb-cutting process with the words KILL THEM ALL banging around in my brain (okay, so "kill them all" was what I was saying about most of my words at the moment because I was low-key hating the story, but never mind that.). Turns out ... that's definitely not the best idea. You need adverbs in your story. Sometimes there were places where they could have been cut, but I left them. Why? Because that piece of the story actually sounded better with the adverbs. It mostly depends on how you feel about the piece - could it be better with a stronger description? Cut the adverb. Does it just sound stinted without it? Leave it there. Do what makes it read best, but don't "kill them all" xD.

2. Realism is actually important.

   Well, duh. Even fantasy writers know this - but I have bits in my story where my version of "real" was just awkward. For instance, in one part of my story (I can't elaborate because spoilers) my character had to take a few steps back to test something out. I had her take ten steps back, and then had it pointed out as being kind of awkward. And then I laughed and myself (and mentally smacked myself) for not realizing how odd it would be to have my character walking back ... farther ... farther - when really, one or two steps would have been just find. Watch out for exaggerating when you can simplify.

3. Your story isn't finished yet

   I put off this draft of Killing Snow for a long time because I may have been mentally freaking out about it. How much should I edit? Just a little, or do I need to go the whole mile and act like I'm trying to publish the novella? Do I need to fix everything this time around? (of course the perfectionist monster in me reared up and roared YES YOU HAVE TO, but I think I defeated it. This time, anyways xD).
   But then I remembered that this is not the end of my editing. I was planning on this being the last time I'd look at this story, not at all! So to limit my insanity (not that I know how well this actually worked), I picked only a few things to fix. And it helped a ton. I fixed only the things that need fixing right now, not the things that can be fixed after the April bulldozing.           
   I can't be the only one who gets a little dizzy just thinking about how much still needs to be fixed in my story - but it helps a ton to take it piece-by-piece (or three pieces). It must, because (somehow) I didn't go nuts during this fifth edit :D.

   But, all rambling aside - the most important thing I figured out is that the story isn't finished yet. The perfectionist monster in me wants it all done, all perfect, all now. But the realism in me says "that's insane. Do it right." Which means not doing it all at once. It would probably kill me (and I think my sisters want me to stick around, just saying), and I'd be so exhausted by the end that my editing skills would get sloppy. I can't be all done now - or I'd regret it later.

   Editing is tough (my sore fingers and fried brain can attest to this), but way worth it in the end.    

~ Savannah Grace

   What draft is your story in right now? What's the hardest part of editing for you? What have you learned through editing?