Editing without Deleting Everything

[Philip Overby]

I recently had a pretty good run at my WIP where I reached 50,000 words (doing NaNoWriMo). Then came time to continue writing it and I thought, "Wow, most of this isn't very good and everything's just sort of meandering." So I ended up deleting like 25,000 words.

Any suggestions on how you edit without deleting half your manuscript?

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Sorry, what is NaNoWriMo?

 

[Ireth]

NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month. Writers try to write a 50,000 word story within Nov. 1-30.

 

[ThinkerX]

I ran into the same issue with Labyrinth.

What I ended up doing, was keeping a 'clean' version of the first draft, and then moving the parts I deemed salvagable over to new working files. But I still ended up doing full rewrites on the stuff I moved, plus I wrote a pile of pages to 'fill in the gaps', as it were.

 

[J.D. Hallowell]

Don't delete something just because it "isn't very good." Rewrite it, instead. Figure out what you were trying to make that scene or line do, and figure out a way to make it do it better. If your writing is meandering, decide whether there is a place for that scene, description, or exchange elsewhere in the story, or even in another story, with the releveant names changed. Of course, if the part you are looking at doesn't have a purpose in the story, and it isn't very good anyway, then feel free to cut it out without mercy or remorse.

If half of what you are writing does not advance your story, you might want to spend more time thinking about your story before you sit down to write. Of course, you might not, but then you may need to get used to the fact that you are going to have to cut 50% of what you write.

 

[Feo Takahari]

Like ThinkerX, I like to create multiple copies of the same document in my word processor. I copy over whatever's good from the first document to the second, and if I decide the second isn't going so well, I copy stuff over from both to the third.

 

[Penpilot]

Any suggestions on how you edit without deleting half your manuscript?

This is what I do. Make a note in the manuscript detailing what I wanted to change before that point then keep writing going under the assumption that I made the change already. It keeps me going forward and makes it so the second draft is one where I go in and make all the big changes in one big swoop. This keeps me from fiddling with stuff that gets removed or changed anyway. Another thing is, maybe focus on the outline a bit more before starting. It can help stop the wandering from getting too out of hand.

 

[Zero Angel]

Depending on the program you use, you can track the changes pretty well. I have a "version history" folder where I keep all my different versions. If you have one of the newer Microsoft Words they have a "Track Changes" feature that analyzes two documents for any differences. It makes it pretty easy to not just have the older versions, but know exactly what changed between them.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I tend to think that the reason you deleted half the manuscript was because it was churned out during NNWM. It's difficult to write something good if you don't have the time to sit back and plan and assess where your writing's been going.

I'm not a big fan of NNWM for that reason: it might be a way to let someone feel like they "finished" something, but I'd rather take the time to actually produce something that I think is actually good. For me, every month is novel-writing month.

 

[Philip Overby]

Well this novel started during NaNoWriMo but has turned into my WIP. It's another reason I'm not a big fan of producing only during November for one month, which I don't anymore. Because of that, NaNoWriMo just happens to be the time I started my novel, but I kept working on it from then until now. So it's been close to a year since I started this particular novel and I'm close to finishing it.

I think after deleting a lot of it, it is actually pretty good, so it was fine to get a lot down. I'm learning to edit without just deleting, but I tend to cut huge swaths of writing just because.

I have also taken to doing the "multiple versions" like others have suggested. I have about 20 versions of my current WIP, so if I want to go back and add something I deleted later, I still have it somewhere.

 

[Chilari]

Ben, I'm not so sure NaNo is as bad as you say it is, or that the mentality is necessarily of "churning stuff out". I'm working my way up from 500 words a day this month to 1000 next month and then to 1667 in November. I'm using it not just as a way to get my first draft written, but also as a way to get into a system whereby I am reliably writing a significant amount on a daily basis. The trick as I see it is finding the time, and then planning the day's writing appropriately so you don't run out of material before reaching the word target.

I have every expectation of deleting quite a lot of what I write. Maybe not 50% but a significant amount, because of how I'm writing without a clear plan beyond a vague idea of where the story is going, without much worldbuilding, without any characters established before I introduce them. But that's fine, as far as I am concerned, because it is a first draft, it's not refined, it's the ore that needs grinding down to powder and burning and melting and casting and whatever else to create a thing of beauty.

Multiple versions sounds like a good plan. I might so something like that when the time comes. Might use track changes too. Useful feature, I use it all the time at work.

As for the question you asked, Phil, I think the only way to reliably reduce the proportion of your first draft you cut in editing would be to improve your first draft writing abilities. As the source material improves, less editing is required.

 

[Philip Overby]

As for the question you asked, Phil, I think the only way to reliably reduce the proportion of your first draft you cut in editing would be to improve your first draft writing abilities. As the source material improves, less editing is required.

I think I've come a long way towards improving my first drafts to the point where they aren't just a bunch of mush. However, I think plot meandering is my biggest problem. I'll get going on something and then think "Oh, it would be cool if they did this." Then the plot gets derailed. I've already figured out a solution to that: outlining. Which, cheap plug, my next article touches briefly on.

I also think NaNoWriMo is a good way to "train" yourself. I'm not one of these people that thinks I'm going to write a novel every November and it's going to be publishable. But I am of the opinion that I may write something particularly good when I participate and that I can use the material I wrote to branch out into a more serious effort.