Editing

[farad]

We all believe in it (don't we?), we all respect it. And if we were writing for professional publication, we'd have a number of different rounds for editing.

But the easy accessibility of on-line archives has made it very easy to, um, post without a beta or edit. I know that I do it myself, especially when writing comment-fic.

So - how many 'rounds' of editing do you think you should put your fic through? Notice: I didn't ask what you actually do, just what your ideal is. *G*

Comments

[adonnchaid]

Ideally, I aim for two passes for everything. Some things get more, some get less, but I think two makes them readable :)

[farad]

That's a good plan. I do fail on it, especially with short fic, but I definitely try for it with my longer stuff. As you know too well. *g*

[solosundance]

I don't know if I have an ideal - probably something vague like 'more than one'... In reality it varies depending on circumstance, type of fic, length of fic, organizational ability of me (ie disorganization of me), etc. I think many (most?) of us believe in producing the best we can one way or another. Comment-fic is an interesting genre - I don't often manage that level of instant!muse but the 'spontaneity' of just throwing something out without safety net can be fun!

[farad]

- I don't often manage that level of instant!muse but the 'spontaneity' of just throwing something out without safety net can be fun!

Yeah, this is often my approach to comment fic, for better or worse. I love having that short period to just *write* and the prompt catches be just perfect and the words flow. And I don't have time to commit it to a real edit. I should apologize to all my readers for those, as I do tend to have 'brain skips', places where my fingers literally don't type words because my brain has already moved on . . .

No comment-fics, though, I do try to run through a several-reader process.