1 July check-in

[anehan]

Hello everyone, and welcome to a new month of WIP challenge! I'll be hosting the check-ins this week.

Poll #11012 1 July check-in

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

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What did you do today?

View Answers

Wrote.
10 (66.7%)

Edited.
4 (26.7%)

Sent to beta.
1 (6.7%)

Posted.
0 (0.0%)

Plotted.
3 (20.0%)

Researched.
4 (26.7%)

Something else.
5 (33.3%)

Don't ask.
0 (0.0%)

How do you feel about it?

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Great!
3 (20.0%)

All right.
6 (40.0%)

Meh.
6 (40.0%)

Don't ask.
0 (0.0%)

Describe your current WIP with five or fewer words.

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Let's talk about editing today. How much do you edit your stories? Are your first drafts pretty polished, or are they hot messes that need to be beaten into shape? Do you show your first drafts to your beta(s) before doing any editing or do you prefer to edit them first by yourself?

Comments

[waterfall8484]

I usually do drabbles or ficlets, so they don't need much editing. Unless I want them to be exactly 100/200 words, in which case there is much fiddling. FOr the same reasons, I don't really use betas much.

[anehan]

With me, a beta is pretty much required even for short ficlets because I can never be sure I haven't made ESL (=English as a Second Language) mistakes. I wish my English were so good that every little thing I write wouldn't need to be checked over.

[boeserhimmel]

I try to make my first draft as 'perfect' as possible but I make a lot of typos and usually check the text for those or strange sentence structure (oh, I'm good with that) before sending the document to a beta. I'm actually working on being a bit more relaxed about my first drafts because I sometimes edit while I write and that blocks me more often than not. Editing is something I really don't like, though.

I actually completed the first part of my challenge yesterday, so I have a more or less complete outline for the story and can concentrate on writing now. I don't know if that's good or bad. :D It did bring me 1009 words today but I really had to force them even if it meant finishing a scene. Those will need quite a lot of editing.

[anehan]

Heh, I hear you about weird sentence structures. :D

[lullabymoon]

I managed 500 words today which, while good, wasn't nearly as much as I wanted done today.

I used to try and make my first drafts as polished as possible but my perfectionist tendencies meant writing was taking me forever. I try and go for a bit less polished now, but I still correct spelling as I go along. I like to edit myself before things get sent to beta.

[anehan]

500 words sounds good! I think it's important to get something down, even if it's not quite as much as one would have liked. That keeps the brain engaged with the story.

[linaewen]

I scribbled a few notes for something, but it wasn't my current WIP, alas. The WIP I'm trying to finish this month just needs me to sit down and start working on it, but motivation and opportunity are not aligning themselves properly at the moment.

I edit my stories a lot, and my first drafts are usually quite polished. Only when I'm really inspired and writing quickly to I have rough copy that needs me to go back and fill in the blanks or edit bad sentences. By the time I send things to my betas, the story is pretty much posting ready -- my betas are more for last minute "does this make sense" and "did I miss anything" checking.

[anehan]

I hear you on writing something that isn't your current WIP. I'm supposed to be planning and writing a challenge piece, but did I touch it? Nooooooo.

[ladygriddlebone]

I was torn between "something else" and "don't ask" for what I did today... I had a very productive day around the house, and then it all went wrong really quickly. Now I'm in a terrible mood and I've written exactly nothing toward my daily goal, which is not helping.

[anehan]

I'm sorry to hear that things went wrong yesterday. :( I hope today is a better day for you.

[riceishere]

I edit as I go along which means I'm a really really slow writer and more often than not, have a hard time finishing because of it. Sometimes I try not to edit as much just to get my wordcounts going. But it means I have to write half-conscious or sleepy or distracted so I could stop my brain from over-thinking each word.

[anehan]

It seems that over-editing as one is writing is a problem for lots of people here, me included. For me, one of the ways I can fool my brain into not thinking too much about what I write is to write during a writing chat. It's weird but it works.

[laceblade]

I exceeded my word-count goal for the day, so that's good.

I went back through my entire "chapter one," smoothing things out a bit, and feel that this is a solid first draft, with the first chapter clocking in at 8,390 words.

For shorter fics, I usually write straight through and then go back and tweak a little bit.

I haven't successfully written any long fics yet, but I'm working on one right now anyway. So far, at least, I edit the fuck out of things, deleting lots of needless insights that don't contribute to the story, or awkward wording, or etc.
This plot is going to involve espionage and shit, so I'm expecting I'll need to go back and edit things to make the logic line up.
I don't know how people can post fics that are "in progress!" I'm not sure I'll feel comfortable posting any of this puppy until the entire thing's done.

I edit a lot before sending things to a beta.
In this case, though, I'm asking friends if anyone wants to read the first chapter before I continue, partly to see if anyone wants to bounce ideas about plot, and also to potentially get an ego-stroke, :D

[anehan]

Yay! Congratulations on exceeding your word-count goal! Also, it's great that you've embarked on the journey of writing a long fic. \o/

I'm with you: I don't understand how people can post WIPs. What if they need to go back and make substantial changes? I do understand that posting things that are in progress provides motivation to write for many people. Me, I post things to a small filter on my journal, so that I can post things that are WIPs at the same time that I'm not posting them.

[crowdog66]

I tend to be a "first draft and done" sort of person, which (mercifully) seems to be working so far. And I don't usually use betas, so it really IS "first draft and done". :)

[anehan]

Wow! I envy you. :D

[bay_alexison]

Got around 300-400 new words written for my fma_ladyfest fic. The scene I might still need to add more details, but I'll worry about that later. Also my beta finished looking over my Avengers Noir AU fic and suggested a couple changes, so I'll be doing that after dinner tonight.

I tend to do quick edits as I go, otherwise if the story isn't in a strict deadline I go back and edit once or twice before sending it to my beta.

[anehan]

Yay! for getting fic back from beta. :)

[lilly_c]

I wrote 800 words for the first scene of my goal fic for this month and I'm happy with that so far. I've also got a separate file with notes for each chapter and the episodes I'm working with. I need to finish typing up the rest of the episode notes.

For drabbles and short fics I tend to look them over once I'm done then tweak a bit and post. For longer fics I try and get a beta because there is always something I miss when I self edit. I am considering getting a beta for my goal fic, I'm going to decide when I get the rough draft of chapter 1 finished.
I'm dyslexic so I sometimes find it hard to self edit.

[anehan]

800 words! Wow! *admires*