Bradley Walker
Editing is one of the aspects of writing that really took me off guard. Of course I knew that anything I've read had been though the process of editing, but I didn't quite conceptualise how much patience and negotiation with the text it would take. It's a mammoth task that demands a lot from you, but in the best way possible. (Seriously.)
I'd go so far as stating the editing process can be as lengthy and infinitely more laborious than the actual creative process - it's where the inevitable typos are remedied, the poor grammar mistakes that a sleepy session of writing allowed are rectified, where the facts are checked, anachronisms righted, and general through line is tamed and tampered, and, my favourite, the time to add flourishes and profundity to help substantiate your work even further. Basically, we edit to secure a smooth and conducive read for everyone.
However, it is absolutely essential for any writer to be able to zone in to this 'perfectionist' mindset, lest the time they spent on writing the whole piece be rendered null and void. Before approaching any professional for potential publication, you will have to ensure your work is in the best possible condition and, even then, should you get lucky enough to have it read by someone in the industry, you'll find that their editors have picked up on myriad mistakes that you missed, or didn't even register!
But it's okay, and actually, quite relaxing and satisfying to take a finished draft, and word by word, from sentence to paragraph, to chapters, build around the framework of your piece. Editing allows the writer to conjure a duality in their thinking, and become their own team pre-publication. I believe the editing process of The Catalyst is what helped me develop exponentially as a writer, and fuelled my confidence to attempt the scale of Nerham.
Below you'll find a few images in which raw first drafts have been crafted and melded to become stronger pieces - writing is the cute, chubby caterpillar, editing is the fascinating chrysalis, the final product is the li'l byoodiful butterfly. Let your work evolve!
Note: My general rule of thumb is to finish a project, and then edit it once, twice, three times... leave it for a little while, then return with fresh eyes for a final edit. So many people I've worked with or have spoken to about writing fall in to the trap of not moving forward because they want to make sure the previous chapter is perfect! I know I'll never be satisfied, so I finish, and then scrutinise holistically... I'd rather fix a book or script, than a chapter or scene!
Nerham Editing Excerpt
This excerpt below shows the raw form of the first chapter, then the editing process once I finished the whole book, and then the "final" form prior to submission. In the second picture, notice how the maroon writing indicates what has been added/changed, whilst declaring in the column to the right what was there prior. This snippet is actually one of the more lightly edited pages, but I believe gives a decent enough insight in to what sort of process unfold during edits.
'Gypsy Sam' Editing Excerpt
This project is a bit of an anomaly from the usual, seeing as it's technically me rewriting an already written draft, which will then be filtered through the above process upon completion - oh, the joys!. My grandfather wrote a whole book, but as you may see from the excerpts here, the format, the grammar/punctuation, the writing - basically everything - is in a raw form. After speaking to him, we agreed for me to take what he has written, deconstruct as base materials, and build from the ground up. In essence, I'm using his draft as a solid collection of notes, in which I'm refining the material to be up to standard. The research involved in this book, (about Liverpool in post-war Liverpool) is somewhat immense, but as mentioned in the EDITING tab, this is a part of the entire process - and it's exhilerating.
Hopefully you'll see from the images below how his version (yes, that is notepad) bulled through the plot and omitted the important exposition, and I've had to rework it to such an extent that it is fleshed out. In some cases, two-three paragraphs of his have been morphed in to a whole chapter.
I'm unsure if this is easier than being given the concept and working alone, but either way, I commend his time and effort to create what he has, and I'm enjoying formatting, rewriting, and tightening the plot so as to bring his story to life for others. I want to do it the justice I know it deserves.
The colour differentiation here is where I've copy and pasted his writing in, so as to ensure elements of his original copy survive in to the rewrite - an ode, more than a necessity, but I think it's cute!
