Editing, editing, editing

So. I'm editing now. What does that  mean? It's worth noting that editing and the writing process is very different for everyone. I call my first, complete book my first draft. But, as some of you know, this 'first' draft might have been rewritten like 2 or 3 times (see A Squire's Wish and Stars Awoken). Other writers might consider the book the 3rd/4th draft since I've rewritten the scenes / topics / etc. repeatedly. 

By the time I'm done with my first draft, I'm normally happy with the overall flow of the book. As such, the majority of what I'm doing is copy changes. Editing is where I catch or delete overuse of adverbs, filler words, repetition of the same words and just clarify sentences. 

Here's a concrete example. The original paragraph:

“Senior Goh,” Wu Ying said as he found Ru Ping in the orchards, hands on his hips and stretching out his back. Or staring at the fruit of the tree that still grew on it. Wu Ying paused for a second, seeing the six glowing pears that had caught Ru Ping’s attention. As he stepped closer, Wu Ying shivered as the dense spiritual energy that collected around the tree ran through him. Quickly enough, Wu Ying spotted the formation flags that boosted the spiritual energy for this section of the orchard.

And the edited paragraph:

“Senior Goh,” Wu Ying said as he found Ru Ping in the orchards, hands on his hips and stretching out his back. Or staring at the fruit of the tree that still grew on it. Wu Ying’s steps stuttered as he spotted the six glowing pears in the branches of the pear tree. As he neared, Wu Ying shivered as the dense spiritual energy that collected around the tree penetrated his aura and enlivened him. A scan of his surroundings allowed Wu Ying to spot the formation flags that boosted the spiritual energy for this section of the orchard.

World Building Elements

The editing stages also often mean I end up adding to my series bible, adding more world building notes and just changing / deleting things. For example, I made a huge mistake in the elements and now I need to go back and edit things, finding the right element for people and fixing it. 

Missing Scenes / Foreshadowing

This is the last thing that I do during the editing process. Since I'm a pantser, foreshadowing can sometimes be hard. While I generally have a broad idea of the ending, the way I get to it often ends creeps up on me. As such, going back and foreshadowing elements on the edit is necessary.

Ditto with pacing. While there's a little metronome in my head going 'this is getting boring, pick it up. Throw in X scene here', it's hard to see the flow of an entire book without it being done. It's in the editing stage that I am able to add scenes or (on the rare occasions), delete scenes to improve flow.

Last things to discuss...

Speed of editing.

Editing is generally faster than writing for me. I can edit 5k-10k words a day in general. So a 90k word gets edited in 10-15 days. Editing is harder than writing in some ways and more draining and I find I can't write and edit at the same time, not well at least. So I often have to put aside writing to do editing and vice versa. 

It means I'm a little slower than I'd like. At some point, I'll probably try editing & writing again on the same day to see how that goes, but... well. I'm mostly happy with my output speed so I have no desperate desire to push it. Not yet at least.

Questions about the editing process?