# Styles of Editing and Writing



## nybx4life (Jan 23, 2012)

I've been on this site for a while, and I'm a bit ashamed I haven't uploaded any work within the past few years, so I'll be posting a chapter of a story I'm working on shortly.


Background information aside, I wanted to know a few things. Feel free to answer only one, or both:
1. I'm currently writing an adult story with sex scenes. I've read a few stories here on FA and also on DeviantArt that had badly written scenes that I'd either gloss over just to see the character's reaction to the event, or would make me stop reading entirely. The question is, have you ever read a story where the story transitions well into the sex scene, or there was a sex scene that you liked? What made the scene effective? What did you like about it (kinks aside)?

2. I've always been very nervous when it came to editing my own work. I feel like I can write something, but I can't edit it. To me, I think it's because I'm not sure how to edit my story, and where to start. So the question is: Do you have any tips on starting to edit your own story? Based on what you've read online, what do you think is the one thing all writers should take care to do/not to do while editing?


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## M. LeRenard (Jan 24, 2012)

Am I the only author on this site who's never dabbled in erotica?  Anyway, if you want a story that has decent transitions into sex, try the Clan of the Cave Bear.
As for question two, editing is a craft all in its own that you have to learn in parallel to the writing portion, because editing is essentially what you do to fix what's broken.  That means you need to first be able to determine what 'broken' means, and you have to know how to fix it once you can spot it.  The question 'what should writers do when editing' is super broad, and many books have been written on the subject, so the answer is rather long and involved.  A specific question would be more useful on a forum setting like this.
What I always suggest to new writers, though, is to practice on other peoples' works first.  You'll find it's much easier to find flaws in something you didn't write yourself.  Try giving some critiques here, or get a CritiqueCircle account and try your hand at a few of those, then ask for feedback from the people you critique.  If you get lost, try picking up a book on the subject to get started, then go ahead and practice some of the techniques you might learn from said book.  And keep reading stuff and making mental notes of what you think works and what you think doesn't.  Eventually you'll just start to naturally gain an intuition for it, which you can then apply to editing your own works.

Hopefully this makes sense and comes in handy.  This is just what I've picked up over the years.


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## nybx4life (Jan 24, 2012)

Thank you for your input. Then, a more specific question would be on editing, which you already answered, would be what do you believe is the most important thing a writer should do when editing.


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## Altamont (Jan 30, 2012)

Don't worry Renard, I too have never ventured into the depths of erotica. For one, I find it to be artistically unsatisfying, but I also know I'd suck at it, heheh.

As far as editing goes, the best advice I've ever seen was when I first read Stephen King's _On Writing_. King suggests you write whatever it is you are working on without looking back, full throttle, so to speak. Then leave it alone. Lock it up and throw away the key for at good amount of team. Once your attachment is gone (or lessened, at least), then it's usually a lot easier to spot the flaws you couldn't see before hand. It's definitely worked for me in the past, I can tell you that much.

Oh the horrors hindsight can reveal...


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## Cain (Jan 30, 2012)

I haven't dove into the murky depths of erotica.
Well, I am just starting out...


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## kentenko (Feb 1, 2012)

I've written a lot of porn... and I mean a lot... You want advice? PM me or E-mail me... the best advice I can give you is try and imagine what it would feel like the best you can... if that's not good enough go to a site that specialize in that stuff I'll give you a list via PM this isn't an adult friendly forum unfortunately...


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## twilightiger (Feb 25, 2012)

The simplest way to start is to understand the distinction between self improvement and personal vanity. Most authors find editing to be a laborious process because it involves changing something that they feel is already finished, or has no need for improvement. This is why a term like polishing the pearl is used as a euphemism for editing. Its all about presentation.  The reverse of this is when authors start to think of their story as their baby. This is a form of emotional attachment that interferes with the editing process. In fact it is even more noticeable when thoughts of cutting scenes or surgically altering characters get tossed around. Nobody wants to mutilate their baby.

To really get down to the meat of editing one must have a clear goal in mind and work in stages. Rough draft, first draft, second draft, finished draft. Grammar, punctuation, syntax, style, execution. When I edit any work I find it easiest to print off a chapter and begin making corrections while specifically looking for anything out of place. By working from a sheet of paper and not a computer screen I can make notes, add annotations, and change things around without changing the core of my work. Which is what makes computers so beautiful. They make editing easy.

I really can't recommend learning to edit your own work by editing someone else's work first. Unless you're a pro with an in depth understanding of how the whole sphere of writing works, and not just a small corner of it, this method only teaches you how to replicate someone else's mistakes. Which of course, may not even be mistakes, it all depends on the context.

While I have barely even begun to touch upon what editing really is I could probably go on forever, so I won't. Mostly because what I've already said is way too open to interpretation, (and its easier to answer specific questions, then vague general ones) and because editing can be more easily summed up as: the process by which one applies the rules of writing to a finished body of work. 

There it is again "body of work" I don't know who coined the term but damn did the idea of making any sort of changes to my "body of work" make me uncomfortable when I first started learning how to edit.


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## kitreshawn (Feb 26, 2012)

#1) Beyond the obvious issues (Purple Prose,  IKEA Erotica, and just plain poor grammar/spelling) I would say the biggest thing that makes a sex scene fall flat in a story that is not obviously intended as porn would be the scene not fitting in with the rest of the story.  In effect, it feels like the scene was shoved in there just to have a sexual encounter.

Having a sex scene is fine, but it should be meaningful to the work at large.  Meaning that there should be a build up of some sort and after it should have a serious impact on the character relations.  Really the actual sex itself is the least important matter and can be glossed over or done off screen completely (scene break with the two waking up the next morning for instance).

Not going to say you shouldn't write sex scenes, I certainly have done my fair share of them.  But these are the conclusions I've ultimately come to on my own.  Feel free to experiment yourself and draw your own.

#2) The VERY best advice I can give you when editing a project, especially something that you have invested your heart and soul into, is to set it down and not look at it for a week or two (or more!).  Work on something else.  After the time has passed go back and look it over.  The waiting period helps you separate the work from your work from your emotions, and if you have continued to work on other projects it is likely you have improved your own skill in the meantime.

Read it out loud and be fucking ruthless.  I mean it.  Do not accept 'almost good enough' or 'almost works' when you edit.  If something sounds a little off try to figure out why.  Maybe try rewriting the part that sounds wrong a different way.  Maybe use a different word.  Maybe see if you have a character behaving in a way they really do not want to.  Your goal should be to make sure that all the pieces settle into place as neatly and seamlessly as possible and you must be willing to say 'no, this is not quite there yet, things still have not hit the note they should.'

I won't lie.  It is hard.  And it can get very frustrating.  It is quite likely that you will make a bevy of changes only to realize after that the problems you have fixed make other areas which seemed fine before now stand out as flawed in some way that previously had been hidden.  Keep working at it, the end result is worth it and the exercise will make you a better writer just for the things you learn.  If you don't believe that then set the story aside for a year after you finish editing it, go work on other projects, then come back and read it again.  I swear to god you will cringe over what you thought was a nearly perfect piece, all because you have improved your craft.


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