Do you edit as you complete each passage of text, or on the completion of each chapter or section of your novel?
I prefer to edit as I go. It would gnaw at my mind to leave my work unedited. However, I am aware that on the completion of my manuscript, there will be numerous edits.
I use an editng plan. I check certain aspects on each edit, I may decide to check all the dialogue, and make the necessary improvements. As I SPEAK through passages of text, I will check the grammar and look for clunky sentences.
On subsequent edits I will check my topic sentences, sign-posting and the lengths of my paragraphs.
I will check my plot, storyline and ensure that my characters stay in character, unless there is good reason for them to stray.
I will reserve one edit to Landmark my novel.
I hope I did not fail to mention anything.
After I have thoroughly edited my novel, I will keep repeating the process until my editor and I are satisfied with my manuscript.
Once Ive written all of my first drafts. I Feel when I write i am on a journey and as I write I travel with the characters and places and they grow with me. If I stop to go back and edit, I lose my whole focus on the story. I wait until I have written the whole story, and then i start to edit. :)
I have only written one book and I am on the cusp of submission with it.
I edited as I went along, partly because of the small snatches of time I get to write means that I find it easier to edit the last paragraph or so before I get to carry on with the story.
Following on from that I edit it again, weeding out all the bits that are rubbish and incoherent and then once I had finished that I started all over again. I haven't really follwed any set path with editing but I have focused on clunky dialogue, impossible timelines, boring bits and all sorts of other horrors.
I'm a bit like Jonathan in that I rarely edit as I write the book. I tend to write, and will go back and add bits I think might enhance the story, but wait until I've finished the whole story. I then reread and correct and edit as I go. I have 2 good friends who will also read it for me and critique honestly (not sparing my feelings, which is good) and then I will edit some more.