Shop Talk: Editing

Since I am currently revising a novel, I thought that I would natter about editing a bit. :)

Obviously this is just my process; everyone works a bit differently. And I work somewhat differently in fanfic and original fic, too. I need a lot more revisions for my original stuff, partly because my original fic is usually more complicated (there's more going on with the plot and especially the emotional plot threads) and also because a lot of the rough draft process, for me, is just working out who the characters are. Then I have to go back and revise once I've established in my own mind who they are and what they want.

Anyway, I've tried a lot of different things over the years, but the main thing that seems to work for me is an extensive annotation system using square brackets. I do this with both fanfic and original writing, although I make a lot more use of it with the original stuff (especially long projects).

( Details under cut )

White Collar fic: The Waiting Room

Title: The Waiting Room
Fandom: White Collar
Word Count: 4200
Summary: Peter finds himself in an in-between place, and he's not alone.
Notes: This is one of the stories I started for H/C Advent and didn't finish in time. I started with the idea of "It's a Wonderful Life" in the White Collar universe and ended up, instead, doing the "Peter and Kate have a conversation in the afterlife" fic that I've been wanting to write. (No deaths except canon ones in this fic, however.) This is also for my hc_bingo "cuddling for warmth" square, although that aspect ended up being a much smaller part of the finished fic than I'd intended.
Cross-posted: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1109642

( The Waiting Room )