Questions 3: The Dread of Editing

Posted on August 21, 2026 by Charles Yallowitz

(Originally asked on January 21, 2016.  Probably have done it again since, but editing is always a fun topic to bring up.)

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Part of me thinks I already did a Questions 3 on editing, but I’m too lazy and tired to search for it.  Probably because I’ve been scrambling to edit this week.  Not easy to do when it’s so cold that I want to hibernate and the most comfortable position I can find is kneeling next to the bed.  Honestly, I’ve seen a lot of authors are in editing mode, so maybe this will be more fun than I realize.  Let’s move on to the questions.

  1. What is one piece of an advice you would give someone to make their editing easier?
  2. What is the most frustrating part of editing for you?
  3. Edit spelled backwards is Tide?  How would you say this is appropriate?

Answer for 3:  I feel like I should answer this to be fair since I’ve answered the other two several times over the years.  I think the backwards spelling is appropriate because you’re washing out the mistakes and stinky stuff from your manuscript.  Like how the tide going out will carry stuff away.  Then again, you could be left with a dead whale on the shore and that’s just upsetting.  (I also now realize there’s a detergent called Tide.  That works here as well.)

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About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
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15 Responses to Questions 3: The Dread of Editing

  1. L. Marie's avatar L. Marie says:
    August 21, 2026 at 10:16 am
    1. Enjoy it. When I think of editing/revision, I think of a guy who tinkers with a well-beloved car. You know the people who painstakingly restore old cars. They know they have something valuable and want others to see the beauty of it. But that beauty takes work.
    2. One of the hard parts of editing is when I know I need to rewrite something but I have trouble thinking past what I already have. So sometimes I have to come back to it later.
    3. I can’t improve on what you wrote. Editing helps you turn the tide on your manuscript as you said.

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  2. annabellefranklinauthor's avatar annabellefranklinauthor says:
    August 21, 2026 at 12:22 pm
    1. Leave your manuscript to ‘marinate’ until you’ve almost forgotten the details of the story – when you go back to it with fresh eyes, the parts that need working on will jump out at you.
    2. When something jumps out that refuses to be improved.
    3. Give the tide time to go out and bring in ‘fresh’ water.

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  3. noelleg44's avatar noelleg44 says:
    August 21, 2026 at 1:33 pm

    The tide always comes in with fresh ideas!

    I usually let the editing sit for a while – in the case of what I get from my critique group, I usually let it sit until they’ve gone through the whole book. Then I see it with fresh eyes.

    The most frustrating part of editing is finding the stupid things I just didn’t see. This happens when I read the book aloud to myself at the very end.

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  4. John W. Howell's avatar John W. Howell says:
    August 21, 2026 at 2:31 pm
    1. What is one piece of an advice you would give someone to make their editing easier? Take time to do it carefully.
    2. What is the most frustrating part of editing for you? Overlooking a mistake or typo several times. Makes me wonder how many of those are there?
    3. Edit spelled backwards is Tide?  How would you say this is appropriate? An edit cleans the manuscript.

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  5. V.M.Sang's avatar V.M.Sang says:
    August 22, 2026 at 7:00 am

    I don’t think I can add anyghing to what has already been said. All sensible and good comments.

    L Marie has hit the nail on the head with number 2.

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  6. DebyFredericks's avatar DebyFredericks says:
    August 22, 2026 at 11:01 am

    1)What is one piece of an advice you would give someone to make their editing easier? I think it’s important to start out by reading the whole thing without edits, to keep your focus on the flow of the whole thing. We can easily get overwhelmed or feel discouraged going through a story line by line and word by word.

    2)What is the most frustrating part of editing for you? I don’t get too frustrated, honestly. Revision is part of the process and can be as engaging as creating the initial draft.

    3)Edit spelled backwards is Tide? How would you say this is appropriate? I like what you said about the tide going out will carry stuff away.  

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