Editing Strategy: The Slingshot Method (Writing Advice)

most writers edit the hard way but today i want to share with you a strategy that will simplify the process and save you a lot of time and frustration by the way my name is brandon mcnulty i'm the author of bad parts also the author of entry wounds and welcome to my writing channel if you follow this channel you know that every now and then i do a video on the editing process and how to make it easier and this is because i'm constantly trying out different editing strategies with my own novels and some things work better than others today i want to share with you a technique that i call slingshot editing why do i call it that well i'll explain later on in the video but for right now let's take a look at basic three act structure most stories can be broken down into three acts act one is the first 25 of your story and this is where you introduce the characters their flaws their problems their everyday lives and the journey that they're about to go on act one usually ends with the character entering into a new world or a situation that turns their life upside down act 2 is the next 50 percent of your story but i like to break it down into two separate quarters for simplicity we'll call them act 2a and act 2b in 2a your protagonist is in a reactive phase they're reacting to the new situation that they're in they might be running for their lives or trying to fit in or struggling to adjust to their new world but they're in this reactive state then at the middle of your story the 50 mark your hero learns an important piece of information and this shifts your hero's attitude and sends them into act 2b which is the attack phase instead of being reactive they are now going on the attack and at this stage the hero proactively works towards solving their problems and or defeating the villain and then we reach act 3. this is the last 25 of your story and this is where we get a final confrontation between the hero and the villain a battle is fought and there is a decisive ending meaning that somebody wins and somebody loses and that's three act structure in a nutshell you have those three acts one two and three anyway now that you have a basic understanding of three act structure let's talk about editing most writers approach editing like this they will finish their final draft they'll write the words the end on the last page and then they'll go all the way back to the beginning of the story and start their editing there working from page one all the way to the end and this works for some people but i have three major problems with it the first problem is that it's intimidating to edit an entire novel from start to finish when you start at page one you have to stare up at a mountain i'd rather climb a few steep hills than climb the entire mountain outright that's just easier to me the second problem i have with it is that the beginning of your story is usually the easiest section to edit because things are relatively stable in this section of the story later on however that's when things get wild complex and sometimes sloppy i don't know about you but for me it makes sense to edit the sloppy parts first fix them up get them out of the way and take care of them while you have the most energy and enthusiasm about the editing process and then the third problem that i have is that you may need to rewrite act one after you edit the later parts of your story this is because when you edit the events in act two and three sometimes you need to go back to act one in order to set up those events properly so if you start at the beginning and you start your editing there and you spend time polishing up act one later on you may find that all that effort you spent with all that polishing that was a waste because now you have to rewrite those early chapters again just to set up acts two and three and that can waste a lot of valuable time it could get you frustrated and rather than starting at page one and editing all the way to the end what i like to do is what i call the slingshot editing strategy and here's how it works it solves these problems i mentioned because instead of starting the editing process at the first word of your story you're going to start at the beginning of act three you're going to edit the last 25 of your story first instead of tackling the entire mountain you're going to climb a smaller hill and you're going to get a sense of accomplishment which will boost your confidence that's going to be huge for you and by starting with act 3 you're also going to edit what will likely be the sloppiest parts of your story right up front you're gonna focus your energy on what needs the most fixing and then best of all if you start with act three you will finalize the end of your story which means you know exactly how the story ends and you know exactly how acts one and two need to set up the ending it's a lot easier to edit a book when the destination is set in stone and if you do this correctly if you do this technique correctly you will save yourself tons of rewrites and revisions anyway once you're done editing act 3 pull back to the 50 mark and edit act 2b once you're done with that pull back to the 25 mark and edit act 2a then finally you'll start at the very beginning and you'll edit act one and when you finish act one you're going to continue through the rest of your story to make sure that everything works everything adds up and since you already edited acts two and three this should be a breeze where you just fix some minor errors and put the finishing touches on your book so i hope this helps and if you're curious about other strategies for editing i will link some of my previous videos on the subject in the description below question of the day what gives you the most trouble during the editing process let us know in the comments section below thank you guys for watching if you want to support the channel please pick up a copy of either one of my novels also be sure to check out my other videos hit the like and subscribe buttons for me share this video with a friend and as always remember to keep on writing

Channel: Writer Brandon McNulty

Views: 4,667

Keywords: Writing, Writing advice, Writing Tips, Fiction, Creative Writing, How to write a book, How to write a novel, novel, book, Editing, Editing Novel, Editing Novel Tips, how to edit a novel, how to edit a novel first draft, how to edit a novel quickly, editing your novel, self editing your novel, self editing for fiction writers, self edits, editing books, editing a book, editing fiction, writing, writers on writing, novel writing, how to write books, edit, editing techniques, editor

Id: Xfl6ZL5FK54

Length: 5min 55sec (355 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2022