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I’m currently about 1/4 of the way through writing a duology. I’ve plotted the first book extensively and the second one… kinda extensively? Not as much as the first one, but still pretty thoroughly.
But now that I’m nearing the end of draft one of book one, I can’t decide whether I should edit it at all before starting book two.
I strictly adhere to the principle of waiting to edit until the manuscript is done, because then your writing will just… be better, you’ll have a more accurate idea of foreshadowing, theme, etc., and you’ll keep momentum going. But I’m conflicted on how that applies to a series.
On one hand, book number two is a continuation of a story… but also, the two are separate books, they have two separate climaxes, and rising of action, and all that jazz.
Plus I want to share manuscript one with my family which my pride won’t let me do if it’s still uneditedSo, in your experience, is it better to power through the entire series before editing? Minimal editing? Complete editing?
I can't think of anything witty at the moment.
I’d recommend editing it before you move on to book two, because sometimes with editing things change around with the plot and characters and it’d be easier to have those things at least somewhat set in stone before moving on to the next book than to have to do even more editing with the second book. It may have been confusing the way I worded that, lol. XD Hope that helps!
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www.jennaterese.comLike Jenna said, I would recommend editing the first book before moving on to the sequel. I myself am writing a trilogy, and while I’ve outlined (loosely) all three books, I’m going to completely edit them one at a time before moving onward. That way, if you get new ideas or want to tweak the storyline a bit, you have the freedom to without editing the rest of the story and therefore making things messy. Make sense? I also think that having the first book set in stone will help give you a solid basis for the second one. You’ll have all the facts, it’ll be edited, and you can share it with your family! But of course, you’re the author and it’s your decision, but this is just my two cents. I’m wishing you the very best of luck with it! 🙂
(Also, I don’t believe I’ve met you yet. I’m Lexi, and it’s an honor to meet you!:)
@relia I’m waiting till I finish most of my series to edit…or maybe all of it (probably because I hate editing) but also in future books I might decide to change things that happen in previous books so when I go back to rewrite or whatever I can change accordingly. Also because my writing improves the more I write.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@relia I agree with Jenna and Lexi, you should probably edit the first book before you move on to the second one so that you have a solid foundation with the first book. Besides, sharing the first one with your family would be so fun and might even give you some useful feedback to incorporate or just keep in mind before you move on to the second book!
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Hmm, if I ever write a series I was thinking to edit after each book. Like, write book one, edit book one. Write book two, edit book two. But it really just depends on what works best for you! I do think you shouldn’t obsessively edit to the point where you can’t move on with your series. Hope this helps. 🙂
I’m a big believer in Doing Whatever Works For You, however, I’m personally going to go against the grain here and say that for me personally editing a duology together is what works better for me. I’ve written a duology and I’m currently in the process of editing it (or I’m pretending to edit it rather), and for me the best way to do it was to draft both books and now I’m working on editing the first book. I might even do a couple of drafts of the first book, and get the characters and plot downpat, and then edit the second book. For me, writing the first book and then editing it to a semi-publishable level would have killed all enthusiasm for the story and I never would have written the second book.
Obviously though, my advice is always to do what works for you, I’m just sharing my personal experience with the same sort of situation.
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
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