Day 185

Let’s talk editing.

…

I’d rather not, but it’s a necessary part of the evolution of a story.

But, first, let’s get something quite clear right here, right now.  I will NEVER use AI to “improve” my writing.

My writing is my own.  It is me, imperfections and all.  I reluctantly allow a grammar checker to correct my work, but the reason is to address the offensive misuse of punctuation and outdated grammatical conventions based on age-old rules that AI can’t alter.

Because that’s the problem with AI.  It has its own set of rules and its own way of doing things, or more importantly, the creator’s way of doing things.

And it’s not simply because I watched Terminator and saw what could happen when machines get a mind of their own.

Or, sadly, the mind of the flawed human who created it.  I’ll let you ruminate on what could happen with AI created by the wrong people.  Of course, it opens a debate on who is or is not the wrong people, but that’s a topic for others to discuss.

So…

I write the story.

I re-read the story and make edits.

I re-read the story and made more edits.

I read the story and ensure that it reads properly and that there is continuity.  Names are correct. All people belong in the story, and their roles play out.

I have forgotten people before.

Then comes the spell checker, which shouldn’t find anything.

Then, the punctuation checker, which shouldn’t find anything.

Then the grammar checker, and this is the doozy.  There are usually between four and five hundred change requests, most quite simple and warranted, others a lot more complex and do not allow for writing style and people’s patterns of speech.

That takes the longest time to work through.

I actually run this checker a few times because it doesn’t pick everything up the first time.

Then, once that is done, I sent it off to the editor for one last read.