Comments on: Keep Your Grammar Nazi Out of my First Draft

By: stacey

stacey — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:02:50 +0000

I self-edit as I go, it’s just how I roll. Do I nitpick over small things? No. I know I can change them later but I die a little inside every time I see an obvious typo that makes it past my internal editor after it goes live.

At Ermas, I try to let the writer be responsible for their work but the editor hat comes on if/when I see something that needs to be tweaked or asked for an opinion. Then I edit gently and stare at the writer until they.stop.doing.it.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:33:55 +0000

Wow, that was an old post! Thanks for the shout-out. :) John, I always say the same thing — you can’t fix what doesn’t exist.

Jason, to answer your question, I don’t think I edit while I go, but I write quite clean. I fix typos as I go but it’s such a habit from email and everything else that it doesn’t stall my writing — it’s just how I do it. I didn’t realize that wasn’t how everyone writes until I started hanging out on the forums with other writers.

By: Carole Oldroyd

Carole Oldroyd — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:21:49 +0000

Oh, this is a touchy subject for me. My heart wants to throw the entire bucket on the canvas and then go back and work with it. My mother’s influence screams in my brain the whole time, “You spelled that word wrong!” or worse, “If you don’t fix it now, you’ll overlook it later.” I think I had a lot more fun writing before I started relying on myself to edit. Something in me makes me need to edit as I go. Not want. Need. A red underline may as well be flashing and yelling at me. I can’t go past it without correcting it. It’s a distraction, really. It takes away from my creative process in a huge way. And don’t get me started on how I now need to switch from MLA to APA, which may as well be an entirely different ‘language’ as far as my thumbs are concerned.

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:03:27 +0000

I splat my brain onto the page and tidy it up later. ;-)

I try not to worry about grammar, repetition, spelling or repetition until I’ve hit “The End” and let the book sit for a while.

Adam

By: Rhonda Stapleton

Rhonda Stapleton — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:54:42 +0000

GREAT post! And thanks for the shout-out. :D

When I write, I try my darndest to shove that inner editor out of the way and focus on drafting. However, it sneaks through every once in a while. Once that’s done, I let the Grammar Nazi take over and rip the story to shreds. haha

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:42:42 +0000

I don’t know how or when I became a Grammar Nazi, but somehow, somewhere between college and Communications roles, it happened. That is not to say that I am always right or always catch every semicolon, but, because of this grammatical head trip, I have found it so hard to just sit back and write like I used to – to find the way back to creator from editor.

That said, I find it funny that your article should appear today; last night something happened – I had a breakthrough. After going to bed (and not being able to sleep) I started to write, er, type on my iphone a story that has been swirling through my head – I kept going and going even when my wrists cramped from using the tiny touchpad keyboard. Like a streaker running naked through the night, I just typed without the cover of my APA manual. It was quite exhilarating and I hope it happens again soon.

By: John Banusiewicz

John Banusiewicz — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:14:12 +0000

No argument from me. I always tell people to keep the fingers flying, because no one can fix anything until there’s something to fix. But I hope people also caught that you edit your draft thoroughly before anyone else sees it. The writer needs to be the first editor. I promise you that no matter how good something is conceptually and how well the story is told, I’ll think you’re lazy — at best — if you give me something to edit that’s rife with grammar and mechanical errors. I understand some things are going to slip through. But if it’s clear you expect me to be more committed to the quality of your work than you are, we’re not going to have a good relationship.

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Mon, 10 May 2010 12:04:14 +0000

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