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nym_wibblyMy biggest problem with revising/editing/redrafting my fanfic has always been my inability to organise the job. Word-processing tools have built in revision tools, good ones these days, but as soon as I start using them, my brain shuts down at the sight of the document. I can just about handle the highlight-and-comment of Google Docs, the comments in neat little bubbles off to one side, but all the colour-change, strikethrough, underline and other business of the serious revision tools in MS Word... I can't use that and still get anything done. So I'd squirt my text through Google Docs, but that does funky things to my paragraphs and other details, things I have trouble spotting later, things I get muddled fixing later, so I end up copying my text to Google Docs, then trying to transfer the revisions and notes to my original working document on my PC by manually copying them. Which goes well until I get interrupted/distracted. Then it doesn't.
I first came up against this at work, in my teens, when I still thought that clerical/admin was the life for me. I'd struggle with this process on the legal documents I was working with, and everyone else would be all, "Can't you just...?"
Those three words unfortunately define chronic illness/invisible disability. They've also come to define neurodiversity for me. Something in my brain does not do the thing the way other people's brain does the thing, and other people have trouble understanding what my problem is - why I can't learn, train or strive my way past it. But I can't. I have to work around it, take a more winding route to my goal, because I can't "just" change how I perceive information, or the effect that it has on my cognitive processes. In most situations, I just muddle through, but applying some kind of organisational structure to revising A Bed of Thorns is no longer optional. Editing/revising, beyond basic proofreading, has never been my strong point, because it's caught in this chicken/egg cycle. I do as little as I can, not because I think my draft is made of speshul snowflakes, but because manipulating text in any visual way makes my braincell implode. The confusion makes me add new mistakes as I remove the originals, makes me upset that I can't do something that I feel I "ought" to be able to do easily given my grasp of language, so I don't ever get the practice that would make the editing process less daunting, and help me figure out a way to do it better.
I'm going to beat this, this coming year. 2019 is the year when I find a way for Nym's brain to edit properly. I can't "just" overcome my difficulty in physically and cognitively working with text and markup, with the standard tools and how they display on my screen, and with the short-term memory of a goldfish, but I'm going to find a way to revise, edit and rewrite that actually works for me. My fanfics have become ever more ambitious, and that means they need ever more revision after the fact. I have to crack this if I want to keep developing as a writer. Even if it means breaking the story down onto a gazillionty index cards, buying some niche piece of software, or (more likely) plumping for Google Docs and its side-bubble comments, then trying to rescue an AO3- and archival-friendly copy of the text from that format when I've finished.
Today's experimental tool: Hemingway Editor.
I first came up against this at work, in my teens, when I still thought that clerical/admin was the life for me. I'd struggle with this process on the legal documents I was working with, and everyone else would be all, "Can't you just...?"
Those three words unfortunately define chronic illness/invisible disability. They've also come to define neurodiversity for me. Something in my brain does not do the thing the way other people's brain does the thing, and other people have trouble understanding what my problem is - why I can't learn, train or strive my way past it. But I can't. I have to work around it, take a more winding route to my goal, because I can't "just" change how I perceive information, or the effect that it has on my cognitive processes. In most situations, I just muddle through, but applying some kind of organisational structure to revising A Bed of Thorns is no longer optional. Editing/revising, beyond basic proofreading, has never been my strong point, because it's caught in this chicken/egg cycle. I do as little as I can, not because I think my draft is made of speshul snowflakes, but because manipulating text in any visual way makes my braincell implode. The confusion makes me add new mistakes as I remove the originals, makes me upset that I can't do something that I feel I "ought" to be able to do easily given my grasp of language, so I don't ever get the practice that would make the editing process less daunting, and help me figure out a way to do it better.
I'm going to beat this, this coming year. 2019 is the year when I find a way for Nym's brain to edit properly. I can't "just" overcome my difficulty in physically and cognitively working with text and markup, with the standard tools and how they display on my screen, and with the short-term memory of a goldfish, but I'm going to find a way to revise, edit and rewrite that actually works for me. My fanfics have become ever more ambitious, and that means they need ever more revision after the fact. I have to crack this if I want to keep developing as a writer. Even if it means breaking the story down onto a gazillionty index cards, buying some niche piece of software, or (more likely) plumping for Google Docs and its side-bubble comments, then trying to rescue an AO3- and archival-friendly copy of the text from that format when I've finished.
Today's experimental tool: Hemingway Editor.
no subject
Date: 23 Dec 2018 10:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 25 Dec 2018 07:59 (UTC)I'm 45 and I still can't say, "this is what's happening" to fully explain it to anyone. I first noticed something not "normal" about the way I process sensory input when I took driving lessons in my teens. I could control the car perfectly, or interpret what I was seeing in front of me perfectly and remember all the road signs and rules, etc, but it was a mess when I put the two tasks together.
I've gone a long way since then towards identifying how it affects how I perform in everyday situations. Mostly I developed workarounds without even knowing I was doing it. They seem a bit odd to other people, but they're the fastest route to getting the job done, for me.
2019 is looking good!
Date: 23 Dec 2018 12:56 (UTC)Here's to a new start for ABoT, and for your braincell vs. the world. Keep fighting the good fight. I'm very excited for where it takes you.
Re: 2019 is looking good!
Date: 23 Dec 2018 17:22 (UTC)