I often call myself an “over-editor” but I’ve started to wonder if over-editing is actually a thing. Way back I posted a video on my editing process. I broke it down into its simplest form because I know some folks would rather get a quick run down versus spend 40 minutes watching a video when they could be working on their manuscript. Still, that video which I believe is around 4 minutes doesn’t accurately show how much time I actually spend editing.
For me editing also takes part in the planning stages of the novel. At this point you’re researching and deciding what to include in your book. That to me is the same as when you decide to cut chapters or make word substitutions later on when your manuscript is complete.
Then there’s the “okay I’m finished writing” editing…which is reading through your first draft. I do three rounds of this edit. Sometimes more. I want to make sure I didn’t miss any “stupid errors” as I call them, which is basically spelling, grammar or major plot holes. These tend to be the mistakes I made while staying up till 3 am to write after working all day.
This editing also familiarizes me with the text because I am forced to read it over multiple times. I also try to take notes while editing, however I make more notes while working with another editor or a beta-reader. Notes from other peoples feedback is extremely beneficial and I tend to keep it to enhance not only my current work in progress, but all my future projects as well. It can be difficult to realize what areas you need to work on and to top it off you also learn where your strengths are!
But is over-editing a thing? After writing and revising this manuscript as many times as I have…personally I’ve lost count. I’d say to keep things simple I’ve gone over it about 8 times in total. 3 times on my own with the initial first draft. This being the 3rd now while editing with my editor…which makes 6 and within those 3 I read over it on my 3rd edit two extra times before sending it back to my editor yesterday. So yes. 8. Math.
I suppose over-editing could be a thing but to me I’m only doing what I feel is necessary. If it feels like something is off or needs to be corrected, I find a solution for it (or in some cases scrap it and start fresh). To me that is all apart of the editing process…I think however there are probably more efficient ways of editing ones book but each of us are different and will benefit from different forms of editing. I know some folks who don’t edit their own work at all. I simply prefer to edit mine before giving it to someone else to read because I want it to feel “reader friendly”/”ready.”
As a reader I absolutely hate being thrown off by a random spelling error in a book. This has happened more than I’d like to admit. It’s like having someone pinch you while you’re in the middle of a good dream! Little things like that get to me. It doesn’t make me stop reading, but it can pull me from the experience temporarily if I have to go back and reread the same sentence to figure out what’s going on simply because a single word was spelled incorrectly.
I’ve seen this in a lot of traditionally published books I’ve read lately…more so in comics. For me with the comics it is more frustrating simply because it literally lists every person who edited the book, and I’m like “there were 5 spelling mistakes.” One I can forgive but 5? And by a larger company…yikes. Especially since those books are expensive! I love them…and they’ve brought me so much joy over the years but I can’t get over how the last 3 books I’ve purchased from them have had around 3 to 5 spelling errors each. Which then while I’m editing (which I’m almost always editing…unless I’m writing) makes me extremely paranoid about spelling errors in my own manuscript.
So…maybe to answer my own question: There’s editing, not editing at all and editing for hours on end because you’ve suffered from editorial errors as a reader and don’t want to do that to anyone else.
Honestly if I find spelling mistakes in my manuscript I get a little cranky. I’d say I’m fairly calm when it comes to my projects but if I accidentally spell “peach” as “peech” I’m not very peachy.
Ardin Patterson 
I suddenly have an urge to watch The Little Mermaid (^.^)!
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I don’t think “over editing” is a thing, but perhaps it’s more of “doing the same stages of editing but not accomplishing what should have been done in that stage so you have to do it again” type thing? I know when I edit, before it even goes to betas, I read and re-read and use “Read Aloud” to catch as much as I can, so my betas aren’t thrown by random typos that we all make from time to time, but things like, “does the character always drive the same model of car” sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Betas catch that, usually. Also, it would help if I picked cars that I actually can remember, and it’s not my fault there are cars that in my head are all basically the same (Tahoe? Tacoma? Tundra?)
Regardless of my own process, I have read far too many books lately that I know have been “professionally” edited and are still littered with errors, ranging from ‘wrong word typos’ (they vs. the, from vs. form, etc.) to improper punctuation. I know these authors spent their hard-earned cash to hire these editors and it frustrates me to find that the final product is still distractingly in need of another round of edits, especially if such errors pull me from the enjoyment of the story.
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The car thing gets me too! I started writing them down and creating a picture cheat sheet haha! I think like you, I have specific cars that I always go to automatically.
That’s also what frustrates me when it comes to those books. They’re little errors. I understand that we are all human but like you said, these authors and publishing companies are paying a lot of money. If there is a misprint or like one spelling mistake then okay, we’re human. 3+ mistakes and it becomes distracting. It ruins the overall experience despite the book being excellent everywhere else!
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