Ficlets

R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself

One of the most important parts of writing a ficlet is self-editing. With only 1024 characters to get a complete mini-story across (see #3, Ficlet Structure), you may need to be ruthless.

Check the Internet or your library for more detailed advice, but here’s a simple 3-step guide.

1. Plan ahead. After you write a few ficlets, you’ll start to get an idea of about how much story will fit in one 1024-byte chunk. Try to plot out just that much.

2. Overwrite. Don’t worry if you’re not quite done by the time you hit 1024 characters. Don’t interrupt your flow. Finish your idea, then see what you have to cut.

3. Prune deadwood. Ask yourself, “Does this word/sentence/paragraph move the story along? Do I really have to keep it?” If the answer is “no,” see what the story looks like if you remove it. Adjectives and adverbs are great candidates for removal. Especially words like “really,” “very,” “somewhat,” “slightly,” and so on. Try removing every single one from your story and see how it looks.

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R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Blusparrow
Posted 3 months ago

Your right that is a good way to cute it down. Thankfully when I over write I usually find myself overdoing my point of the short story so I cut some of it out. I think the size of the ficlets it just right. good advice
LoA
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
thebetweenspace
Posted 3 months ago

This is ridiculously true. I generally overwrite most of my ficlets before editing and finding the proper size…
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Trying to Blend
Posted 3 months ago

I would like to add to this to your self- editting segment….

“Please proof red for spelling, puntuation and grammar…it’s seriously takes away from your brillience. ” >..< Thanks!
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
THX 0477
Posted 3 months ago

I have found that at this point I can imagine up a ficlet and guess-timate the right amount that will fit. Then when I’m working on something else I have to reverse the process and open things up.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
BARomero
Posted 3 months ago

Yes, yes, and yes. Part of my process is that when I get about halfway through my Ficlet, I’ll write my endpoint and work towards that. Also I write it in MS Word, then cut and paste it onto here, because I HATE that when you write your Ficlet in DRAFT mode and then make it public, Ficlets records the original posting date/time and your story never shows up on the MOST RECENT list.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
BARomero
Posted 3 months ago

Also, on cutting and pasting from Word. I originally used to do this on other sites because back in the days of dialup (and now the younger Ficleteers are saying, “What’s dialup?” D’oh!) I would write long postings on boards, only to have my call drop before I could post it. So I’d lose what I wrote. So Word became my backup. But it’s still a good idea, because you can spellcheck and grammar check on Word before you post onto Ficlets.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Mycroft
Posted 3 months ago

An alternative backup method is to periodically highlight everything you’ve done and hit Ctrl-C. Then if the worst should happen, just dump it back off the clipboard and keep writing. On the editing front, you nailed it. Rewrite everything – the difference between an acceptable Ficlet and a great one is re-reading and rewriting it.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Russell Ruffino
Posted 3 months ago

Agree with you once again. I always read and re-read after each and every edit. And even then I still make mistakes sometimes. I quite like identifying deadwood and getting rid of it. It’s cathartic.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Melia
Posted 3 months ago

Hey Bar – If you’re working on something in draft mode, don’t publish it there. Just finish it, and cut and paste it into a whole new ficlet. That way it will always show up straight away in the Most Recent list. Yeah you’ll have it there in drafts for all time (or at least until they suss out a way to delete ficlets) but that doesn’t matter. Drafts are fine for working on a ficlet over a long period of time. Just don’t publish from the draft.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
.:band baby:.
Posted 3 months ago

I overwrite all the time. But adjectives are what make a story. Without them it woud be as visual..
LoA
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Robotech_Master
Posted 3 months ago

Some great advice can be found as the inspiration in this ficlet, by the way:

http://ficlets.com/stories/945
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
wytherwings
Posted 3 months ago

I have to do that so much, for every almost every ficlet i write I’m over by the time I’m done. One of the problems is that I don’t really have a plan most of the time.
This is great advice.
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
OrangeOreos
Posted 3 months ago

band baby: I don’t think Robotech is saying to cut out all of the adjectives, just the pointless ones, the ones that say the same thing over again.

Just good writing habits. It like clearing your house of useless junk every few years.

LoA
R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself
Stovohobo
Posted 3 months ago

This is the rule I basically live by on ficlets. By now, I think I’ve got the 1024 limit down, and cutting is painful but necessary, and this is the perfect guide while doing so.