Editing tip? Ever heard of this? It works!

[meg_evonne]

My mother is an artist who works with oils.  For years I would visit her and on her eisel would be her last work--usually if I was catching her towards the end of the painting, she puts it on there upside down.  When queried, she replied, "You see things you wouldn't otherwise."  I fear I tended to shake my head and think she was losing it.

Then I tried the same technique while I was editing.  I took the six pages I wanted as perfect as possible and for some reason, I started with the last paragraph and worked backwards through it.  Hey, don't laugh it worked and it was easy!

Anyone else tried that?  Or wants to try it now and tell me how it worked out? 

[Murphy's Stunt Double]

Details... Sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph? And were you looking for grammar and punctuation or readability?

*is interested*

[meg_evonne]

everything.  I wanted to sharpen the focus, remove floxum, correct grammar, re-organize.  It was all a lot easier to see working backwards.  I worked paragraph by paragraph. 

[Pinky Narfanek]

It jumbles the expectations.  Since you don't have the framework of the preceding information, you're better able to focus on the bit in front of you.

I use that trick when checking paragraphs for spelling (at work--unfortunately y'all are left with my actual capabilities in my off hours).  I read the sentence backwards.  It allows you to see the actual word and not what you're expecting to see.

[Hasufin]

I was taught that trick back in art classes. I've never consciously done it in my actual work, but I do usually start my editing from the bottom since that's where I am when I'm ready to edit.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

There are some things it's fine for, definitely.

Thing is, most of what I need to catch on my second passes is continuity stuff, particularly of when information comes in and how it changes things and what people know.  Doing that in reverse order would be like unscrambling an egg.

[kingaling]

Yup, that's how I do it. Reverse Engineering, it's called. Thank you Aristotle. you saved me a lot of headaches. I suggest googling reverse engineering plots, if anyone's interested.

[MatthewD44]

I use that for drawing all the time. It makes it easier for me just to see the curves and lines when I am doing a portrait