What is Writing/Editing Backwards Really?

Question

I'm curious to know because I was thinking that when people say this, I'm thinking they start editing the last chapter of their work to the first, and see if it all makes sense in the end. When I search on the Internet, it seems this is not what people mean by that. What I searched is that editing backwards is just reading paragraphs literally backwards, and one would have to still start on the first chapter. I don't understand this at all; it's counterproductive in my opinion. Which one do you think is more productive, and more beneficial for writers during their editing process? Reading each paragraph literally backwards, or starting on the last chapter to the first to see if one's story makes sense logically?

Answer 1

Until readers begin reading backwards, I consider editing backwards -- in any fashion -- to be a waste of your time. Remember, you're generally writing for your readers' experience first and foremost... the closer you can edit in line with their reading experience the better. Good luck!

Answer 2

When I suggest to my students that they edit from the end of their work, I want them to begin at the last sentence and work backward, sentence by sentence. The reason for this is that our brains are amazing things, and when we read from the beginning we often "see" what we intended to write/type, not what is actually on the page. By starting at the end and disrupting the flow of the ideas, often students will find errors in spelling, capitalization, and usage that they skipped over when reading from the beginning. Starting at the end can also help writers who become fatigued or distracted as they move through their writing to fix errors further on in their writing. I use editing backwards as a proofreading technique, not a technique for revision. I can imagine that there might be some type of work in which you could map the details from the end moving backward to be sure that an important step wasn't missed, but I have used this technique more as a proofreading tool.