I recently found myself in the “writing” subreddit, offering my two cents in the discussion. One of the questions that seemed to ring a bell with a few writers was, “Why can’t I bring myself to edit?” Writing seemed to be the easy part. Editing your book? Not so much.
Here at CompletelyNovel, we find that editing makes all the difference when publishing a book. It’s what puts your work in the same league as the books on your bookshelf. If you dread editing, it can help to think of it in the same way as you do your writing. Both writing and editing are as much about creativity as they are about discipline and planning.
Below are some of the top tips I’ve picked up to manage and, dare I say it, even make editing enjoyable!
1. Set Yourself Targets for Writing and Editing Your Book
Rather than steaming straight into editing, spend some time planning. Take lessons from your writing routine.
Do you prefer to write in the morning, or in the evening?
Do you need solitude, or can you freely scribble away in a noisy café?
You may set yourself a word limit to reach each day. Setting achievable goals keep you motivated to put pen to paper. A thousand words you’re not proud of is better than no words at all, after all.
You can use the same ideas to plan your editing. Again, consider the way you write.
Do you find that you run out of steam quickly? Then you might find it useful to schedule in an editing day after several days of writing.
Or maybe you prefer to write the whole thing first and edit after? That’s okay, just remember to break your editing into achievable goals like you did your writing. Editing a thousand words a day sounds much more doable than editing the entire novel.
2. Understand Editing Your Book Comes in Different Forms
There are three well-known stages of editing:
1. Structural.
2. Copyediting.
3. Proofreading.
Each is equally important, and they work best in that order.
Structural Editing
Our Get Your Book Fit sums up structural editing really well. Structural editing focuses on the basic elements of storytelling, things such as narrative drive, pacing, structure, and point of view.
Copyediting
Copyediting on the other hand, is about polishing the surface: correcting mistakes in usage, continuity, grammar, and style.
Proofreading
Proofreading is the very last stage of editing–identifying and correcting all the remaining errors. There’s no use spending months correcting typos only to realize you need to rewrite half the book for it to make sense structurally, after all!
3. Edit With Fresh Perspective
Don’t underestimate the importance of giving your mind a rest between writing and editing. Stephen King famously leaves six weeks between writing and editing his manuscript. Again, how much time you need depends on how you work. Some writers take a few days and some take a few weeks.
4. Improve Your Line Editing
This can be a bit time consuming, but rest assured it is time well invested. Separate your sentences and think about whether each of them makes sense both on its own and within a wider context. Look closely at your choice of words and get rid of any phrases or words that are unnecessary or cliché.
I’ve found line editing is easier on a computer. Isolate every sentence on a separate line and use double spacing so you can clearly see the length and pacing of each sentence. Read the sentence out loud to discover how it flows and whether any words are jarring.
5. Print Your Manuscript
No, I’m not going to tell you off for preferring screen to paper, but printing a draft of your novel can be a useful process for spotting further mistakes. Words look different on a printed page. Plus, it’s nice to give your eyes a break. Shut down the computer, do some eye yoga (yes, really), and embrace that red pen as your best friend.
Remember, no book was ever published without editing. Sit back, unleash the red pen, cram your mouth full of cake, and enjoy yourself. Your book will be all the better for it!
Tell me your opinion: What is your greatest challenge in editing your book?
