Getting Started on Editing
Whether you participated in NaNoWriMo
or have simply penned a first draft of 1500 words or 100-thousand words, the
next step is to edit — rather, the next step is to take a well-deserved break.
Yes, put that work DOWN, take a walk, watch a movie, SLEEP, go out with some
friends and come back to your completed first draft with refreshed energy.
Read your manuscript from beginning to
end, you can make notes on a separate notepad but NOT on the manuscript. If you
read something that seems out of order (chronological), doesn’t make sense, seems
to contradict something else you wrote in that manuscript, or just plain out
annoys you, make a notation on your notepad. Now go back to those areas and see
if you can make an easy fix without changing too much else.
If you wrote your draft on your
computer the next step is easy, run a spell check; never use autocorrect but
decide on each highlighted word by yourself. (If you’ve ever had your texts autocorrected you’ll understand why you
need to do this manually!) You can also run a grammar check on most
word-processing programs and again, NO autocorrect. While you are reading (or
re-reading) if you are not 120% definite of the meaning of a word and uncertain
if it really fits your thought, click on it with the thesaurus/synonym and read
it aloud using one of the substituted words to make sure your sentence says
what you intended. During yet another re-read, make a timeline of the action (just
the timeline) to make sure that everything is in the order it should be.
Now that you’ve done these
preliminary steps which may have required several read-throughs you can start
on content editing and working on the story itself. If possible print a paper
copy of the new draft and using a (colored) pencil start (1) deleting superfluous
sentences such as repetitive phrases or that purple prose (characterized by the extensive use of adjectives,
adverbs, and metaphors.) that you threw in to add to your word count; (2)
Remove most of the passive voice (for example change The dog caught the ball the boy threw to The boy threw the ball to the dog), in a FEW occasions the passive
voice might fit better; (3) Make each character’s dialogue uniquely his/hers,
remember that not everyone speaks with perfect grammar or like a dictionary or
encyclopedia — make the way your character talks indicative of education,
social standing and personality; (4) Show don’t tell about settings, character
emotions, and ominous foreshadowing; (5) Give more detail about objects that
are important to the story and less about things less relevant; (6) Keep your
point of view consistent within a scene, Jane knows what is in Jane’s head, she
can’t read someone else’s mind (unless your character IS a mind reader).
You can use Beta-readers if you want
to proofread for spelling, grammar and consistency errors. From my own
experience, unless they are experienced story content editors, do NOT let them
change your story in any way, but do listen to their suggestions and decide if
you want to use those suggestions or not. Experienced and professional content
editors know not to change an author’s voice, well-meaning friends may not. You
should reread your story again, but this time read it by chapter in reverse,
this is an easy way to trick your own eye and mind into reading what is really
there and not seeing what you meant to say. Once again, put the manuscript
down, refresh, and come back to read it through as a reader would.
Set realistic goals for yourself and
not just a final date to finish the editing. Your goal timeline might be have
your manuscript ready for beta readers in a month, have your manuscript ready
for formatting a month later, etc. (Once you select a publishing house to
submit to, follow their submission rules, formatting guidelines AND WORD
COUNT).
Writing Exercise: Write a short fiction story up to 1000 words;
using a thesaurus change at least 20 words and check if the story is the same.
Writing Prompt: If you were writing a thriller that took
place in the room you are currently seated in, what items would be the most
prominent and how would you describe each one.
Challenge Assignment: Write pretend diary entries for the last few
days. Using those diary entries, substitute dialogue between any people
included in those entries.
