Editing: Getting Ready to Wield Your Red Pen
Editing is a necessary skill all writers must develop. Once you learn how to search through your manuscript to find things that need fixing, you’ll feel more confident about the craft of writing. Why? Because editing gives you the knowledge you need to objectively critique your own work, which in turn helps you write better. With strong editing skills, you improve your writing skills. It’s a no-brainer!
In this article, I’m going to talk about the editing process and how you can start to learn how to become an effective, objective self-editor which will save you time, energy, and money in the long run.
Let’s hop to it!
EXPECT TO FIND MISTAKES
I’ll be honest. I deliberately look for mistakes in anything I’m editing, whether it’s my own work or the work of my clients. This may seem like poor intentions, but the truth is if I’m looking for mistakes, they’ll jump out at me.
This means you have to read intentionally with an eye for errors and problems. Have you ever found yourself caught up in a particularly favorite scene you wrote and before you know it, you’d read three pages and didn’t make a single mark?
Me too. First, embrace your passion for your story! It’s a great sign when you can read your own work and get lost in your story world and story people.
However, that lack of focus will slow your editing process significantly. You’re better off handling editing with objectivity, detachment, and self-control.
WRITE WITH MAD ABANDON. EDIT WITH REINS IN HAND
Have you ever heard “Write drunk, edit sober”? A quote often misattributed to Hemingway, who, as I understand it, never wrote drunk…anyhoo, the point here isn’t so much that I suggest you go get yourself a bottle of wine or a 6-pack and get your butt in that chair and write. Rather, I want you to think about it from a metaphorical perspective.
Writing “drunk” is more about loosening your grip on your imagination and allowing it to flow freely, unhindered, onto the page (or screen). The best way to get the story that’s in your heart into words, sentences, scenes, chapters is to write with mad abandon.
This might mean “pantsing” your story, or writing organically, without a plan. It could also mean you don’t actually write scenes until you first construct an outline, story strategy, or framework. Whether you “pants” your book or “plot” your book, your rough story ideas should be allowed to simply become.
Editing, on the other hand, requires you to be detail-oriented, focused, and objective. You have to know what kind of story you want to tell and the ways in which you want to tell it. You have to be willing to see the mistakes you make—and willing to do what it takes to fix them. You have to detach yourself from your story and analyze it from the perspective of your ideal reader.
So, editing “sober” is really about handling your story with a firm grip on the reins.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOUR STORY IS READY TO BE EDITED
There’s no specific guideline that all writers can easily follow here. The revision process is different from writer to writer, and project to project.
For that reason, it’s first important to be clear on the kind of story you want to tell and how you’re going to tell it. These are deeply personal decisions that are largely dependent on your specific intentions as well as your audience.
Editing should follow rewriting. If you try to edit your rough draft, you’ll end up making more work for yourself.
The difference between rewriting and editing comes down to whether you’ve fulfilled your story’s promise of the premise. There are four general aspects to a story premise: Plausibility, Originality, Conflict, and Emotional Impact.
If your story hits all four of these aspects in a way that engages and satisfies your readers, where the outcome is unexpected but also anticipated, then you’re ready to edit.
Having said that, please be aware this doesn’t mean the rewriting phase is over. It usually isn’t. Rewriting and editing overlap because we often don’t see where elements are skewed until we’re looking at our novels with an eye for detail…and mistakes.
UNDERSTAND YOUR WEAKNESSES
Whoever said “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” probably never wrote a successful book. It’s imperative to know where you might have gone off track in your book—and why. If you choose to ignore the fact there are areas you need to improve or simply learn, then your final product will reflect your lack of care.
I feel pretty strongly about this, probably because I’m a writer and an editor, and I’ve seen far too many people publish their work before it was ready—and then they complain about poor reviews or low sales.
This doesn’t mean I’m perfect—I am well aware of my weak areas and I continue to hone my skills on a regular basis because learning how to write and edit is not a one-and-done exercise.
Tackling your weak areas and bad habits is empowering. Everyone can learn how to become a writer, and I also believe everyone can learn how to become a better writer—and it always starts with addressing the areas that need improvement.
What bad habits do you possess in writing? Do you have any crutch words? Do you consistently misspell words? Do you misuse commas or ellipses?
What about big-picture areas? Do you overwrite descriptive passages? Do you tend to write wooden dialogue? Are your characters true to life or have you softened their edges? Are you preaching or over-stating your story’s message? Is your antagonist too predictable? Did you skim anything through your re-reads? If you did, those passages are crying out for help!
Get super-clear and super-honest with yourself—and then ask a trusted writing pal who is familiar with your work. Don’t gloss over your weaknesses because that will make your writing journey a brutal operation. The sooner you know your bad habits, the sooner you can fix them and even unlearn them.
CREATIVE THINKING VS CRITICAL THINKING
I’m a proponent of using creative thinking to solve all sorts of problems. I like tackling issues from a place of “How can I do this differently?” which indicates to my whole self that there is another path available to me; I just have to find it.
Creative thinking keeps you immersed in the realm of possibility—a valuable place to be when you’re pulling a story together.
Critical thinking is the follow-up strategy to creative thinking. It asks objective questions, points out wobbly issues, notes plot holes and loose threads and plausibility issues.
Critical thinking takes you from the realm of possibility to the realm of workability—a valuable place to be when you’re editing your story.
Both creative and critical thinking are important throughout the writing and revision phases. You’ll always be using one or the other. By the time you’ve completed your book and gone through writing, rewriting, editing, and proofreading you will have applied both creative and critical thinking on every single page.
SEEKING OUTSIDE HELP
Yes, you can self-edit your story without any assistance from outside sources. But is it a good idea? Only you can answer that.
Ask yourself “What do I need to do to make this the best book possible?”
This is NOT an issue of perfection. It’s an issue of self-respect.
When I use the term “best” it’s relative to who you are as a writer now and how you want to show up with this particular book as your creative accomplishment.
Everyone has a personal version or definition of “best.” Do you know what it is, what it looks like for you? Are you achieving it with the tools and skills you have at your disposal? Are you satisfied with your overall efforts?
Everyone has their own standards they want to live by. What are your standards? Are you meeting them? At the end of the day, can you look back and say, in all honesty, that you met your creative standards?
If you’ve answered the above questions in the affirmative, then you’re living in your truth.
If you’re not sure, then take the time to research the options available to you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions of other writers to hear how they go about it. There are plenty of resources, free and paid, available to every single person out there—you simply have to know what you want and need now, while also being keenly aware of what you might want or need in the future.
Choosing to seek or not seek outside help is another deeply personal decision. As long as you’re making decisions based in your truth, then you’re making decisions that serve you.
Never forget that writers evolve and grow with time and experience. How you feel about things now probably will change in three, six, fifteen, forty-eight months.
And it’s okay to make mistakes along the way—in fact, you WILL make mistakes. Embrace those as opportunities to learn and try again. Also, treat them as proof that you are trying. There is no progress or growth without trying, so mistakes are a necessary part of the process.
Stay flexible, confident, open-minded, courageous, determined, curious, and constant—and you’ll be able to find the editing (and writing) strategies and processes that fit you best.