4 Steps to Self Edit your manuscript

“Editing? Ugh, I hate it.”

This is something I hear from a lot of writers. Whether they feel like their creativity is staunched by having to analyse their work, are bored of the project they’ve just spent months – or even years – drafting, or are overwhelmed by the feedback they’ve received, editing can send even the hardiest writer running towards a Shiny New Idea, ne’er to look back.

Editing is tough. But so is drafting, and so is querying and so publishing… as whole, writing is tough! I think a lot of the blockers to getting stuck into edits can be solved by finding your process.

Would you know what to say, if I was to ask you: pantser or plotter? I think most people reading this would. Pantser, plotter or somewhere in between the two, most writers can talk about their favourite way to draft. But there’s no editing equivalent – no guiding methods to help writers find a process that works for them. And that can lead to us feeling a bit lost, overwhelmed, maybe even like we’re not good enough.

Just like with drafting, there’s no one ‘right’ way to edit. With time and practice, you tend to find you own little tricks and tips that help you draft and edit in a way that fits your lifestyle, brain and creativity. I’m sharing my self-editing process not to provide a prescriptive method, but in the hope that you can take away elements to try yourself and make your own process easier and – dare I say – more fun.

Step one

Take some time out.

This is often the hardest step for me. Once I have ideas or feedback on how to improve my novel, I want to dive straight back in. This rarely helps, though.

When I get right back to work, I’m still often too close to the project to look objectively at it. I might have grand designs on a character, but because of my closeness, won’t understand how those changes might affect another character, or a side plot. Even worse, I might make a rash decision about that character when they aren’t the problem at all.

Taking time out lets my ideas cool and fester. In that time, knotted plots might work their way out, holes fill themselves up and character reveal their true motivations. In short, time away from my project makes the editing process easier, and I’m less likely to get my knickers in a twist half way through the revision.

I tend to take 4-6 weeks out from a project, but this might be longer depending on how long my manuscript is out with beta readers or critique partners for.

Step two

Plan.

After step one, this is the second hardest part for me. Remember how I said I love to just dive in? Yep. Once my waiting period is over, I want to leap headfirst into edits. This is a bad idea – mainly for the same reasons outlined in step one.

I am firmly in the pantser category of writer, and this stretches through to every aspect of my writing (and life for that matter, but that’s a whole blog post by itself). It means I’m innately adverse to planning.

Unlike with first drafts, which I discovery write, I’ve found planning is a necessity with edits. Planning helps me to get my editing ducks in a row, and work out the best way to tackle them. It can also help with that overwhelming feeling a big edit can create, because through planning I can break down the draft step by step, instead of trying to fix everything in one go.

My planning process doesn’t really involve plotting (to which I am allergic) – it’s more about creating an editing strategy. The general process is:

1. Gather all my feedback onto one sheet, together with my own thoughts.

2. Go through all the proposed changes and work out what is necessary and what won’t work. Scrap the ideas that don’t fit (or at least put them aside with the knowledge that I might have to revisit at a later date)

3. One-by-one work out how the edits will affect the project as a whole. If character B is cut, how will that affect the finale? By bridging this plot hole, will I be jeopardising that other side plot? This step often requires a bit of too-ing and fro-ing and is the main reason it’s so important to have taken that time out, and not leapt back into drafts.

4. Prioritise the changes. What should I work on first? What change is the biggest, what change is the smallest. Logically, it’s best to work on the big changes first, and leave the small tweaks to the end.

5. You might also want to work out how to do your edits. Will you dedicate a pass to each edit type, or will you go through chronologically? I tend to dedicate passes to big edit types (see below), before editing chronologically on the smaller edits.

Step three

Dive in.

Hooray! I made it! The waiting and planning really pays off and I can start working on my manuscript, making those changes step by step. The general order I work through my edits are:

1. Structure and pacing – if this isn’t right, there’s really no point working on anything else. This work could include filling plot holes, addressing a saggy middle, creating tension and shifting plot beats to keep a forward momentum. This is usually where entire scenes are deleted, rewritten or written and tends to be where the big edits happen.

2. Character arcs – this is closely linked to the above as my stories tend to be character driven so sometimes the work I’m doing on structure will directly change my character arcs. However, I do find it important to do a pass solely focused on character arcs before moving onto other edits, to ensure everything is fitting how I’d like

3. Worldbuilding – this is such an important part of fantasy and sci-fi writing, and so deserves its own slice of editing attention. I make sure my magic system is logical, that the world is immersive and unique, the language and customs are consistent, and ensure that areas I may have skipped over in the rush of excited drafting are fully padded out.

4. Prose – this is where I start to merge my edits. Instead of doing a pass focused on each element, I simply work through my manuscript chronologically, addressing each element as they come. These elements include: description, dialogue, internal dialogue and character voice

5. Tightening – although technically still part of copy editing, I find trying to tighten my prose whilst editing it is really difficult. So, I’ll do a pass that is focused on cutting filler words, ensuring that each sentence is saying exactly what I want it to, and trying to get that word count down (I am a chronic over-writer)

6. Proofread – This is a simple pass to make sure commas are where they should be, typos are banished to the deepest pits of hell where they belong, and the manuscript is as polished as it can be

Step four

Be flexible.

This is more an extension of step three. You might have put a solid plan in place, your ideas might have worked in theory, but more often than not things go awry when you put pen to paper. Such is the way with novel writing.

This is why I don’t ever trash an idea completely. It’s good to store those ideas you first dismissed somewhere you can read them back. They might help solve any issues you encounter mid-edit, or at least give you a different perspective to help you solve them.

On this, don’t ever fully cut a scene or character. I always start a new document for every draft, so that I can refer back to cut scenes in the old documents. There’s always gold dust in these, whether you use them in this novel or reuse them in the next (I have talked a lot about a side character I cut who re-emerged stronger as the main character in my next novel)

It’s important to be flexible with editing. Nothing is ever set in stone, and go in with a plan that gives your wiggle room, and a mentality that means nothing is out of bounds (darlings might have to be killed).

It takes time

If you’re reading this before or during taking on your first self-edit, remember that finding your process takes time and practice. Even now, after almost two decades of novel writing, I can get into a tangle. Each project always demands a slightly different approach, and what works for one writer might not work for you. Hopefully, though, reading my process might give you some ideas of your own.

Good luck!

Need help with tackling edits? I’ve got you covered.