While there are lots and lots and lots of ways of going about writing a book, I actually feel like editing is a little more of a uniform process. It’s all about first turning a critical eye at your book in order to get as far as you can on your own, and then repeating that process when you have some good feedback from an editor or critique partner or both.
Over the course of writing and editing three books I’ve developed a system for editing that I hope you’ll find useful! My best advice is in my guide: How to Write a Novel: 47 Rules for Writing a Stupendously Awesome Novel You Will Love Forever.
But hope this post helps you out in the meantime:
Step #1: Pre-editing
Some of my most important editing work happens as I’m writing the novel. Before I start my writing day I’ll often re-read sections I wrote earlier to see if I can improve them and make sure the plot arcs are fitting together. I plan ahead so that I know vaguely what’s going to happen in a scene before I write it.
This can be a time-consuming way to write, but the end result is that I don’t usually have an overwhelming amount of editing to do by the time I’m done.
Another form of pre-editing is to float some plot points to people I trust when they ask what I’m working on and see how the ideas resonate. But other than a few informal discussions or test-reads of scenes I’m not sure about, I don’t really share too much about what I’m writing as I’m writing it and instead focus on getting it done.
Step #2: Self-editing
After I’ve finished a draft I let the manuscript sit for at least a couple of weeks and then go back and read it over. I start first by only looking for big things that aren’t working, I don’t sweat things on the line or scene level. As I’m doing this I try to keep myself as distanced from the manuscript as possible and really listen to my gut. If I’m feeling a little uncertain about a scene or a stretch in the book, chances are something’s not right with it.
When I’ve made all the changes I want to make and have all of the big pieces in place I go down my revision checklist and make sure I haven’t missed anything. And when I have everything as good as possible and am feeling like if I have to read one more word I’ve written I’ll go completely insane… that’s when I know I’ve gotten as far as I can on my own.
Step #3: How I Respond to Feedback
One of the most difficult things about an editorial letter or beta critique is the sheer number of different things that need changing. It can be daunting to get a huge list of suggestions. How do you decide what to keep and what to change? How do you go about implementing the changes when changing just one thing can mean a million different things then have to change afterward? It’s impossible to keep all of those things in your head all at once. And that’s on top of the inevitable difficulty of reading someone else’s critique of your work, no matter how polite they are.
Here’s how I go about it:
- I take the editorial letter and ease into it very, very slowly. I read it once and then put it away for a few days. Take it back out, read it one more time. I try not to leap to any conclusions and wait until my defenses have come down a bit. Like most writers I sometimes find it hard to have my work critiqued (especially when the changes feel daunting), so it takes a little time to get acclimated.
- I color code the editorial letter. I mark all of the changes I’m definitely going to make green, all of the ones I don’t plan to change red (I try to make sure there’s way way more green than red), and mark the suggestions I’m not sure about yellow (these have a tendency to turn green). Then I have a nice color-coded editorial letter and action plan.
- I start with the most significant changes and work from there down to the smallest line edits. Here’s the reasoning for that: It’s kind of pointless to work on the line edits first if that chapter is going to come out or if those small changes are going to be later consumed by the bigger changes. So I start with the biggest changes and then work my way down.
- And rather than working chronologically through the book, I take one change and trace it all the way through. This way, rather than having to try to keep all the moving parts in my head all at once I can just focus on making sure one thread makes sense throughout the book. Then I move on to the next thread, and repeat.
Once all the scenes are roughly in place I move to the low-hanging fruit and start polishing on a scene-by-scene and then line-by-line level.
(See also this post about responding to a critique)
Step #4: How I Know When It’s Done
It’s definitely possible to tinker with a book endlessly, and it’s important to resist that temptation. At some point the novel has to be done, whether you’ve made it as good as you can make it or it’s time to move on to your next project.
I try to really take a mental step back from the book and evaluate it as objectively as I possibly can. When I’m both as satisfied as possible with how everything fits together and how it reads and when I also am feeling exhausted from working on it and can’t think of any more to do… that’s when I think I’m done.
When I know I’m done is when my editor says it’s done.
What’s your editing process like? Do you have any editing tips that have worked for you?
Iām available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and consultations! And if you like this post, check out my guide to writing a novel.
UPDATED: 8/25/17
These are great tips. I'm going to save the checklist to use. Thanks. How do you stay objective enough about your work?
"When I know I'm done is when my editor says it's done."
LOL! Well, at least I know I'm not alone in the wondering-if-it's-done category. š
I like your color-coded editorial letter strategy. I might have to try that with the critiques I get from my group.
For now, I find that the thing that works best for me is the edit-as-I-go approach for the first draft, paired with the practice of letting each draft sit for a while before I come back to it to make changes.
I generally self-edit until I've made all the improvements I can think of before I go to critique. That said, I always go into critique knowing that there is something that needs fixing, but needing help finding it. So, I don't usually have a hard time with the feedback I receive. It sometimes takes me a long time to process it and figure out how I'm going to incorporate the changes, though.
Revision is my favorite part. š
Well, let's see, used to be I'd hit spell check and then click the send button to my agent's email š
Curious Nathan, how this compares to editing client material from WAY back in your agenting days. Also, need to figure out how to get a signed copy of that book from you for my boys. Excited for you! Really hope it does well. /highfive /hug /cheer
Thanks, Jim! The main difference is that it's much harder to edit your own work than someone else's. So hard to get that distance.
Thank you for this post. My first novel is with an editor now – first time I've gone through this process. So I was glad to read your approach to editor comments – good advice and a nice system to follow.
I second you on what you call 'pre-editing', Nathan. Like the old carpenter's rule, measure twice and cut once!
Your IMPLEMENTING THE CHANGES and RESPONDING TO A CRITIQUE links both go to the same 2009 post. An excellent post, BTW, where the reader can learn something AND have fun trying to figure out who Gordon is! Don't worry, I won't tell them.
This post made me cry. I do not have the crazies, I do not have the crazies, I do not have the crazies, that's what I keep telling myself but crazy is how I feel spending months on the first part of the first chapter of my ms. I have gone through more revisions of a couple paragraphs than I can count. Dreaming about typing The End used to seem far away but now I can't even break out of Chapter 1. I tell myself to write first, worry later but that never pans out. Measure 50 million times, cut 50 million times. It's driving me insane. So thank you so much, Nathan, for this look into your editing process. It's not like I've never heard about the writing/editing process. But it's never sounded real to me or coming from a real person to me. I hate cheese and can smell it a mile off but I am/was drowning and this post is dry land. Thank you, thank you thank you.
I like to make a numbered list of the main big points that need to be done, generally in order of most significant to least significant changes, and then I print out the entire book and paste my list to the front cover. I don't actually go in order, and I'm more likely to start with the easiest changes and go from there, but I like having the list right there. It's easy to reference and can help keep me focused on what I'm trying to accomplish. It's also a good place to take notes when I have a good idea of how to improve something or when I realize that one of the changes will require another change, which requires another change…
This is a killer post. Thank you! I like peeking into your brain. I'm also a color coder!
Yellow: Caution
Green: GO. Orange: This is going to mess something else up
Blue: I understand, but it saddens me
AND Pink: I don't use pink. I'll have to add it to my arsenal!
I am not published, so grain of salt here… But what I find helpful is using the "track changes" function in Word. When I first started making major changes to my manuscript I had this panic that I would change something and then have lost it if I wanted to change it back later. (I'm getting over that now- I'm a lot more rutheless!) With Track Changes, the info you deleted or changed is still there, either in the document or in bubbles along the side, so I don't freak out about it. You can also see exactly what you changed at a glance (new typing is a different color). AND if you just want to see what the final will look like, you can switch to that view as well. You can also add "comment" balloons as you work (like: come back and fix x,y, and Z when you're done with w). This has been really helpful for me and saves having to have a hard copy to write on. As a bonus, you can have others make comments in the same way, and they will show up in a different color- all without wasting paper and ink š
Right now I feel like my 2nd draft process IS editing and rewriting. Is that normal?
Very nice.. from here i know youre a great writer
Every time I read one of these blogs, and the trailing comments, I'm amazed to discover how many writers are out there. I wish some of you would wear a big "W" on your forehead so I can spot you out in the mall, shopping, or the park…LOL…writing is living!!!
I'm currently on the third draft of my first novel and I honestly don't see the editing process as a separate and distinct phase. I've been editing a long the way or before I re-write each chapter in the next draft. I suppose I would say the editing is a final polish before I send it off.
How funny, found your blog searching for editing tips only to find C.S. Jennings is your cover artist. I've been good friends with Chris for almost 30 years. Great guy, great artist. Nice post. Thanks for sharing your process.