Something I’ll be doing a lot this year is editing, and I’m guessing a lot of you will be editing as well. But it’s such a big task, it’s hard to know where to start, whether it’s your first book or your fifth.
For me, learning how to edit came through much trial and error, but I’ve figured out the different steps, drafts, and edits I need to do for each novel I write.
This is my process and focuses for my second draft, once I’ve finished my first draft and let it sit for a little while. (This is crucial, so you are able to come back to your book after a rest and see it more clearly.)
Read
Before you start editing your first draft, it’s important you read over your book and take notes so you can accurately judge what needs to be fixed and what needs to stay the same. Read through carefully, taking notes on plot, world building, and characters in particular. Be on the lookout for plot holes and inconsistencies, and mark them down when you find them so you don’t miss them or forget about them.
This is not the time to look at wording, sentence structure, or describing something perfectly, this is a big picture edit, or rewrite. Look at the big picture, the elements of storytelling, which are plot, character, setting, and theme.
This is the read through to analyze as a writer and critic, not as a reader as people advise. You want to be able to pick out all the mistakes and plot holes.
Plot
In this rewrite, you’ll want to fix the plot and strength it as much as you can. Make sure the plot goal (the reason the story is happening), stakes (the reason the story matters), and sequence of events (the way the story connects and plays out) is strong and fleshed out, so the story feels strong and fleshed out.
To do so, analyze the plot and check that everything makes sense, it all flows naturally from one point to the next, and look purposefully for plot holes and fix them.
Characters
Characters are the driving force in any story, and enforce the plot and make it stronger (character motivation should help drive the plot and effect the way it plays out). They also make the story interesting and unique.
(I’ve written several posts on creating characters here, here, and here.)
As you edit, pay specific attention to your characters and their consistency, from appearance to personality to motivation and goals. Strengthen their traits, their actions, their motivation and goals. Make them distinct and fully fleshed out, a rounded, balanced character.
You want to make their personality distinct, their voice distinct, and their motivations strong. Fix any inconsistencies in their person, make sure you know who they really are and play to that.
Character Arcs and Sub-Plots
Playing into the previous category, character arcs are another thing you are going to want to tweak and strengthen as you go through this rewrite. Their growth from who they started out as to who they become (be that negative or positive growth) should make sense in the context of the story, and have direct correlation with the events of the plot. These arcs should be effected by the plot, and also effect the plot.
In this same category (because they are often the same thing) is sub-plots. These are the sub stories within your main plot, often relationships, character growth and development, and secondary POVs for your main plot. You want these sub-plots to feed into the story and balance with it, deepening the main plot and characters. Make sure these sub-plots don’t weigh the story down, only add to it and make it stronger and more interesting. If weakens the plot or throws the plot off, you need to either strengthen the sub stories or cut them to keep the plot strong.
Theme
Theme is a powerful thing, and often I find I don’t know it in the beginning, because it’s something I discover as I go and learn more about the story. So for me, this is less editing and more ensuring I’m actually portraying the theme I want to focus on in the story. I make sure it’s not conflicting or sending mixed messages, and also that the story and characters actually expresses the theme, whatever the theme may be.
Build your theme and express your theme through the plot, characters, and character growth. Change it if you need to to fit your story, tweak it as needed, and build it to fit and flow with your story and add to the narrative.
World Building
World building is last on the list because it is extremely important, but not quite as much so as plot and characters. It is important to have strong, well thought out, consistent world building. The purpose of world building is to deepen the story and draw the reader into the world, you need to build it so it adds to the story. Watch out for info dumping (here’s how to info-dump correctly). Another thing to watch out for is consistency. Make sure everything you build is consistent.
Odds are as you write, the world will develop more towards the end of the story than the beginning. With information you have about your world now that you’ve finished your story, you can go back and flesh out the world from the beginning and continue building it deeper and making it more real. (Here are my posts on world building. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.)
Get Feedback
While I recommend getting feedback after your first draft is done, it’s also good to get feedback after your second draft before you go back in for your third draft (which I’ll talk about in my next post).
Get feedback from people you trust to give you truthful feedback and opinions on your writing. Ask them to look at the big picture-plot, characters, sub-plots, world building, consistency, emotional depth, etc, etc-and give their opinions. Get multiple opinions, but always do what you feel is best for your story, because only you can decide how it turns out.
Your second draft will be your biggest edit, most likely, often bordering on rewriting more than just tweaking. Take your time and don’t rush it, focus on building and strengthening your story. You can split this draft into as many as you need, you don’t have to focus on every one of these topics all in the same edit, that’s just what I do.
Comment below and tell me how you write your second draft, and follow for updates on this editing series and more!
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