In my newsletter from the start of February, I mentioned the possibility of writing a post on my editing process. It seems only natural to do that, possibly because the only thing I have done in writing this year is editing. And, as that had rather a positive response to it, today is the day. I’m going to share with you my process of how I go through my first initial edit of any book. This is how I personally to do, and you can feel free to play around with this process if you like, but I will add the caveat that I’m not sharing this as the only way to edit. Hopefully though, it might give you something new to test out with your own writing process. So then, here, in eight easy steps, is my process for editing my first draft.
Step One: Don’t Edit
The first step is to not edit, but to give myself some space from my first draft for at least a few weeks, until I’ve forgotten what on earth it was that I actually wrote. This time away from my book gives me a clearer perspective on the story as a whole, and also I’m not quite as fiercely protective of my precious words. Usually, by the time I come back, I can see all the holes and flaws at a glance, which might not be comfortable at the time, but which is excellent for editing purposes.
Step Two: Reading
After a few weeks, I come back and read back through the whole book. I usually try and put it on another device other than my computer, such as a tablet, or a Kindle, or even my phone. This helps me read it more as a reader would, without being tempted to edit it as I go. Usually, I go through this read with a notebook and pen in hand, and I take note of things I notice that I’m going to need to fix. At this point, because it’s a first draft, I don’t take notes on things like bad dialogue or awkward character mannerisms, because it’s not worth fixing those just yet.
Step Three: Note Taking
Because this is the first time I’ve been through the book since I wrote it, usually the whole book is rather a mess. I could go through and try to fix every single little thing at once, but that’s incredibly hard to do, and I don’t usually get the plot right on the first pass, so I could end up polishing words that I’m just going to cut in a later draft anyway. So instead, I try and focus on one area at a time. On my first editing pass, I’m looking for issues related to the plot, such as if events needed to be changed, or if the book starts in the wrong spot. There are always so many other things that I’m longing to fix immediately, but I try to stick only to plot essential issues to begin with.
Step Four: Outline
Once I’ve been through the book, I write out a very basic outline of the plot. I’m not a huge outliner, though I have learned to appreciate it a lot more over time, so my outline is very simple. Basically I write a two or three sentence summary of each scene so that I can see what’s happening and how it all fits into the overall plot. They’re very simple, just something like: MC goes to [Place] looking for answers. They are confronted by [minion] and escape by the skin of their teeth into the sewer system. My outlines are always typed up on the computer, so that it’s really easy for me to move things around, add notes, or change things as I go.
Step Five: Add Notes
Once I have my outline, I add all the notes that I’ve made in my notebook into the relevant scenes. These go in a bullet point list, each entry telling me briefly what needs to be fixed in this scene. If there are any notes on issues that I need to brainstorm solutions to, I highlight those in red, so then when I come back, it’s easy to see what I need to do some extra work on before I begin the actual task of editing.
Step Six: Brainstorm Fixes
Now that I’ve organised all my notes, it’s time to tackle the big problems. These are usually plot holes, or sometimes a place where I need to cut out a sequence of events because they’re not working, and I need to come up with something else to fill their place. Because I highlighted these notes, it’s easy to scroll through my outline and find the right notes. I take these issues back to my notebook and brainstorm through possible fixes by hand. Personally, I find handwriting unlocks something in my brain that makes finding solutions easier. As I figure out my fixes for each problem, I add those into my outline document underneath the original note.
Step Seven: It’s Time To Edit
By now, I have a bit of a map to help me with the edits. I know what scenes are being cut and replaced. I know which plot points I’m going to have to rewrite. I know where I need to fix my logic. And now it is time to actually start editing, working through the book with the help of my handy dandy outline to make sure that I hit everything in each scene. Usually I fix a few other problems as I go along, things I’ve overlooked, or that crop up as I’m going along.
If I come across a problem that need more than a quick fix, I make a note of that and keep moving. That’s something I can fix either at the end of this draft, or in the next one. During this very first edit, I also rewrite every single word as I go, rather than just editing a sentence here or there. This gives me a chance to rewrite sentences, or smooth out additions as I go, without getting bogged down in trying to make everything sound nice.
Step Eight: Time For Another Break
Once I’ve been through all seven of the previous steps, it’s time to take another break. The book goes away again for another few weeks, again, to give me a chance to forget what I wrote and to get a clearer perspective on it before I try jumping into another editing pass. I’ve found that giving myself time away from the book between drafts is key to being able to identify and fix problems well in the next one.
And that’s how I deal with the first round of edits in my novels! Fixing plot problems can sometimes take me multiple rounds of editing, though it takes less and less work the more books I write, and who knows? Maybe one day I’ll I’ll get so good that my plots will barely need any fixing at all. But for now, this is how I deal with my first drafts. Things vary a little by content during later drafts, I might focus on characters and dialogue in a later pass, for example, but this is, in general, how I structure my edits. I hope you enjoyed this peek into my process!
