Realize the difference between editing and revising.

Revising is adding/removing words, sentences, or paragraphs, changing a word or placement of a word (or the entire chapter), and substituting words or sentences for new ones.

Editing involves capitalization, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation.

IF YOU DON’T NEED IT DELETE IT!

If a line, sentence, paragraph, scene, or chapter does not move the story forward, get rid of it.

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Having your book edited means accepting someone else’s opinion on your work.

Writers must accept that their way of writing it is not always the best way. It’s easy to get lost in the technical details of perfecting a manuscript.

Focus on shaping the entire story before refining the details. Then it’s time to work your way through the three stages of editing: structural, line, and copy editing.

THE THREE STAGES OF EDITING:

Fix plot holes or gaps.

  • Make character actions are understandable.
  • Edit for readability and sentence flow
  • Correct spelling and grammar errors.
  • Continue rewriting or adding chapters.

Connecting with your reader is what editing does.

  • Empathy comes into play.

Will the reader understand your character’s motivation for the action taken?

  • Are the main characters three-dimensional?
  • Does the scene connect with the story?
    • Keep the reader turning pages?
    • Is the dialogue natural and not stilted?
    • Are you alternating action and reaction scenes?
    • Do the obstacles to the protagonist increase in difficulty?
    • Does the plot focus on protagonist action?
    • Is the prose easy to read?
    • Do you alternate sentence length?

STRUCTURAL EDITING

This first stage of editing is also called developmental editing.

LINE EDITING

This is the second stage of editing, or ‘rough copy’ editing. This process corrects or improves the tone, style and consistency of the manuscript.

COPY EDITING

The final edit is done just before being designed, proof read and published.

 

“Linda has published sixteen books. She blogs about the publishing world, posts useful tips on the challenges a writer faces, including marketing and promoting your work, how to build your online platform, how to get reviews and how to self-publish.”