We who are indies know we should have our work edited, and most of us aren’t that good at self-editing. So, we find someone we can work with. But hiring an editor is expensive, so before we send our manuscript off, we should take the time to make it as clean as possible. It will greatly speed up the process if the editor doesn’t have to wade through a mess.
One of my favorite authors writes great storylines and creates wonderful characters. Unfortunately, the quality of his work has deteriorated over the last decade. It’s clear that he has succumbed to the pressure from his publisher, as he is putting out four or more books a year.
While I can write that many first drafts in one year, I could never make more than one book ready for a reader every two or three years. For that reason, I have manuscripts in various stages of completion and try to publish one a year. However, I often can’t keep to that schedule.
Taking the manuscript from the first draft to the finished product is a long and involved process. The author I mentioned above has his characters repeat what has already happened every time they meet someone new.
This frequently happens to me in a first draft, but whoever is editing for him is letting it slide, as it pads the word count, making his books novel-length. I suspect they don’t have time to do any significant revisions.
The Big Traditional Publishing Giants are just as tempted to rush a manuscript to publication as we indies are, and editing sometimes falls by the way. However, if an indie publishes work as poorly edited as what is being sold by the big publishers, the entire indie community looks bad.
Since the large publishing houses aren’t as concerned about their editing as we always thought they were, it’s up to us to find the flaws before we submit our work to them. This means you should prepare the manuscript as thoroughly as if you intended to publish it yourself.
When we lay down the first draft, the story emerges from our imagination and falls onto the paper (or keyboard). Even with an outline, the story forms in our heads as we write it. While we think it is perfect as is, it probably isn’t.
The revision process is about far more than merely grammar and word placement. It is about ensuring the story arc doesn’t flat-line and that inadvertent repetition of entire ideas doesn’t bog it down.
Those who regularly read my blog know I frequently repeat an idea phrased a bit differently further down the post. My elderly brain seems determined to make that point, no matter what.
We all do this in our first drafts, and very few things are more “first draft” than a blog post.
Inadvertent repetition causes the story arc to dip. It takes us backward rather than forward. In my work, I have discovered that the second version of that idea is usually better than the first.
One way to minimize the number of flaws in your work is to print it out and read it aloud. Mark each place where you stumble or the passages don’t make sense with a highlighter.
You will find run-on sentences, spell-check errors, and many small things you don’t notice when it’s on the computer screen.
At this point, since you have already printed out each chapter, read it aloud, and highlighted what you stumbled over, you could take the time to go a little deeper into the revision process.
It’s already printed, so I don’t have to waste more ink or paper.
- I turn to the last paragraph on each chapter’s last page.
- Working my way forward with a yellow highlighter, I make notes in the margins.
You see things from a different angle when you start reading the chapter from the end and work your way toward the beginning. It’s amazing how many bloopers show up when you do this, even though you have already read it aloud. When you read it aloud you were going the direction you always go, the way you know so well. The mind tricks us, and we read what should be there instead of what is.
This admittedly involved process works for me because we don’t notice wonky grammar and mechanics as much when we see them on a computer screen.
Once I have printed out my manuscript chapter by chapter and finished going over it, I put the hand-corrected copy on a recipe stand beside my computer. I begin making revisions in a new file labeled with the date. The date in the file label tells me which is the most recent version of a manuscript.
BoH_revised_07-01-2023
(I never delete the old files because we never know when we might need something we have already written.)
Here are a few things that stand out when I do this:
- Inadvertent shifts in the spelling of names for people and places, such as Moran becoming Muran. (Keeping a style sheet of how names and created words are spelled and doing a global search for each before publishing resolves that.)
- Places where I have contradicted myself, such as a town being northof the main character’s location, but they travel south to get there. Making a simple hand-drawn map resolves the location problem (if I remember to look at it).
- Punctuation errors and missing quotation marks also stand out when I see them printed.
My editor keeps me aware of inadvertent shifts in spelling. Years ago, she taught me to make a style sheet for each project.
The style sheet can take several forms. Even a simple handwritten list will do, as it’s only a visual guide to print out or keep minimized on my desktop until needed. I was a bookkeeper, so I use Excel to copy and paste every invented name, hyphenated word, or placename the first time they appear in my manuscript.
- I sometimes forget to make a note of made-up words and usages when I am really into writing. (Oops.)
My editor takes my list of invented words and adds the ones I overlooked to it during her part of the process.
If you have the resource of a good writing group, you are a bit ahead of the game. I suggest you run each revised chapter by your group and listen to what they say. Some of what you hear won’t be useful, but much will be.
Many years ago, a friend who read my work gave me a list of weak words to watch for.
Another friend trained me out of using “that” as a crutch word—a word I use too often in my everyday speech.
Constructive criticism is a good thing.
I have discovered that the real work of writing a novel comes after I have written the story.
I am fortunate to have excellent friends willing to do this for me. Their suggestions are thoughtful and spot-on.
In my work, the suggestions offered by the beta reader (first reader) guide and speed up the revision process. My editor can focus on doing her job without being distracted by significant issues that should have been caught early on.
Characters: Is the point of view character (protagonist) clear? Did you understand what they were feeling? Were they likable? Did you identify with and care about them? Were there various character types, or did they all seem the same? Were their emotions and motivations clear and relatable?
Editing is a process unto itself and is the final stage of making revisions. The editor goes over the manuscript line-by-line, pointing out areas that need attention: awkward phrasings, grammatical errors, missing quotation marks—many things that make the manuscript unreadable. Sometimes, major structural issues will need to be addressed. Straightening out all the kinks may take more than one trip through a manuscript.
An editor is not the author. They can only suggest remedies, but ultimately all changes must be approved and implemented by the author.
A reader won’t be familiar with it and will notice what we have overlooked.
When observed by others, a person who is daydreaming appears lazy. Mind-wandering has no obvious purpose, but it is critical for creativity. Every groundbreaking discovery in science, every great invention we enjoy today—all were inspired by ideas that came to a person while thinking about something else or when they were mind-wandering.
My oldest daughter, looking at our dinner, a casserole of beans with cornbread baked on top like a cobbler: “What the heck is that?”
Perception is in the eye of the beholder. Observation and thought are seeds that inspire extrapolation, leading the viewer to come away with new ideas. When I see the story captured in a single scene by an artist, my mind always surmises more than the painting shows. I see the picture as depicting the middle of the story and imagine what came before and what happened next. Unintentionally, I put a personal spin on my interpretation, and ideas are born. I don’t mean to, but everyone does.
This means that daydreaming is actually good for you. It boosts the brain, making our thought process more effective. Letting the mind wander allows a kind of ‘default neural network’ to engage when our brain is at wakeful rest, as in meditation, rather than actively focusing on the outside world. When we daydream, our brains can process tasks more effectively.
You could be watching the birds, as my husband and I often do. Or maybe you’re perusing the display in a local art gallery or listening to music. I love all genres of music, but for writing I often find inspiration in powerhouse classical pieces such as Orff’s cantata, 
Today, however, I plan a long walk along the beach.
I have no trouble selling my friends’ books – I’ve read them all and love them, and love selling them. Maybe I can sell their books because I’m not emotionally invested in their creation, but I am invested as a reader.
Next week on this blog we will talk about the creative process and the importance of mind-wandering. We’ll also talk about why it is important to beta read for your fellow writers, and how to be a good reader, one who gives positive feedback and offers constructive suggestions.
I have “pantsed it” occasionally, which can be liberating but for me, there always comes a point where I realize my manuscript has gone way off track and is no longer fun to write. Then I must return to the point where the story stopped working and make an outline.
The first tool is a sense of balance. Every published novel has entire sections that were cut or rewritten at least once before it got to the editing stage.
At first, the page is only a list of headings that detail the events I must write for each chapter. I know what end I have to arrive at. But the chapter headings are pulled out of the ether, accompanied by the howling of demons as I force my plot to take shape:
Don’t be afraid to rewrite what isn’t working. Save everything you cut because I guarantee you will want to reuse some of that prose later at a place where it makes more sense.
Some novels are character-driven, others are event-driven, but all follow an arc. I’m a poet, and while I read in every genre, I seek out literary fantasy, novels with a character-driven plot. These are works by authors like 
And the prose … words with impact, words combined with other words, set down in such a way that I feel silly even thinking I can write such works. Thankfully, my editor weeds out pretentious hyperbole and slaps me back to reality.
This part of the novel is often difficult for me to get right. The protagonist must be put through a personal crisis. Their inner world must be shaken to the foundations.
This emotional low point is necessary for our characters’ personal arcs. It is the place where they are forced to face their weaknesses and rebuild themselves. They must discover they are stronger than they ever knew.
And what of my female protagonist? Where does her story begin?
I must introduce a story-worthy problem in those pages, a test propelling the protagonist to the middle of the book. The opening paragraphs are vital. They are the hook, the introduction to my voice, and must offer a reason for the reader to continue past the first page.
My favorite books open with a minor conflict, evolving to a series of more significant problems, working up to the first pinch point, where the characters are set on the path to their destiny.
The inciting incident is followed by a series of plot points, places where complications are introduced into the narrative.
The opening setting for this story is a small town in an exceedingly rural part of Thurston County. One must travel at least ten miles in any direction to find another city. After sundown, you must drive on narrow, winding, pitch-black country roads. I, the protagonist in my story, suffer from severe night blindness, which meant we had to return home before sundown, putting a real crimp in our social life.
Major surgeries happened for the other two, and I was many miles away to the south, getting our house on the market. But our sons and daughters are entering middle age, and our older grandchildren are adults. Despite our worries, our granddaughters proved they were mature and more than capable of handling their lives.
The protagonists are settling into the new neighborhood. One of the niftiest things about their community is the Starbucks—and yes, I did say Starbucks. The owners of the 
I find that writing is easy here. Creativity comes in bursts, and I feel good about my writing. We have pared our possessions down to the point that they don’t possess us—something you don’t realize is a problem until you are faced with serious downsizing.
In writing, this happens when the narrative keeps expanding, and expanding, and expanding … and what was canon in chapter 4 is contradicted in chapter 44. The story grows as we write it.
If you are writing a tale set in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, you are creating that world.
Your map doesn’t have to be fancy. Use a pencil to easily update your map if something changes during revisions. You want to know:
No matter the level of our education or the dialect we speak, we use these rules and don’t realize we are doing so.
Muddled phrasings often slip by when I revise my work because my mind sees the words as if they were in the correct order. This is the writer’s curse—the internal editor knows what should be there, and the eye skips over what we actually wrote.
I adore mishmash words. They’re poetic and musical and roll off the tongue with a satisfying rhythm. Sadly, while I regularly bore my grandchildren with them, I hardly ever get to write them. Mishmash. Hip-hop.
“Ing” words are a terrible temptation to those of us raised on Tolkien. He was writing a century ago, but that style of lush prose has fallen out of fashion. We open the gate to all sorts of verbal mayhem when we lead off with an “ing” word at the front of a sentence.
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
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