How you edit your own writing

Resources for editing your own writing

So, you’re going over your first draft. You’ve priced up an edit for your draft and received a bit of a shock. You spent a few dollars on Fiverr but you weren’t happy with the results. “I could do a better job myself!”

I have summarised some of the options available to you in the following article.

The do-it-yourself approach

If you're not quite ready to share your work (although I would tell you to go for it!), this can be a good first step.

As always, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Edit when you’re finished

Smash it out. Get it done. Don’t get bogged down in the editing, that’s not your job (at least not right now), get the writing done. The plot doesn't need to be water-tight, it doesn’t even need to be good. It needs to be done. After all, that’s what the editing process is for!

Pros:

• It gives you space from it which can make spotting issues easier;
• It gets it done (...son);
• You can start working on your query letter!

Cons:

• Story changes (particularly early on) can lead to significant rewrites;
• Difficult to catch every mistake;
• Editing (paid) turns into a lump sum job.

This is quite a popular method. Motivation and building a habit are some of the main obstacles to writing. This can be an excellent way to progress your project. If you have support from an editor, you can submit work and progress without dwelling on what you have written. The editor can flag major issues; to avoid a painful redraft, and leave the rest for later.

Edit while you go

This can be useful if you have a good writing habit and thus have less of a concern about 'falling off the wagon'.

If this is your chosen strategy, I would suggest the following stopping points:

• Immediately upon completion of a chapter - proofread and edit;
• A couple of days later - word choice and sentence flow;
• Two chapters later - story and character arc;
• Completion of first draft - all of the above.

The reasoning behind the suggested stopping points being:

• When you finish the chapter; you are still too close to it to see subtle problems (word choice and story issues);
• After a few days; you will have a little distance, making you more likely to spot subtle issues such as word choice and flow;
• After a couple of chapters; you will have a clearer idea of where the chapter / story leads and can make tweaks;
• Redraft time!

Pros:

• DIY approach, good if you're on a budget;
• Keep rewrites resulting from plot changes under control;
• A good opportunity to mull over plot points, sentence structure and word choice.

Cons:

• Easy to get bogged down in the editing process and slow writing productivity;
• It's time consuming;
• It can be difficult to see all your mistakes, even with some distance;
• A logical error may still make sense (to you) the second time you read it.

DIY is common with writers working on their first book as they may not be ready for external eyes or criticism. It has its place, but it's not the only way!

If this the way you choose to edit, supplement it with some software!

Join a writing community

There are lots of these all over the internet. I have listed a selection of the best below:

Reddit

Subreddits such as r/Writers and r/DestructiveReaders allow you to submit your work a little at a time.

r/Writers works on a goodwill basis: no guarantee that you will receive feedback or on the quality.

r/DestructiveReaders operates on a quid pro quo basis. You must provide sufficiently detailed feedback to allow you to submit your own work. While there is still no guarantee on quality, it tends to be of a much higher standard than r/writers.

LitReactor

A community set up by the originators of ChuckPalahniuk.net; this site provides online classes, workshops, forums and a free magazine.

$9 a month gives access to peer-to-peer reviews and feedback. This can be a great online alternative to a real peer-to-peer writing circle.

MyWritersCircle

A great forum based writing community. This is a free community with a huge amount of information and ongoing discussions. You may fall down a rabbit hole or two!

Scribophile

Scribophile is one of the largest and most successful online writing communities on the web.

Scribophile offer a free or $9 per month membership tier. Membership includes discounts to related services and products as well as unrestricted access to the Scribophile platform.

Software

Software is excellent option for a first pass. Catching most common errors, those alpha readers can focus on the meat and potatoes!

Hemingway

Hemingway Editor is a simple to use web based editing suite that is completely free.

It provides feedback on sentence structure and word choice. Take what you are working on and copy and paste it into the site. The magical colour coding will do the rest.

I have a lot of time for this tool. It is so easy to use and can really help to tidy up your writing. This is an excellent tool for blogging.

Grammarly

A great tool with bolt-ons for Word, Chrome (and Google docs) and your phone.

There are free and premium versions with various features unlocked with premium.

It checks against billions of sources for plagiarism.

This is a comprehensive tool-set that can help with many aspects of your writing.

Grammarly is available for $11.99 / per month when paid annually or $29.95 per month when paid monthly (providing a big incentive to go annual).

Wrap-up

There are many free and low cost options for improving your writing. What are you waiting for? Go write!

Rick

rick@bookonedone.com