I Love Self-Editing

In recent posts, I’ve talked a lot about the self-editing you need to do to your draft manuscript. I fear your spirits might be sinking at the amount of work which looms ahead.

It can be a lot of work. Unless, of course, you’ve decided that every word is perfect, every character fully developed. Then we have a problem of a different sort. But assuming you have identified scenes to fix or write, it may be discouraging. It might even disincline you to do anything further which would be a great shame.

So I am here to tell you that actually, self-editing is fun. Yes, fun. I love to do it, maybe not more than writing itself, but it’s right up there.

This post will try to convince you to take on editing as an adventure rather than a drudge.

Editing seems to be largely about taking out stuff and putting other stuff in. Both are fun.

Self-editing: the taking stuff out

This is more often the copy editing phase. You are looking for the normal grammar, punctuation, missed and extra words. But in addition, there is seeking out and destroying the clumsy bits always in a first draft. Like the “hello, how are you”s and the tortured way you got the character out of the room. Rereading makes you realize you could simply stop the scene rather than have her get up from the chair, say her good-byes, move to the door, take the elevator to the ground floor—you get the picture.

Although this may sound weird, I get a positive thrill in lowering the word count. So much so that I actually track the number cut. Useless, no? But it provides a great sense of satisfaction. I don’t know why, it just does. And this is not just the crazy lady talking—many writers really get into this.

Fundamentally, I think self-editing appeals to my latent Napoleon complex. I am in complete control. I can do anything I want. I can push events around wherever I want. I have the power of life and death over my characters. See, Napoleon.

Self-editing: the putting stuff in

The other part of editing is identifying what is missing. Often scenes needed to clarify the plot or develop a character more fully.

While they probably take more brain power and imagination, these putting in parts also have their appeal. For one thing, you usually have a relatively short scene to write. You already know where you want to go so it is much more doable than writing the full sweep of the novel.

Because in these concentrated bits you already know what you want to accomplish, it allows focus on the quality of the writing rather than juggling plot, character, flow, and theme as you typically have to do when you wrote the novel originally.

 

There is an unexpected pleasure in having all the pieces of your novel and being able to reconstitute it in a way which is stronger, more elegant, and just plain better.

How Copyediting Helps Your Writing Quality

You do copyediting after you’ve finished a piece. No, there’s no problem if you add the occasional word or take one out if you are rereading the piece. But the picky, close scrutiny of the words is best left to after the piece is complete. Otherwise, it will run the risk of derailing your creative process as discussed in another post.

But copyediting can help your writing be tighter, more focused and even more interesting. In this post (which is a little longer than usual), I want to show how copyediting can help the quality of your writing.

Original piece

This is the passage I originally wrote for a scene in my novel Scam!

Now that they are around the dinner table, Eleanor is tempted to let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Steve finally cuts the tension. “Well, quite the scene.”

“It’s just like him—” Patsy begins.

“That’s enough,” says Eleanor sharply. “We have a guest—we don’t air our dirty laundry in front of guests.”

“What, Kim?” Steve asks. “She’s not a guest. She’s practically family.”

Eleanor shakes her head. “Nevertheless. I want everyone to keep a civil tongue in their heads. Patsy, will you help me bring in the coffee?”

Eleanor and Patsy work in silence in the kitchen. But she remembers where everything is and in short order the cups and cream are on a tray.

“You take that in and I’ll bring the coffee in when it’s done,” Eleanor directs Patsy.

So not that awful, don’t you think? This is 133 words.

Finished piece

Now compare the previous piece with how it ended up.

Around the dinner table, Eleanor is tempted to let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Steve finally cuts the tension. “Well, quite the scene.”

“It’s just like him—” Patsy begins.

“That’s enough,” says Eleanor sharply. “We have a guest—we don’t air our dirty laundry.”

“What, Kim?” Steve asks. “She’s practically family.”

“Nevertheless. I want everyone to keep a civil tongue. Patsy, will you help me bring in the coffee?”

They work in silence in the kitchen. But she remembers where everything is and in short order the cups and cream are on a tray.

“You take that in and I’ll bring the coffee,” Eleanor directs Patsy.

This version, now 108 words, reads a little more smoothly and more importantly, is more focused on the action. You might think that the changes don’t make an earth-shattering difference and you would be right. But over the course of the novel, this kind of cleaning up and focusing can make the plot move forward faster and more effortlessly.

Copyediting the piece

This is the original passage with the edits.

Now that they are around the dinner table, Eleanor is tempted to let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Steve finally cuts the tension. “Well, quite the scene.”

“It’s just like him—” Patsy begins.

“That’s enough,” says Eleanor sharply. “We have a guest—we don’t air our dirty laundry in front of guests.”

“What, Kim?” Steve asks. “She’s not a guest. She’s practically family.”

Eleanor shakes her head. “Nevertheless. I want everyone to keep a civil tongue in their heads. Patsy, will you help me bring in the coffee?”

Eleanor and Patsy they work in silence in the kitchen. But she remembers where everything is and in short order the cups and cream are on a tray.

“You take that in and I’ll bring the coffee in when it’s done,” Eleanor directs Patsy.

It may be surprising that so many words were chopped out. But extraneous words and thoughts (when it’s done) just clog up the reading. Keep your reader focused on what you are really writing about.

 

So copyediting can and should be about punctuation, missed and extra words, misspellings, and other annoyances that might kick your reader out of your continuous dream. But it can also up the overall quality of the writing. And is worth doing.

 

Copy Editing and Substantive

Okay, I’m not exactly saying that this will be a boring post but we do need to make sure we are using the terms in the same way. So grit your teeth and read on.

Definitions

There are various definitions of these terms, all very similar but with enough differences to murk things up. So here are my interpretations:

Copy editing: Fact checking, spell check, punctuation, grammar, tense consistency, missing words, etc. It is the more mechanical of the two but still valuable to avoid kicking your reader out of the continuous dream. I don’t want to be caught up short in my reading by affect? Shouldn’t that be effect?

Substantive editing: looks at the whole sweep of the novel. Themes, character growth, forward action, plausibility, even missed opportunities. All the big things which make your novel unique.

Copy editing example

This is pretty easy although time consuming. Here’s the original piece, followed by the copy editing in BOLD.

I turned quickly. “What are you doing here?” I ask.

She shrugs. “You know I compliment you, Tom.“

“Helen, being with you is like living on top of an earthquake.”

Copy edit

I turned [rest of passage in present tense] quickly. “What are you doing here?” I ask.

She shrugs. “You know I compliment [complement or complete] you, Tom.”

“Helen [wasn’t her name Jennifer?], being with you is like living on top of an earthquake [volcano].”

You might think that getting the name wrong of the love (sic) interest wouldn’t happen but it can if half-way though you decide to change her name and don’t catch all the switches.

See, useful and necessary.

Substantive editing example

As the whole novel is covered in a substantive edit, you’ll need to take my word for it that the comments make sense.

Original passage

“No, I won’t do it!” Bryan brought his fist down on the table.

“Hon, you’ve got to! Please, for my sake.” Hannah said.

“Not even for you, Hannah. No.”

Editor’s comments

We have seen this argument a couple of times before. I think Bryan’s intransigence has already been established. Is anything going to change? If so, it is an opportunity for Bryan’s growth as a character. If not, then somebody needs to do something to move the action forward. It might be realistic in real life for couples to be stuck in repetitive fighting but in a novel, some resolution or movement is necessary to keep the reader reading.

A substantive edit is focused on making the novel the best it can be. Its intent should not be to change its direction or theme (unless of course, you are doing your own editing, in which case, go for it).

When to edit

This is probably the most important bit. As I discussed in the previous post on editing as you go, I think it helps the quality of your writing and makes it less likely that you will be stalled or taken off track to do all editing after you have finished a first draft.

Naturally, I’m not saying you should continue down a path you’re convinced isn’t working, but if it is just a suspicion or worry, I’d stick with the course you’re on and see how you feel once you read the whole thing.

So, hope you’re still awake. Now onto the event more exciting: How copywriting can help the quality of your writing. Stick with this—you do actually need to know this stuff.

Should I Be My Own Editor?

You’ve finished your magnum opus. Congratulations! Take a moment to savor but only a moment. You need to edit the manuscript so it flows as you would wish. And ask yourself whether you should be your own editor. As I’ve already mentioned, editing while you’re writing the story is a bad idea. But I think the question is not so much should you be your own editor as can you.

Can you be your own editor?

There are some obvious things you need. Being a good proof-reader, knowing what you are looking for, etc. But can you also do it psychically? Ask yourself:

Are you in love with your novel?

Of course, you can (and should) love it but are you in love with it? It’s hard to do a good edit if you are convinced that every word is a pearl, and any change would destroy the whole. You need to have enough perspective to edit effectively.

How do you react to criticism?

If your automatic reaction is Of course I welcome criticism, I’m talking to you. When others critique your work, do you consider or spend most of your time explaining why the comments are (a) wrong; or (b), if correct, irrelevant; or (c) if relevant, not useful.

A critical part of editing is stepping back to view the novel more objectively. If you don’t react well to others’ comments, it’s hard to imagine you’ll engage in effective self-critique.

Can you be fairly ruthless in editing?

Clint Eastwood directed Bridges of Madison County, starring himself and Meryl Streep.

They fall in love while dancing. Lovely. Then another dance sequence establishing the same thing. Also delightful. But then another and another and another. A total of five dancing-falling-in-love scenes.

Each scene established the intent and did it well. But five were not needed. It felt as if Eastwood was so in love with them, he couldn’t cut any.

Can you be ruthless and cut even excellent writing when it impedes the forward motion of the plot? A tough but necessary qualification.

 

If your answers to the questions above are largely positive, then upcoming posts will help you be your own editor. If the answers tend to the negative, you might consider

Using friends/writing as editors

Well, it’s possible but it can be a problematic route.

Honestly, unless you have exceptionally good friends/relatives or members of your writing group are willing to do a quid pro quo, I’d be disinclined to tap them for this somewhat onerous task.

I am assuming that you’re not paying them so the edit has to be on their time, in their style, and incurs a huge you-owe-me-one. This may not suit your sense of urgency.

If you are paying, you have to be sure they have the editing skills before you hand it over. Being a good and enthusiastic reader of your work doesn’t cut it. This is a technical job which needs technical skills.

 

Hiring an editor

This of course costs and you need to decide whether it’s a good investment. If you do, make sure that you have re-read, revised, and fixed up the manuscript first. You want the editor to come up with new insights, not pick up on things you should have caught yourself.

 

With all of its caveats, I have to say, I tend to prefer being my own editor (with some exceptions I’ll note in later posts). Yes, it’s a lot of work but it can also be fun and most importantly, you can take the novel in the direction you want. Next post: Should I Edit as I Go?