HOW TO EDIT A MANUSCRIPT: A beginner's guide to editing a novel

My writing board hanging above my desk. Luke Skywalker is always there to help me. :)

​For me, editing has proved to be a steep learning curve, and I will be very frank and say I am by no means an expert at it even now. 

It seems to me every time I think a manuscript is finished I learn something new about the editing process, or get taught a new way to review and assess my work. 
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And then today it occurred to me that if I don’t write this shit down there is no way I’m going to remember it the next time I am editing a manuscript. 

​And frankly, I learned some really cool stuff from some really cool people, who were kind enough to dedicate rather a large amount of time to teaching me their tricks, so there’s no freaking way I want to forget this important stuff!
 
So this is where I document it all....
:)

I am lucky enough to be part of a great writing group who have really spent a lot of time reviewing my work and providing me with constructive criticism on how to make my writing stronger and tighter. This post contains a lot of their ideas and tips that I have found very helpful, and will surely find helpful again. Basically everything in this post came from my writing group, run by Sandy Vaile - excellent romantic suspense author, as well as an extremely lucky encounter I had with Vikki Wakefield - YA author extraordinaire, at a writing festival. 
Any mistakes in these ideas are completely my own.

So here we go, I have broken the information I have into different sections to make it easier to work through, starting with the basics, which, if no one teaches you, aren't really all that basic at all. This stuff is important!

This book was very influential for me. It was probably what got me hooked on YA in the first place.

​MANUSCRIPT WORD LIMIT:

What genre do you write?
I am into YA and therefore I know lots about YA and little about everything else.
 
But no matter what kind of books you write, I have learned (the hard way) that there is a ‘sweet spot’ when it comes to word limits and manuscript length in your genre.

I cannot stress this enough.
FIND OUT WHAT IT IS. AND THEN MAKE SURE YOUR BOOKS FALL WITHIN THAT SWEET SPOT.
 
I say this because in the past I completely ignored this, and submitted a manuscript that was over 20,000 words too long for the genre I write within!
Which is stupid, you guys. Don’t do that. Do something else.
 
So for those who may not know:
 
The sweet spot for YA novels generally falls within 60,000 to 80,000 words.
 
I understand this can be pushed higher if it is Sci-fi or Fantasy, but I still feel like a debut author is going to have a better chance of being traditionally published if they stick within these limits.

This is a really important aspect of writing to think about. Besides, if your novel is that long (like mine was) you may find you have a lot of content within it that really needs to be cut. 

And also:

YA novels typically have chapters sitting at around 1.5-2.5k words as a general rule.


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FORMATTING YOUR WORK:

So the first time I submitted my work to anybody I was a freaking idiot and had absolutely ZERO formatting on my manuscript.
In fact it actually read like some kind of weird poem instead of a book.

These days though I am super open to learning how things work, and here is the low-down on some very interesting formatting lessons I was taught:

MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING:
Formatting quoted from the wonderful Sandy Vaile:

• Each chapter should start about 1/3 of the way down the page. (Think pressing Enter about 6 times). 
• The beginning of each new paragraph needs to be indented, however...
• The first line of a new chapter or after a scene break, needs to be left aligned instead of indented.

SCENE BREAKS:
Formatting quoted from Vikki Wakefield (!!):

• Use a double return at each scene break
• ​A scene break should occur if your character has moved from one place to another (without showing how they got there), or if a decent amount of time has passed. Imagine a stageーif there are significant shifts in setting or time, insert a scene break. Otherwise a chapter can seem like one long tedious day and the structure can be monotonous. Scene breaks are an excellent way of sharpening your narrative and showing the passage of time without the boring bits.

WRITING DIALOGUE:
Here is some more great advice I received (quoted from Sandy Vaile and Vikki Wakefield - any mistakes are definitely my own!):

• You don’t always have to have ‘he/she said’ to show who is speaking. Often actions that go right before or after the dialogue will also make it clear. Sometimes even the language choices will show a particular character is speaking.

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• Don't feel you have to tag your dialogue with a modifier. 'She says' is usually enough, occasionally followed by an action (something relative to character). Instead of 'she says furiously', 'she hisses' etc. Or simply sharpen the dialogue to convey the emotion. Adverbs are often an indication that dialogue needs more work.

 

• If one character speaks, followed by an action, then another character performs an action, you should give the second character a new paragraph to avoid confusion. ​

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HOW TO ACTUALLY EDIT:

I do not have all the answers here. When it comes to structural edits and major changes to a story you are kind of on your own.
But the nitty gritty line by line editing is what I have been learning about.
​So here are the tips I have been taught:

Repetitive Words:
So apparently everyone has repetitive words and it’s not just me. So I’m told.
This means that you use the same word over and over within your manuscript. It doesn’t mean the word is bad, but most words lose their value through overuse and the meaning behind words can become less powerful. Alternatively, your reader could just pick up on the fact that they are reading the same thing over and over again. And once you know, you cannot un-know, which will fast become an annoying reading experience for anyone.
 
So for an example, here are some of my overused words (you may have your own different ones):

• Stare / Staring
• Look / Looking
• Really
• Eyes
• Laugh / Laughing
• Nod / Nodding
• Etc.

Watch the overuse of adverbs: blankly, furiously, quickly, helpfully, finally, eventually, truthfully, abruptly, automatically, sadly... Try to use active verbs instead wherever possible,Even though it is a pain, the best thing to do is to actually word search your identified repetitive words throughout your manuscript, checking that each really is necessary and cannot be changed for a better word. Some of course will still be fine to use, but if your characters spend the entire novel staring at each other you may want to find some alternate ways to place an action into your text.
 
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Repetitive Sentence Structure.
Aside from repetitive words, you may have repetitive sentences.
This is a big issue with my writing, and I hope now I am becoming aware of it I can learn how to nip this one in the bud.
 
So, because I was having trouble figuring this one out in my own work, and because Vikki Wakefield is the nicest person ever, I have a before and after example from my own work to highlight an instance where I used overly repetitive structured sentences:
 

• Overstating original text: Her voice is pitched just right. Sweet and nice. Just loud enough for Ms Christou to hear. For her to hear and approve.
• Edit to clarify: Her tone is sweet, loud enough for Ms Christou to hear. 

  
Hopefully you can see that the second, edited, example is much cleaner and tighter, not to mention shorter. The reader is not bogged down in information repeated just for the sake of it. Once an author has told their reader something, they shouldn’t tell them again (this is so hard!) because a reader will pick up straight away if you are treating them like an idiot who can’t follow a plot. I know I absolutely hate being spoon-fed when I am reading!

One of the most beautiful novels ever written. I love it.

Distancing Words:
Distancing words remind the reader that a narrator is telling the story. Wherever possible remove them so that you just show what the situation feels, looks, smells, tastes, and sounds like to the protagonist.
For instance:

• Feel
• See
• Think
• React
• Realise
• Start to 
• Hear
• Expect
• Wonder

A random example might be:

• Distancing statement: I can hear the bells ringing.
• A more immersive way of saying the same thing could be: Bells chimed in the distance.​ ​

Use Questions instead of statements.

​​Another cool idea told to me by author Maggie Best, was that distancing statements like:

• I wonder if I'll ever see her again.

Can be changed to internal questions like:

• Will I ever see her again?

Again, this reduces your word count and gets things more directly to the point.



Filter Words.

In Anne R Allen's excellent post (her whole blog is excellent actually and a great writing resource) there is a really interesting post by a guest (Kathy Steinemann) called: Filter Words and Phrases to Avoid in Writing Fiction.
Definitely check that one out.



Remove the word 'THERE' from sentences.

Another distancing word is 'there', particularly used in sentences that describe the surroundings or situation your characters are experiencing. 
For instance: 'There are mountains in the distance' could become 'Mountains rise in the distance.'

I think it's good to do a word search on the word 'there' and if appropriate, see if there is another way to write that sentence to be more immersive for the reader.

​Redundant Words:
These are words that you can remove from a sentence easily without changing the meaning behind your words.
Basically, it is a good idea to do a word search on all of the below, and follow each word through your manuscript one by one, checking whether they are essential.
 
And look, it’s possible that there may be one or two instances where you feel like these words should remain, but if you look closer you will realise the majority of the time they really are not at all essential.  They just add words to your sentences for no reason at all.
 
If you remove these, your writing will become tighter. The meaning behind your sentences will become clearer. Your writing will be less clunky and more streamlined, and therefore flow better for your readers.
Some examples:

• Ever
• Really
• Up
• Down
• Even
• Etc.

Words like sat up, bent over, climb up, fell down. Without the redundant word, it still means the same thing.
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Some Final Tips I was Taught:

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• Watch the overuse of adverbs: blankly, furiously, quickly, helpfully, finally, eventually, truthfully, abruptly, automatically, sadly...  
• Choose more active verbs to cut away superfluous words (see above) and make the text more direct. Instead of saying ‘am reading’ just say ‘read’. 


• ​Although there isn’t anything wrong with using ‘ing’ words, there can be a tendency for overusing them. Look at the sentence structure to see if it can be reworded to get rid of too many of these. Invariably it will make the sentence stronger. 
• Try to keep lists of descriptive words to 2 that really fit the situation, instead of lots that the reader might skim over, 

​To end on a Positive Note:
I hope these tips will help. I know they will help me when I need to come back and refresh myself!
Mostly though, I think it is important not to get overwhelmed.
 
It does suck to think you are finished a project, only to realise you have so much more work to do, but then again, it is exciting too. Afterall, for me, fulfillment is progress. And every time a manuscript goes through another edit it is being made stronger and better, and that is definitely progress.
Even if it is slow progress, progress is always a good thing.
It is the best!
 
I can’t help remembering back to Australian author Jennifer Mills speaking during a panel called  ‘Road to Publication’ at the Salisbury Writers Festival.
She said:
 
Persistence is even more important than talent.
 
If you have a cool story to tell. Tell it.
And then edit the shit out of it.
:)
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