Crucial Self-Editing Techniques - Don't be Hostage to a Line Editor

[EditorAdmin]

A subject that often goes by the wayside until too late.

People say, I write for myself, and it sounds so awful and so narcissistic, but in a sense if you know how to read your own work—that is, with the necessary critical distance—it makes you a better writer and editor. When I teach creative writing, I always speak about how you have to learn how to read your work; I don’t mean enjoy it because you wrote it. I mean, go away from it, and read it as though it is the first time you’ve ever seen it.

  - Elissa Schappell

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Twenty years, several novels, a room full of edited manuscripts, and hundreds of workshops later, I'd like to share three self-editing techniques for narrative that I've effectively utilized on a spectrum from foundation to final milkshake cherry.

First Multi-Part Editorial Phase

After pounding out a few pages on any given day, I devote a hour or so at the end to clean up, i.e., I read over what I've written and immediately make corrections to the most obvious flubs. It's easy. I don't want to have to deal with the rudimentary stuff when I return weeks later to engage in deeper second-stage editing.

Three to six weeks later (recommend no less than a four week hiatus) while continuing to push forward into the story, I come back around to the pages noted above. How many at a time? It varies. Let's say I'm second staging with a full scene, three to five pages. Sufficient time has elapsed that I cannot avoid spotting the necessary line edits. I rearrange sentences, swap words, zap any excessive "to be" passives, and make certain my narrative verve and cinema are both up to grade, among other things.

It's odd that you cannot see the second stage edits right away. Your eye is like a stone skipping over water if you attempt to revise too early. You just need time away. I cannot explain it, though I'm sure an explanation exists. Nevertheless, it's written in stone, even if it does skip over water: you must put the pages out of sight for a sufficient time, thereby giving your brain time to reboot.

Writers who are new to this mind-altering process will inevitably engage in even more edits as they work towards a reasonably well-edited manuscript. This assumes, of course, they pretty much know what they're doing in the first place.

So this process continues. First stage immediately, second stage later, looping and looping.

Now, once the manuscript official second draft begins, days or weeks after second-stage editing is completed for the the first, I return once more to the novel's opening hook (following a hiatus of a few months). And guess what?

Yes. I see MORE EDITS.

At this point I exist in a condition of editorial third stage. Not only do I see edits to the previous edits, but also other edits I missed previously despite the two stages. How did I miss them? How? Don't ask me. It can be maddening, but I'm grateful.

Will this never end you ask?

Your eye is like a stone skipping over water if you attempt to revise too early. You just need time away. I cannot explain it, though I'm sure an explanation exists.

Writers who are new to this mind-altering process will inevitably engage in even more edits as they work towards a reasonably well edited manuscript. This assumes, of course, they pretty much know what they're doing in the first place. Do they? More often than not, they don't. I once edited my first scene in All the Dark We Will Not See over 35 times, i.e., until I learned enough to do it right... No kidding. And guess what? That's not unusual.

Back to the ms. As I progress through rewrites, the third stage continues, all the way to the end of the novel. Things are looking pretty good... but wait. I now decide I must add a third viewpoint. What happens? Hold back the tears, here comes a lot of writing, rewriting, and the necessity of engaging in the three editorial stages yet again, necessary to polish that huge new helping of words just plopped onto the novel plate.

So you see, brace yourself for a jerky forward movement, especially if your veteran status is not yet earned.

Phases II and III - Rerouting of the Editorial Brain

Once I've polished the ms using the stage technique above, I switch techniques.

I role play a game wherein I'm giving a reading of my new novel to a group of both writers and readers. In the scenario, the writers are excellent ones known to me, perhaps one or two publishing house editors also, and several readers who are fans of this particular genre, plus at least one severe critic who despises me. I'm standing behind a wooden lectern upon which my manuscript pages rest. I'm at a Barnes and Noble, or another local bookstore. My eyes glance up only long enough to catch a glimpse of the onlookers I note above. I begin to read. I either hear the words in my throat or I actually read them out loud, all the while existing in the fictional reality.

Because upon using this final editorial screen, by placing separate passages through yet another filter, I see edits never before witnessed. Necessary edits.

By some twist of consciousness, I hear the necessary edits as I read. I've rerouted my brain to digest the words in a different manner. Utilizing this effective method, I'm able to apply 99% of the final editorial coat. I hear the edits for every 100 words or so (it can vary) and stop to correct the ms, and I continue in that manner, reading, halting, editing, and moving forward.

Following on above, I have one more technique to share.

This is a second brain reroute for the final nitpick edits. Again, I fail to comprehend how it works, but it succeeds. First, I choose a few slices of narrative, say around 200 words each, and I ask myself, "Which one of these passages is sharp and clean enough to appear on the novel back cover as a shining example? Answer? Zero... Why? Because upon using this final editorial screen, by placing separate passages through yet another filter, I see edits never before witnessed. Necessary edits.

How had I missed them previously? Don't ask. It matters not. Again, it works. So now you have three phases of editorial technique at your disposal. Precisely how you utilize them as you evolve into a masterful fiction writer will create customizations, no doubt, so keep that in mind.

Scimas Via
 

Michael Neff
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[EditorAdmin]

My favorite is taking any given paragraph, preferably of very dynamic prose, and imagining it displayed on the back cover of the novel. I will always find a few extra and important edits when I do this.