Self-Editing Dos and Don’ts
A few tips for starting your self-editing journey.
Hey Story Crafters,
Have you recently finished a manuscript? Maybe it’s your NaNoWriMo project or a project you’ve been working on for a while.
First, congratulations! 🎉
Writing is hard, and writing a complete manuscript is no small feat. You’ve got part of the hard work, getting the story all out of your head and onto the page, done. Next up is shaping what you’ve put on the page into the best version of it that it can be, a.k.a., editing. Whether you’re sending your manuscript off for editing to self-publish, query agents, or enter it into a contest like #RevPit, you want to put the best version in front of potential editors, agents, and first readers.
This can be just as daunting as setting out on writing your manuscript. Now, you have to read over what you’ve written with a critical eye and evaluate what’s working and what needs to be improved.
Where do you start?
✅ Do put your completed manuscript away for some time.
It’s tempting to immediately switch gears and dive right into editing once you’ve finished your manuscript while it’s still fresh in your mind, but that freshness—or closeness—can actually work against you. You might notice that a scene transition isn’t clear or effective, but miss that you need to add another paragraph or two to help your main character’s development along.
You’re more likely to notice inconsistencies when you aren’t as close to your manuscript. Also, the emotional attachment and the impulse to keep everything you have because it’s all perfect and needed will have lessened too, making it easier to make changes. So put it away for a bit and work on another project until you feel like you’re ready to look at it with a critical eye.
❌ Don’t start by copyediting your manuscript.
The types of editing progress as follows: developmental, line, and copyediting. They can basically be summarized as big-picture, artistic, and technical types of editing.
It might be tempting to start copyediting because there are set rules to follow (e.g., correct vs. incorrect spelling or grammar usage), but any developmental or line edits you need to make to strengthen your story will likely cancel out the copyedits if you start off with copyediting. Starting with copyediting might not necessarily be wasted time and energy on your part, but since editing can be a difficult process, it might be discouraging to realize there might have been more effective ways to use that time and energy.
✅ Do review the big picture.
When you read over you manuscript for the first time to start editing, try summarizing each chapter and listing them in order. Review what happens in each chapter to see what narrative mile markers are hit and when they happen. This will help you determine what you need to add to your story or, alternatively, where you might need to trim down.
For more links to help you start your self-editing journey, check out this post:
To wrap up:
❌ Don’t struggle on your own!
As I mentioned earlier, writing is hard. Editing can be just as hard, because even if you set your manuscript aside for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes, even if you write up a list of chapter summaries to review where certain plot points happen and whether you need to move them around, add some in, or remove some parts of the narrative, you might still feel like you’re missing something. Don’t struggle and let frustration get the better of you!
Instead…
✅ Do get a second pair of eyes.
Editing is not about correcting mistakes. Well, a majority of editing isn’t, like developmental and line editing. Copyediting is to a degree, because there are set style guidelines, grammar rules, and spelling conventions that need to be followed when you’re publishing your work.
If you compare writing a manuscript to putting a puzzle together, your job as a writer is to have the final image in mind and start putting the pieces together by getting your story onto the page. As for editing…
Developmental editing is determining whether or not all of the pieces are there, and that they’re put together in the best possible way. A dev editor will help you find any missing pieces, and show you effective, actionable ways to put existing and missing pieces together to reach the final image you envision for your story.
Line editing will buff out that image by polishing your manuscript at the sentence-level, making character voices and other elements as clear and as accurate as possible.
And copyediting covers the finishing touches by checking for consistency throughout your manuscript and matching style guides and other standards as closely as possible.
ICYMI, ways to stay up to date on #RevPit news!
To stay up to date with #RevPit news, here are some links you should follow:
⭐️ RevPit Bluesky Profile: https://bsky.app/profile/reviseresub.bsky.social
⭐️ RevPit Editor Starter Pack on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/starter-pack/jenichappelle.bsky.social/3lao6x3utpr2y
⭐️ Watch #RevPit or pin the RevPit feed: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vxxmae6p5dpnxwcpzcb64gbi/feed/aaabv6dc4ot5a
⭐️ Subscribe to the RevPit Substack: Revise & Resub
I look forward to seeing some of you at the #RevPit mini-events, and reading some of your work during the actual contest!
If you don’t think your manuscript will be ready in time for #RevPit 2025 or you aren’t planning to participate but you know you’ll need developmental editing services—or line or copyediting services—please get in touch!
I’m open to working with all fiction authors, though I specialize in fantasy, dark fantasy, science fiction, and horror. If the author-editor fit is good, we can book a block of time for your developmental edit in advance so we can get started as soon as you finish your manuscript.
Until next time!
Best,
Leah