In case you don’t know, editing is the process that takes your finished manuscript and polishes it. Chances are if you’re a writer then you probably know this, what you may not know is that there are different types of editing, and not all types of editing are created equally. Once you’ve finished writing your manuscript you are going to be faced with editing, unless you just publish it straight away (which I would not recommend). Under the editing umbrella you’re going to find a bunch of different options, there’s proofreading, copy editing, line editing, content editing, evaluation editing, and developmental editing, and they all do slightly different things.
Developmental Editing is where you employ someone to help you look at your manuscript or at your novel concept (as in BEFORE you write it) from a readers point of view and give you feedback to improve your writing and reach your target audience. Evaluation Editing is similar, but you go to them with your completed manuscript and they review organisation, structure, and how your story flows. Content Editing is where your editor reviews the content within chapters and will make suggestions and adjustments to each chapter. Line Editing focuses on the words you are using and ensures they flow in the sentence and make sense. Copy Editing picks out punctuation, grammar, spelling and styling to make sure you manuscript is meeting the expectations of the genre you’re working in. Like if you are advertising a romance novel it best actually have a romance in it. Proofreading is where your final draft is checked for punctuation, spelling, grammar and formatting issues. Now that I’ve told you what you can do with you’re manuscript I’m going to be honest and tell you that I can’t afford a single one of these options, and though there is no doubt whatsoever that professional editing can be a defining factor in developing a good book into a great one, I want to also let you know that even professional editors miss things. As I stated, I can’t afford a professional editor, they are pricey (and honestly they deserve to be paid well for the hours they invest on your manuscript to ensure it’s ready to wow your readers) but I’m not quite there yet. Since I’m having responsible for my own editing (as imperfect as it might be), I want to let you in on how my editing process goes, with the disclaimer that there will still likely be errors in my manuscript even though I do my best to provide the best quality I can give my readers. 1. I write my novel in Scrivener, though honestly it doesn’t matter where you write yours, the big thing here is to correct the errors that the built in spell checker picks up as you write. i.e. if it has a red wiggly line under it you might want to check your spelling, 2. I transfer my manuscript to Google docs so that a new spell checker can pick out anything the original one missed, I know this sounds stupid, but I swear moving the manuscript between programs has picked up different errors for me. 3. I used to then put the manuscript through Grammarly, but now you can actually get Grammarly as an add on in Google docs, so it’s a bit of a two birds one stone situation, you can use a free version of Grammarly which picks up limited mistakes l, or if you have the money you can actually pay for a subscription version which will pick up even more errors and help you refine your content further. 4. After I transfer my manuscript back to my original program I let it rest for a week to a month then reread it making adjustments, adding and subtracting scenes depending on the flow of the story. Sometimes I am a touch impatient as is my ‘alpha reader’ aka my husband, so it will get a once over before I reread. But I do my best to give it a decent reread with a bit of space after writing and editing so that it’s fresh and I’m viewing it as a reader rather than a writer. 5. At this point I send my finished manuscript to a bunch of friends, but not just any friends. These are friends who will critique my work in a way that makes me think (rather than just making me feel rubbish about myself) so I can make adjustments, these friends are readers, more than that they read in my genre. My betas have either a high ability to identify and highlight grammar and spelling errors, a passion for the genre that helps them identify and demolish troops that don’t work (or need to be included), but usually they possess both these things. Once my betas have finished reading, and pointing out all the mistakes I’ve made, as well as all their favourite bits I go about making necessary, and some suggested, changes. 6. Then, you guessed it, I step away for a while so I can reread with fresh eyes. Once I’ve done that I will often put it back through all the spelling and grammar checks to make sure I haven’t done something hinky during my review and finally I get my dear sweet husband (and often my sister in law) to re read it for me. They are my people not because they are family, but because of how they approach reading. They take it slow, consume and mull over my word choices, they catch the errors that have been missed, and they can tell me my story is crap without making me feel crap. They are discerning, firm and have an eye for errors. 7. Once I’ve gone through that entire process I usually make a call. I publish it, or I enlist the help of more readers and repeat. Then I publish. I know that this is a lot. I know that a professional editor is so much better, quicker, and easier, but I’m also aware of my budget, so I do what I can to filter my story through as many avenues to refine it as I can, and then I pray that the people who read it love it and give me grace for any errors I’ve missed that might derail them as they immerse themselves in my storybook world. So how do you edit? Praying that your manuscripts are enlightened, your spelling and grammar errors are few, your audience grows daily, and your sales are high. God bless Karla References: Check out https://scribemedia.com/editing-types/ for a deeper dive into editing types.
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Karla RoseI'm a Christian, a wife, and a mother of two living in the wonderful Waikato Archives
April 2021
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