‘Change your writing forever’: Why Self-Editing skills are worth investing in

I run the Jericho Writers’ Self-Edit Your Novel course, which launched all the way back in April 2011. I built the course together with Emma Darwin and June will be our sixty-second group. We now have 717 alumni, well over a hundred of whom are published. If you want to see the evidence, have a look at the Hall of Fame on my blog.

Practical, not theoretical

So, what’s the reason for this amazing success rate? I’d say it’s because we impart general advice, techniques and guidelines in the detailed tutorials, but the exercises are based on your own work in progress. That means the course isn’t merely theoretical, it’s practical: we show how to apply the tools and techniques you’re learning to your writing, in real time.

Not only that, but students also see how to apply them to the work of the other eleven writers in their group. Through critiquing each other, you hone your editing skills at every stage – learning how to analyse and deconstruct a draft, seeing what works and what doesn’t (yet) and deciding what tools to apply to make it work better.

Each week, I give everyone very detailed feedback on their writing. People can then compare that with the feedback they’ve given and learn from it.

Transferrable skills

The skills you learn when you study the principles of self-editing are skills you’ll have for life. It’s not hyperbole to say that gathering the tools that enable you to stand back and analyse a draft will change your writing forever.

Many of our alumni are published with different novels from the one they were working on during the six weeks, but they all credit the course, acknowledging the difference it made to their writing.

Let’s break this down…

Structure, plot and pace

In week one of Self-Edit Your Novel, we identify what your story is and talk about where it sits in the market – but the main topic for the week is structure, plot and pace.

We talk about what readers are looking for on a first page, what they expect to find on the last page, and techniques for getting between the two. Once you know how to work out where your story begins, you then learn about ways to ensure the narrative drive never falters, and everything has a function in pushing your story forwards to the end.

Though we’re working specifically on your current work-in-progress, these are techniques which will be applicable to any future stories you write.

Crafting authentic characters

Week two focuses on character. Making your characters leap from the page is vital – after all, they are the readers’ representatives in your story.

Characters don’t have to be likeable, but they do have to be compelling. There are certain elements that apply to all main characters, in every story. In a group of twelve students, we always have a diverse range of characters, so you’ll see the importance of showing characters in action and the various techniques that ensure a character is compelling.

Voice: finding and refining it

In week three, the topic is voice. Your current work-in-progress might be in first or third person, past or present tense – or you might have a combination of voices.

Unless you’re writing a series, your future books will have a very different voice, so you need to train your writerly muscles to stretch in the direction that works best for each story you want to tell.

Given that we’re constantly told voice is the first thing an agent – or any other reader, for that matter – looks for on the page, the importance of understanding what constitutes a fresh and distinctive voice can’t be overstated.

Psychic distance: the gamechanger

Week four is the one most of our alumni describe as the gamechanger. The topic is point of view (POV) and psychic distance (PD).

Psychic distance is the most transformative tool in the novelist’s kit, holding the key to voice, POV, character, show and tell. It’s to do with how deep we go into characters’ heads and the extent to which their voices colour the prose.

In third person, this might be a matter of distinguishing between the voice of an external narrator – a storyteller, of some kind – and that of the character in whose POV we are. In first person, it’s about distinguishing between the voice when it’s in narrator-mode and when it’s in character-mode.

But this magical tool is infinitely flexible. It will apply differently to every story on the course and, once you understand the potential of using the PD spectrum to bring your writing to life, you’ll know how to apply it to any future projects.

The prose microscope

In week five, we put an extract from your draft under the microscope and analyse every word, every punctuation mark, every line break. We also talk about showing and telling, dialogue, adjectives, adverbs and rhythm.

This is the kind of fine polishing that you should only do once you’re preparing a final draft – but again, there are general lessons to learn that will apply to all your writing, not just your current work-in-progress.

Confidence beyond the course

By the end of the course, you’ll have the tools, skills and confidence you need to edit the current draft of your novel. More than that though, you will have learnt techniques that will apply to editing everything you write in the future. You can also revisit the content at any time, as you have lifetime access.

As an added benefit, your first drafts are likely to be in better shape than they would have been before you internalised what makes stories work for readers.

If you’d like to join us for round sixty-two (!) of Self-Edit Your Novel, we’d love to have you. Don’t forget: there’s a fully funded bursary place available for each course. Several of our previous bursary winners are already in our Hall of Fame, so please apply if you qualify.

If you’re not ready for an in-depth tutored course on this topic, why not consider Introduction to Self-Editing – a self-guided video course that will give you some basics to build on? It’s free and included with Premium Membership, or just £99 to buy as a standalone option.