Editing ,
Six tips for successful self-editing
By Debi Alper
You’ve completed a draft of a novel? Congratulations! That’s a huge achievement and one you should celebrate. But now the hard work starts because the first draft of anything is crap.
We all work in different ways but fiddling with every word you write in a first draft can kill your creativity. If you invest too much time in perfecting your prose early on, you may find it harder to murder those carefully crafted darlings when you come to edit and realise that whole scene serves no purpose.
But a first draft is also perfect simply because it exists, and now you have something to work on. Exciting, right?
Here are my six tips for the self-editing process – all of which I cover in more detail on my Introduction to Self-Editing Your Novel video course, which is free to Premium Members.
1. Start with the big picture and ask yourself some searching questions
- What is this book?
- Where will it sit in bookshops? Is it crime, fantasy, romance? Literary or commercial?
- Who are your target readers? What are you offering them that is different from every other novel in that genre?
Now zoom into the specifics of your book…
- Title
- Elevator pitch and blurb
- Synopsis.
These things help you to define the identity of your novel – and everything in the draft should expand from that central identity. A synopsis is particularly useful for establishing the spine of your story, the pivots and the turning points – as well as highlighting any sub-plots and diversions you may decide to get rid of.
2. Look at the structure
Where does your story start?
If the first line of your synopsis refers to something that happens three or four chapters into your draft, that’s probably a sign you have started your story too early and have written your way in. Don’t panic! Nothing is ever wasted in creative writing. Those chapters were there because you, the author, needed them – but the reader doesn’t, so they have to go.
It’s also possible to start your story too late, e.g., when you’re desperate to grab the reader’s attention on the first page – so the story starts with a bang but then the next chapter moves to backstory. The first chapter promises something which then isn’t fulfilled. In this case, it might be better to start the story earlier in time.
Where does it end?
Somewhere close to the end, there should be a peak to your narrative arc: the point where everything is at its most endangered, when everything could be won or lost, and the stakes are at their highest.
After that, the resolution has to be credible as a believable result of everything we’ve seen so far. It also needs to satisfy your target readers. If you’re writing crime, fans of the genre will expect the bad guys to be held to account at the end. In romance, fans want the happy couple to be together on the last page, having overcome all the obstacles you gave them to handle. But resist the temptation to tie up every thread too neatly. Allow readers to imagine that your characters carry on living after the story ends.
How do you get from the beginning to the end?
Are you writing in a linear, chronological timeline? This works well because things happen to the characters at the same time as the reader experiences them, giving us the best chance to relate to your main characters.
If you’re not showing the action chronologically (e.g., using parallel timelines, or a circular structure) make sure the reader always knows where they are in the timeline and how one scene fits in with the ones we’ve seen before.
Between the beginning and end of your novel, your plot should be a series of peaks and troughs. After any intense action, the characters – and the readers – need a chance to draw breath before they have to deal with a new obstacle. Think in terms of cause and effect, action and consequence, fortunately/unfortunately.
3. Identify the narrative drive
Every scene has to push your story forward in some way or another. Look at each scene, or unit of action, and identify the narrative triangle by writing the following in three sentences:
- Where you start
- What happens
- Where you end up.
If both the plot and the characters are in the same place at the end of the scene as they were at the beginning, that’s a sign the pace has stalled and that scene is not earning its keep.
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By Debi Alper
About the author
Debi Alper is the author of five novels, the first two published by Orion and then republished under her own imprint, along with the next three in the series. Since 2006, Debi has worked as a freelance editor and creative writing tutor. She runs the phenomenally successful Jericho Writers Self-Edit Your Novel course, together with Emma Darwin, and won the inaugural RNA Indie Editor of the Year Award in 2021. Debi also acts as a competition judge and was a reader for the Costa Short Story Awards.