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Before a traditionally published book reaches the bookstore shelves it is often edited, revised, and rewritten several times. The work has only just begun when the first draft is done. Indie authors who are self publishing should pay very close attention to this phase of their project to insure their story reaches its highest potential. The editing and revising stage takes lots of patience and, I promise, does get easier with practice.

Many writers are confused by the difference between editing and revising, the two are very different. Both are essential steps to creating a finished manuscript that is ready for a professional editor. The first phase of this process, editing, refers to the mechanics of the craft such as typos, punctuation mistakes, inconsistency in tense (mixing past/present tense), and misused words. Revising is the second phase and involves word choice, content organization, and sentence structure. In the end the revision process is intended to insure that your story is clear but also compelling to the reader.

If you don’t remember anything else from this post remember this, after your first draft is written set it aside at least two weeks. The reason for this break is you’ve likely been working on your manuscript for months and if you start editing and revising now you’ll read your story with writer’s eyes. To be effective and editing and revising you’ll need to view your story with a reader’s perspective. After you’ve accomplished the awesome achievement of finishing a first draft you should be celebrating for at least two weeks anyway. As I’ve said before, writing is demanding work so you must learn to celebrate each success.

Editing

After two weeks have elapsed, print out the manuscript read it aloud to yourself, yes the whole thing! If you have someone else to read it to this is even better. Many times their expressions and feedback will give you an even deeper perspective on what is working in your story and what is not. Mark up the errors and trouble spots with a red pen, write notes and ideas in the margins. After two weeks these trouble areas and errors should jump out at you. Once you have read the whole manuscript aloud, noted typographical errors, and problem spots it is now time to rewrite it. Most authors use a computer these days so this just involves changing your original electronic document to match the markups you made in the printed version of your edited story. If you’re one of the few writers who still use a typewriter or write in longhand, I’m sorry, but this rewrite is a necessary step.

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“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” ― Dr. Seuss

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Now we find ourselves precisely at the point where many beginning writers make a huge and costly mistake. They are itching to hand their work off to someone else to polish their story so it’s ready to be published. I know how it feels, I was guilty of doing this with my debut novel (my poor editor). Resist every urge to be impatient at this stage of the game. Professional editors cost a lot of money and this is something most beginning writers typically don’t have. It’s best to work smart and not to have an editor spend their valuable time correcting things that you, or your beta readers, can discover and correct for free. Remember, time is money in the author-editor relationship. Before you hand your story off to a professional it must be the absolute best it can be.

In terms of editing, pay especially close attention to consistencies in narrative perspective. The most common mistake I see writers make is using “you” when another viewpoint should be used. In a first person narrative the narrator should be referred to as I. A third person narrative requires the narrator to be referred to as he, she, it or they.

Another common problem for many writers is the pesky past/present tense shift. For the sake of clarity the verb tense in our writing must be logical. Following is an example of illogical verb tense shift.

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As the taxi approached, the rider steps to the curb.

In the sentence above notice the word, “approached” is in the past tense while the second verb, “steps” is in the present tense. While the reader can understand what the sentence trying to get across, these types of illogical verb tense shifts will distract and confuse. Even if the distraction is subconscious it will interrupt the flow of your story and possibly prevent the reader from forming that all important mental connection with your story.

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Here’s the proper use of verb tense in the same sentence:

As the taxi approached, the rider stepped to the curb.

In the second example both verbs are in the past tense. With just one small change, the sentence flows more smoothly. Nothing stands in the way of the action. Action is vital in fiction because it sparks the reader’s imagination and pulls them into the story. Once you begin to view your story with reader’s eyes you will realize that good fiction can be easily constructed sentence by sentence, scene by scene.

Read installment two of REWRITE here!

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I am an American novelist, poet, traveler, and crypto-enthusiast. If you’ve enjoyed my work please sign up for my author newsletter at my website. Newsletter subscribers will receive exclusive updates and special offers and your information will never be sold or shared.

Eric Vance Walton - Media

www.ericvancewalton.net