10 Tips for DIY Manuscript Editing
Are you a writer? Do you edit your work yourself? Self-editing is one of the most challenging aspects of being a writer. It’s almost as difficult as coming up with the manuscript itself. Many writers let their egos get in the way regarding the editing tasks involved with the project. They assume they’re a flawless writer, but that thought disappears when you sit down and start the editing process.
Editing means you’ll have to sit down and review all the parts of your work you love the most, taking an unbiased and impartial point of view to your manuscript. That’s hard for a lot of writers to do objectively. Breaking down and tearing apart scenes you spent months working on is painful when you realize your writing isn’t as infallible as you thought.
Still, editing is a vital part of the creative process if you want a publisher to take on your manuscript and release it to the world. Fortunately, we put together these 10 editing tips to help you manage the process and get the results you need to get your work recognized and published.
1. Edit as You Go
It will save you a lot of time and effort if you edit as you go through the creative process. We’re not suggesting you review your work line-by-line as you progress through the manuscript. That’s going to be frustrating.
However, editing your work at the end of each chapter will be much easier and save you hours when you finish the project. Loading an entire 100-page or 1,000-page manuscript into editing software (more on that later) will be shocking when you see it turn up thousands of errors to correct.
Pick an editing pace that doesn’t interfere with your creative flow. If you feel like you want to keep writing, keep writing. Editing is secondary to the creative process, but stopping every now and again to edit will be more of a blessing than a curse.
2. Take a Break
Set a timer and use the “Pomodoro principle” to ensure you don’t get bored with your editing task. Program your cellphone time for 15 minutes and edit intensely during this time. Focus on the work until the timer goes off, and take a 5-minute break. Rinse and repeat as required.
3. Understand the Editing Categories
It’s a good idea to separate the editing work into categories. Adopting this strategy ensures you understand what you’re looking for when completing the task. Errors in your manuscript occur in the following categories.
Typos – Fat finger mistakes, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors.
Plot – Ensure you answer all queries posed in the storyline to prevent reader confusion.
Pacing – Check to see where the story drags and where it progresses too fast without enough context.
Scenes – Axe all scenes that don’t progress or develop the characters or plot.
Characters – Give your character’s purpose. Are you using a character arch? Are the characters believable and realistic?
4. Read the Manuscript Out Loud
Reading the manuscript out loud gives you a better idea of the flow and structure of your work. You’ll find your brain identifies more problems and errors using this method. It’s a great way to check the document for tone and pacing.
Reading out loud creates a better reading pace of the document, whereas silently reading might see you skip over mistakes. Your brain engages better with the task with it verbalizes the reading process.
5. Use Fresh Eyes
Get a family member or friend to review your work. Print them a copy and ask them for their honest, brutal opinion. Tell them not to hold back and b as objective as they can with their review.
Ask them to highlight any errors they find or places in the storyline that need more attention for flow and plot or character development.
6. Print and Edit
If you want to improve your writing, print out a copy of your manuscript and read through it manually, making corrections as you go.
This task might seem like double work, but it trains your mind to identify your common mistakes, and there’s less chance of you making them again in fortune projects.
7. Turn on Spellcheck in Your Word Processor
The spellcheck in MSWord and Google Docs is an effective tool to help you edit as you go. It’s not infallible, but if you turn on suggestions, you’ll find it helps tremendously during the writing process.
Please take a minute to review each page before moving on to the next. You’ll find it surprising how many errors it catches. These in-app editing functions are a real-time saver in the final editing process.
8. Use Grammarly or a Similar Editing App
Subscribe to a premium version of an editing app like Hemmingway or Grammarly. These tools have plug-ins for word processors, giving you more functionality than the in-app editing tools on Google Docs and MSWord.
Ensure you take the premium versions, as the free variant is useless. The subscription is affordable and well worth the investment, considering the time it saves in editing.
9. Take Out the Repetition
Remove the repetition from your work. It’s common for writers to repeat the same words or phrases throughout their manuscripts. You might not notice this repetition, but the readers will.
10. Eliminate the Fluff
The final step in the process is to cut out the fat. Remove any words that don’t progress the story. Being too descriptive can slow the reading experience, detracting from your work. Cut the fluff and keep it simple.
Hire a Professional
Editing your work by yourself is a real hassle. Why go through this painstaking process when you can hire someone to do it for you? The internet is full of manuscript editors for hire.
You can hire freelancers or wring services to help you with the task. Editors ensure you get a fresh set of eyes on your work, and they won’t make any mistakes. They offer you an unbiased way to ensure you get the best results possible and a chance of seeing a publisher pick up your manuscript.