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Editing, also known as my personal hell, is the next step you’re going to take after finishing writing your rough draft. Most authors, myself included suggest taking a few weeks away from from your manuscript once you finish a draft.
For me, I’ll put it away in a drawer, or more realistically just refuse to open the file until my two weeks are up, and ignore anything that has to do with my story just to take a break. This helps in multiple ways, the biggest is that once you come back to it you’ll have a set of fresh eyes to look at it through a new lens. It also just lets your mind rest, writing at all, let alone a novel is not an easy task you deserve a break after all of that work.
Once you’ve had your break the real work begins. In my experience, and in the experience of other local authors I’ve spoken to, editing is what really separates the people who write for fun and the people who want to make it a career. It’s a lot of hard work, and in all honesty, editing is an incredibly tedious process, but speaking from experience it’s incredibly rewarding and truly makes the story better.
My editing process is pretty basic, but I’ve found it works for me. I’m currently in the process of editing my novel, and through editing, I’ve brought my word count up by 7599 and added twenty pages only having edited seven chapters so far.
For me, editing goes best when I have a physical copy of my manuscript to mark up. It helps me see the changes I’m making more clearly and makes it feel like I’m doing more while I’m working rather than feeling stagnant. Depending on what my schedule looks like at the time I’ll either go one chapter at a time so that my ideas for the edits are fresh in my mind, or if I don’t have access to my laptop I’ll do paper edits a few chapters at a time.
Edits are going to look different for everyone, my notes and symbols aren’t going to be the same ones everyone will use, it won't work for one person, and make perfect sense for another. There are a few things that might stretch between authors, symbols such as the one for a new paragraph that most people will know, but still, it’s never going to be the same process for everyone. I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, writing is an inherently personal endeavor.
Despite that fact, below is an example of what my paper edits look like. This is an expert from the chapter I’m actively editing in my personal manuscript, not all of my pages look like this. The edits on this page are more extreme than some of my others, not all chapters need to be changed as drastically as the one I’m currently working on.
Editing may not be the most fun part of writing, whether it be a novel, an essay, or something just for fun, but in my opinion it’s the most important. It brings your writing to life, adding a new level to a project. If you’ve already put this much effort into a project, it’s worth it to spend that extra time to make it as good as it can be.
About the author
Milla Picket is a senior at Poudre High School, and this is her first year writing for the Poudre Press. In her free time, she is involved in the school's choir and theatre department. She is also a writer currently working on her first fantasy novel for publication.
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