How to Edit your Own Work

If you’re here it means you deserve a huge congratulations (and probably a drink)! You’ve written your first draft! Well done. It’s a big step.

Whether it’s an entire manuscript, a short story, an essay, a thesis, a blog post, or a leaflet, the first stage is usually the hardest. From here on out, it’s all about refining things, making them clearer and easier to read.

Before you embark on the colossal task of editing your work, take a second to enjoy how far you’ve come and celebrate your hard work. Hopefully, the tips I reveal here will help you when you start the task of editing. These work for me every single time I edit my own work.

Take a break

I know you may be riding a wave of emotion right now and just want to get on with it and get it sorted, but taking a break before you edit is crucial. Not only does it prevent burnout, it also gives you a fresh set of eyes.  Taking a break helps give you distance, perspective and hindsight. I’d recommend at least three weeks off. In this time, your mind can reset and when you get back to it, you’ll be able to do a better job. And you’ll be less stressed, which is always a good thing.

Have a plan

The editing process can be tedious and disheartening. You’re basically picking apart something you put a lot of time and energy into creating. It’s hard and easy to put off. You need a plan to keep yourself on track. When I edit, I always set a maximum and minimum amount to do per week. For long projects, commit to two chapters per week, or one if you’re busy. This will help keep you motivated. If I find myself getting down, I allow myself a treat. For every three chapters I edit, I take one afternoon off in the middle of the week to do something I love.

If you plan on doing multiple edits, I find focussing on just a few aspects is helpful. For the first edit, you might choose to look at character inconsistencies and how information is released to the reader. If you spot anything glaringly obvious, write it down for a later edit. Which brings me to next tip…

Have an editing notebook

Whether it’s a real notebook or an online doc, you need a place to write down your edits. I’m a stationery junkie, so I have an actual notebook as well as sticky notes, highlighters, coloured pens and stickers. Do what works for you. Just make sure you write everything down.

An ongoing record of every edit, every change and every revision will be so handy later when you’re making the final tweaks. I colour-coordinate my edits (because I’m geeky), so when I have a question about a character’s actions, I can easily find the character section and see if I did change his backstory of left it as it was.

I also write down anything I might want to edit later or something I need to question later in the edit. Asking yourself questions is a great way to ensure clarity in your work and having them written down makes it easy to track. I also write down questions such as “does this bit make sense?” so I can ask other people when I finally show my work to someone else.

Don’t let others read it unless you are ready

Speaking of showing your work to others, please, I beg of you, do not show your work to anyone and everyone if you aren’t ready. Yes, friends and family can be a great help with the editing process, but if you aren’t prepared to hear their criticisms, your beloved project will be slaughter before your eyes by people you trust. It’s tough to find the motivation to finish after that.

Pick your playlist

Generally, I don’t listen to music when I work. I have a bad habit of singing along to songs and getting distracted. But when it comes to editing my own work, I need background noise or my brain just gets full the buzzing sound of everything wrong with my work. But my playlists distract me, the radio distracts me, tv distracts me, other people distract me.

However, I recently found a solution that changed everything. Video games. Not playing them, obviously. But did you know that tech companies spent millions researching which music to use in their games? The background music in games is specifically designed to help you focus, keep you interested and trick your brain into thinking you need to keep trying. It makes sense, they want you to play the game for as long as possible. A quick internet search for “video game music” will give you plenty of options. It’s ideal for focussing on work. Upbeat but not distracting.

Be brutal

It’s hard to tear your own work apart but believe me, it’s important. The editing is when the magic happens. Sense is conjured from confusion; a story appears amidst the chaos, and emotions are pulled from words. Be brutal with your editing. The harsher you are, the more you pull things apart, examine them painfully and put them back together; your work will transform. If you are too cautious, you’ll get to the end of the edit and have a text which has barely changed. It’s a more straightforward process to edit lightly but come the end, you’ll be disappointed with what is left.  

This first draft is not the time for little tweaks. Now is the time to ask hard questions: Is this entire chapter necessary? Do I need to rearrange this section? Does this appeal to my audience? Is the twist good enough? Is this bit boring? Is this character believable? It’s hard, but you’ll thank yourself later.

But be kind

Finally, be kind. You need to remember this is just a first draft. It’s not going to be perfect; in some places it might even be terrible. At this stage, it’s just good that it exists. As you edit, you will be focusing on everything that’s wrong. It’s good to occasionally remind yourself that this will be a masterpiece, just not yet.

The first draft is always messy, don’t lose heart. Writing is hard. Good luck.