Editing is a tough chore, even for the experienced writer. If we knew what was wrong with our story in the first place, we’d have fixed it in the first draft. Worse, once you’ve read a manuscript a dozen times (or more!), the lines start to get blurry. In a re-shared post on BookBaby, writer Dawn Field (1969-2020) shares ways you can look at your story in a new light.
“As you close in on finishing the first draft or are set to begin revising your book, it’s not uncommon to have the sparks stop flying and the momentum drag,” Field wrote. “You need to do something to trick your mind into looking at the material as new.” Some of her ideas include:
- Play your story in your mind as a movie. Visualize each scene and imagine what it would like like as a movie. Are any of your scenes dull or confusing? Can you cut or add something?
- Study the opening and closing of each chapter. Each chapter should have an opening and closing as strong as the beginning and end of your novel.
- Write an outline and summary. You’ll need this anyway for submitting to an agent. Use the outline to find slow or confusing parts. If you’re having trouble summarizing a section, it probably needs work.
- Remove each chapter, one by one. As you remove a chapter, examine what happens to the rest of the story. Does the plot still work? If not, the chapter may not be essential to the novel. You can also try this with characters. Do they all need to be there? Also try flipping chapters – what happens if you start your novel with chapter two?
