Learn How to Edit a Novel: Editing 101

ou would never think about asking your neighbor who installs satellites to 'take a look' at your furnace because it is making a funny sound. But, every day people pay academic editors to edit their fiction. Or they ask line editors to critique their novels when they should be asking content editors to help them. Take a few minutes to learn some simple editing tips to help get a manuscript published.

Submitting a Manuscript to Publishers

Submitting a first draft is the biggest reason for rejection letters. It is the reason why I tell new authors to have a fiction editor critique their novels. This will cost about $200.00, but can save you dozens of rejection letters, maybe years of submitting and rejections, and a lot of heartbreak. However, it is necessary to find a good editor. Have they ever worked for a fiction publisher? How many published novels have they edited? A BA in English, or an ex-teacher will not help a writer polish a marketable fiction novel. Only a trained fiction editor, who focuses on certain genres, are able to help writers become published authors and sell books.

Most of the writers who send me a manuscript to edit or critique send me a first or second draft. The novel is full of grammar mistakes, plot holes, weak characters, and passive writing - which is different than passive voice. This is easy to solve. You will study the craft of writing, so why not learn how to edit?

Learning how to get published is not hard, it just takes time. Plots, story arcs, novel structure, genres, fiction vs. literary, editing and proofreading, polishing, the list of skills a writer needs can seem overwhelming. No one can expect to understand everything in a short time. It takes time to write a first draft, and it takes time to edit a novel. No writer can edit, proofread, and polish a manuscript in one version. Editing should be done in three steps.

Content Editing should prevent all the pacing and plot problems.
Proofreading will correct grammar, voice and style problems.
Polishing will eliminate typos, homonyms, and spelling mistakes.

The following are basic things a writer must learn to edit out of their manuscript.

Novel Structure

When writers rebel, stating that this is formula writing, or that this takes the creativity out of writing, I reply with this story. You have $15 000 which is earmarked for home renovations. Your best friend approaches you, all excited, and offers to do the work for you. You are confused, because your friend is a hairdresser. Would you give a hairdresser your $15 000 to do renovations on your house? What if friends did not want to know what style you were looking for, did not care about your color scheme, and had their own ideas about comfort and luxury? Would you give them your money? However, people ask publishers to do this every day.

Writers need to understand one fact. You are writing for the reader, not yourself. Reader's demands drive the fiction publishing industry. If the reader does not like the novel, they will not buy it. And, readers do not want wild and crazy stories, they buy novels which promise a good reading experience.

Basic Elements:
Conflicts/Problems
Action and reaction/Cause and Effect
Building suspense in action scenes
Breathers
Climax
Black Moment
Resolutions

Story Plot Line
Romance Plot Line
Character Growth arc
 

Learn to recognize the basic elements in published novels.

Head Hopping

One scene, One Point Of View. You are not Nora Roberts. You cannot sell the number of novels she can. So, you cannot get away with writing like she does. Make sure every sentence in a scene comes out of the POV character's head.

I tell my students to try this exercise. Pretend you are standing at a window looking in at the scene unfolding. Beside you stands a blind friend. You are going to tell her what is happening, as it happens. Do not summarize, paint pictures with words.

This is part one of this series of articles. None of the mistakes listed here are arbitrary. They are all based on rejection letters, discussions with publishers, and personal experience. You can break these rules. You can break these rules, as long as you realize that it will take longer to find a publisher who wants your novel. I do know authors who make these mistakes, and sell a novel or two a year. This is not unusual. The stronger your writing skills are, if you consistently study the craft of writing, and if you master the elements of a novel, then you will be able to break the rules and get away with it.

These are the most common mistakes that result in rejection letters. If you have a basic understanding of novel writing, then it is time to learn how to create your own story arc by studying the blue print of a novel.

Passive Voice, Passive Writing

This is the single most common error. New writers do not realize that passive writing creates 'one degree of separation' between the story and the reader. Passive voice is easy to catch with your grammar check. Passive writing is a little harder. Passive writing is narrative. Narration takes the reader out of the main character's Point Of View (POV).

If this is your problem, then you need to take a course. If you are not sure, then look for problems.

Check List:

Do characters actually do something, or does the sentence explain what the character did? Jill picked up her milk vs. Jill lifted the glass and took a sip of milk.
 

Do you use these words: was, were, had, that, still, felt, noticed, saw, just, nice thought, up, down, beautiful, dark, tall, almost, very, down, up, behind, and pretty? If you find more than five of these words on your pages then you need to learn how to remove them. In many cases these words can be eliminated if you reconstruct the sentence so the main character's actions are the subject of the sentence.
 

Do you stop the action to explain why a character is doing something?
 

Are you telling the reader a story? Or, are you writing down segment of the character's life, as it happens, describing exactly what you, the writer, sees as it is happening?
 

Do you use gerunds, 'ing', words instead of verbs?
 

Do you use weak verbs? Jill ran vs. Jill's feet pounded the pavement. Jill was angry vs. Jill slammed the door and stomped across the hall.