The Editing Process

Above: Me holding the paperback proof of Mysteries of the Material.

November 14, 2024

Updates

Mysteries of the Material: Less than two weeks until the release of this book! I can’t wait to share this wonderful sequel with you all, but in the meantime…

Convergence of Connection: I’ve spent much of the last few weeks editing book three. There was much to do—I knew that when I finished drafting it. The first draft had solid character development, but there was work to be done with adding action beats, confirming timelines and events, and ensuring I didn’t repeat anything.

But that’s all done now! All that’s left is to do another read through, accepting changes I’ve made and checking for overall structure. Once that’s done, it’ll be ready for professional editing. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

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There was a question in Mastodon’s Writing Community recently, which asked: “How many times do you edit?” Considering I’ve been neck-deep in editing since August, I figured it was a good topic for the blog. So, here we go.

My Process

My response to this question was a bit oversimplified. Essentially, I listed four things:

• Reread what I wrote the day before, making small edits as I go.
• Perform three rounds of editing, each with a different focus.
• Send the manuscript to a professional editor.
• Complete a final round, including a full reread for stylistic changes and finesse.

With this blog post, I’ll dive deeper into what this process looks like for me. Keep in mind that every author is different. Some authors do full rewrites, others take a more targeted editing approach, and others still do almost no editing at all. There’s no right way. To each their own.

Rereading

As you can imagine, this is the only step in my process that happens during drafting. And it’s fairly self-explanatory. When I begin a writing session, I’ll do a full or partial reread of what I wrote the day before, to get myself into the flow. I don’t do this every day; in fact, I only do it when I stopped halfway through a scene, or if the previous scene ended on dialogue that sets up for the following scene.

Three Rounds of Editing

Once the first draft is done, I’ll do three rounds of editing, focusing on: reviewing character development, fixing plot holes, and checking overall structure. Let’s unpack that.

Character Development

This takes the least amount of effort in my process. My stories are fairly character-driven, so the development of the main characters is a major part of the initial outline. There are occasionally things to fix, like reactions or how a character speaks, but it’s fairly minimal. In fact, Convergence of Connection needed almost no character development editing at all.

Plot Holes

All of my first drafts have some. Most of the time, these are the result of world building on the fly. I know my world very well, but sometimes things come up as I’m writing that I need to develop further. Usually, those things flesh themselves out as the story unfolds, so when the first draft is done, I’m able to go back and fill in any gaps.

There was some of that when I set out to edit Convergence of Connection, but it was a little different. When I started writing that book, I focused on the character development (which is a very important part of that book’s arc). Because of that intense focus, I…wouldn’t say I forgot to add action, but I needed to add more. That’s what I meant earlier when I said I needed to add some action beats. Once the story was written, I knew where those action beats needed to go.

Story Structure

Admittedly, this is becoming less of an issue the more I write. I’m more comfortable with my style of storytelling, and the flow of it has become natural. Of course, things change with time and experience, which is why it remains on the list.

Here, I look at the structure of the story at a chapter level. I ask myself questions like:

• Are there two competing focus points in this chapter? If so, should it be split into two?
• Is this scene too long? Is it even necessary?
• Does the world building match what’s previously been described? Does it add anything new, or is it repetitive?

Some of this is resolved during the plot holes phase, but what remains is taken care of here. Once that’s done, it’s onto the professional edit. Gulp.

Professional Editing

I’ve talked about this before, so I’ll keep it relatively short.

In essence, professional editing is important for any published work. Not only are you seeking the skills of a professional to check for things like grammar and syntax, you’re also having another set of eyes look over your work. I read The Way of the Wielder at least two dozen times, and there were still errors I had overlooked.

It’s my personal opinion that no published work should skip a professional edit. The feedback is invaluable, and getting the story properly edited is so important for reader satisfaction.

The Final Read Through

One of my mantras with writing is, “Write with your heart. Edit with your mind. Read with your eyes.” This is obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek, but when it comes to this stage of editing, I find it to be quite true.

By this point, I’ve written the story my heart told me to write, and I’ve edited it to ensure it makes sense. All that’s left is to make any last-minute stylistic changes. I do that by—you guessed it—reading it with my eyes.

It’s impossible to step back from the author’s role entirely, but I try to read the book from a reader’s perspective. I’ll usually read it on my Kindle, making notes as I go. The biggest thing I look for is stylistic consistency. As I mentioned above, a writer’s style may change over time, but I want each book within a series to have a similar style, or flow. This ensures reader satisfaction (again), and keeps them coming back for each subsequent book.

At least, that’s the hope.

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Whew, that was a lot! Thanks for sticking with me. I feel like I should give you a reward for that…

Turns out, I have just the thing!

My most recent newsletter (published this morning) has a sneak peek at Mysteries of the Material. Check it out now, and enjoy chapter one before it’s published.

As a reminder, you can preorder it on Amazon now (Kindle only). If paperback’s more your style, stay tuned for the official release announcement on November 26.

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That’s all for now. Until next time, be well, and stay creative.

~Sarah