LEARNING HOW YOU EDIT
I talked last week about learning how you revise (piece found here), and to end off this series, I thought I would talk about learning how you edit. I've been publishing for twenty years now. I've been writing and revising and editing for longer than that, but I've worked with a lot of different editors and they've all had their own kind of system. Some of them worked well for me, others did not at all.
Editing is something that's exceptionally important to publishing, but also personal to each author and editor. Like right now I work with Robert who gives me an edit letter for every quarter of the novel, and from there I go in and make my changes, and work with what I have. I've also worked with editors who did comments and I had to correct each one individually as well as make sure the rest of the book reflected those changes. It's basically up to each editor to decide how they work best, and from there, up to each author to work out what's best for them, and their story.
I have found that editing is the part of the process that is my least favourite. I don't like having to get into the nitty gritty with such a tight deadline. I know it's the nature of the beast, but it's been something that's taken me a long time to work out how I work best, and I thought that I would give you some of my tips so that you don't go into it dreading how you're going to find out your way, and still bring it all together in the end.
#1 LEAVE TIME FOR CORRECTIONS
Like I said, right now I have edit letters and I have to make sure that those corrections are inputted so that I can then send the book off to the next stage, which is line editing, and that's somewhat easier for me. So I make sure that I have more than enough time, with days off built in, to allow myself to read, to edit, to sit with those changes and make sure I've made the right choices for my story. If you can plan for more time than you'll need, do that. Allow yourself the grace of bad days, or difficult chapters and parts of the story that will need more work.
#2 FIND AN EDITOR THAT WORKS IN YOUR WAY
I've had a lot of different editors, but I've also kept two of my team the same since the start. My line editor and proofreader have been with me since the start and both have ways of working that complement my own. Developmental edits have changed often, and it's always good to make sure that you have an editor who works in a way that you find accessible to you and your process. If you're working with someone who might have a different way of working, that's not going to help you in the long run, so work with people who will help, not hinder.
#3 START BIG THEN GO DOWN TO SMALL
I feel like this is obvious, but in case it's not, you need to start with the big things, the ones that will have a knock on effect to the plot. Once you've got them in place, then you can focus on the smaller little things because they'll come together easily when you do it that way. Take you time, don't rush, and just let the things fall into place.
So there we go, those are my tips when it comes to learning how you edit. I feel like a good editor is worth their weight in gold because these are the people who will be sticking with you and helping you bring about the best book you can.
Good luck!
Any questions? Lemme know in the comments!
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