How To Edit Your Novel When You Don't Know Where To Start

Why can’t first drafts be perfect? I knew I wouldn’t get away scot-free, but wasn’t quite prepared for the mountain of revisions. Where was my Zadie Smith moment - grabbing a bottle of champagne and having a introspective moment of satisfaction and emptiness in my garden? Instead I’d reached a false summit, the way forward shrouded by mist. I didn’t know where to go next.

If you’ve followed me from the beginning you’ll know how long book one took. In hindsight I was learning how not to write a book. To be clear - last year I worked with a wonderful freelance editor, but editors do not do the job of editing for you. They’ll tell you what’s not working and why. They encourage you not to give up. They make you think about parts of writing you’d never considered before. Ultimately, though, you have to do the leg work. It’s my job to write my book, not my editor’s, and the experience made me a better writer.

Now I’m nearly finished the first draft of book two, I don’t feel a knot of despair in my stomach like I did the first time. This second book needs work but I’ve got the benefit of experience to identify what to cut, what to keep and how to deepen my plot and characters. The way forward isn’t misty anymore. It’s an uphill climb, obviously, but this time I can see the true summit and am confident of reaching the top.

The following tips are things I’ve learned prior to working with an editor and after. As always, this is my process. Feel free to take what works for you and discard the rest. We’re all different.

Rest - It’s hard to be objective about something you’ve spent months, or years, working on. Set your manuscript aside. Forget about it. I know it’s hard but your book will still be there when you return, and you’ll be able to view it as an objective reader rather than its biased creator. I learned the hard way that ploughing ahead just leads to 2 am meltdowns. Writing a book isn’t a race. There are no awards for working yourself into the ground. I realised that if I wanted to write multiple books I needed to learn how to manage my energy to avoid creative burn out.

List the good & the bad - we’re conditioned to be critical and magnify our story’s flaws. I found making a list of my novel’s good points first, staved off despair. I’d recommend a read-through of your entire draft with a notepad and pen on hand. Make two columns in your notebook, one for things you like and one for things you need to fix. Resist the urge to tweak sentences. Concentrate on structure and character - once these are secured the rest is cosmetic. By the end of your read-through you’ll know exactly what’s working and what isn’t.

Brainstorm each problem - at this point I’m still not making any changes to the manuscript. I work my way through the list of things to fix and brainstorm how I can fix them. Maybe a subplot has been left dangling, and I can’t find a way to weave it into the greater story. I might ask, does the subplot need to exist at all? What would happen if I cut it? Would cutting this subplot create space to develop parts of the novel I prefer? Or, if I felt the subplot integral, I might ask how I can link it thematically to the rest of the novel. Could I tighten the subplot by linking it to an existing character’s emotional arc?

Outline - If I haven’t already, I’ll outline my novel at this point. It might seem counter intuitive but I’m a discovery writer, so even if I do outline from the beginning I find that I’ve deviated come the end of the novel. Outlining at this stage gives me a truer picture of my novel’s major plot points. Identifying these plot points is crucial for pacing and knowing what I’m building into. Plus, it’s a handy document to refer to when I’m deep in the editing trenches.

Set time limits - I find editing more labour intensive than writing. In the first draft hanging subplots, on-the-nose dialogue and underdeveloped characters didn’t matter. Now I have to be discerning. I have to question why a character’s actions aren’t aligning with their motivation, or whether scenes are in the wrong place. Because I’m indecisive, I could spend hours turning over one problem. I found that setting strict time limits for my editing sessions stopped me going in circles.

Hopefully this was a gentle but practical intro into how to edit your novel. I’ve not touched on the granular side (passive voice, crutch words, etc) because the above is enough to start with if you’re overwhelmed. Don’t worry about small things like word choice and grammar at this stage. There’s little point in polishing your story at sentence level when the bigger picture is still a moveable feast. Do let me know if you’d like a ‘part two’ that covers these aspects of editing, though ☺️

Remember - all writers struggle with editing. It’s a skill we’re rarely taught but hone over time with practise. You’re making progress, even if it doesn’t feel that way. For all the frustration, I find editing the most gratifying part of writing. This is where the true story emerges ✨

p.s. If you’re keen to dive deeper and turn a messy or incomplete draft into fully-fledged novel, my Novel Magic Kit might be for you.