You’ve got to the end of your manuscript. You’ve typed The End. You’re feeling great. It’s been a marathon, a Herculean event, like climbing to the top of Mount Everest. The first thing you want to do is send it out.
Most likely, it needs some editing and reviewing before it’s ready to leave your hands.
You’ve already invested a huge amount of time and energy in this work. It’s worth giving yourself the opportunity to make it as strong as it can be before you send it to an agent, publisher, editor or reader.
You could, of course, invest in an editor to help you with this. But the more work you can do yourself first, the more useful that professional edit can be. You’ll also learn a lot about your own writing in the process. You’re not paying an editor to find every typo or fix every sentence you could have fixed yourself. You’re paying them to see what you can no longer see and to help you take the manuscript further.
So before you hit send, here are some self-editing tips to work through.
First, take a break
This is probably the hardest one. You’ve finished. You want to celebrate. You want to tell everyone. You want to send it out into the world.
Tell everyone that if you like, and definitely celebrate. This is a huge achievement.
Just don’t send the manuscript yet. Put it away for at least six weeks. If you can manage it, six months or more is even better.
When you’ve been immersed in a manuscript for months or years, you know what you meant to write. Your brain fills in the gaps and smooths over the problems because it knows the story already.
Distance helps. When you come back to the manuscript, you’ll be reading it more like a reader and less like the person who wrote it.
Use this time to think about the manuscript. Make notes about things you want to revisit. Think about characters, plot, structure, questions you’re not sure you’ve answered.
But don’t open the document. It’s too tempting to start dabbling with it, and those little changes can quickly become another round of editing before you’ve had the distance you need.
Start with the big picture
Don’t begin by checking commas.
Before you start polishing individual sentences, read the manuscript with the biggest possible lens.
Ask yourself:
- What is this manuscript really about?
- What do I want the reader to think, feel or understand by the end?
- Does the overall structure work?
- Does the beginning draw me in?
- Does the ending deliver?
- Does every chapter or section have a reason to be there?
- Is anything missing?
- Is there anything I can cut?
If you’re writing fiction, think about your characters, their motivations, their relationships and their arcs. What does each character want? What’s getting in the way? Do their choices have consequences? Does something change?
Look at your plot, too. Is the story building towards something? Are there places where the tension drops? Are there events that happen without having much consequence?
If you’re writing nonfiction, look at your central argument or promise to the reader. Does the book deliver what you said it would? Is the information presented in a useful order? Are there gaps in your explanation?
This is the stage where you might realise that Chapter 8 actually belongs in Chapter 3, or that your opening chapter is really background information that could be cut.
That’s editing. And it’s much more important than fixing a misplaced comma.
Look at the beginning and ending
Give your first and last chapters particular attention.
The beginning
Ask yourself:
- Have I started in the right place?
- Does something happen, change or intrigue the reader?
- Have I spent too long setting the scene or explaining the background?
- Does the reader know enough to want to continue?
- Have I started as late as I can?
You may discover that the beginning you wrote when you were finding your way into the manuscript is no longer the right beginning.
That’s completely normal. Often writers chop the first chapter or chapters in their second draft.
The ending
Ask:
- Does it resolve what I’ve set up?
- Does it feel satisfying rather than simply stopping?
- Have I explained too much?
- Have I kept going after the natural ending?
- Have I finished as soon as I can?
The last question is worth considering carefully. Finishing quickly isn’t automatically better. The point is to find the natural ending of the story, rather than adding material because you’re reluctant to let it go.
Check the structure and flow
Now look at how the manuscript moves.
Does each chapter or section lead naturally into the next?
Look for:
- abrupt changes in time, place or topic
- sections that feel out of order
- chapters that are doing too much
- chapters that aren’t doing enough
- information arriving before the reader needs it
- missing transitions
- unnecessary transitions
- places where the pace slows down
- places where you’ve rushed something that needs more space
One useful trick is to write a brief description of what happens in each chapter or scene.
If you can’t explain what a chapter or scene is doing, that’s worth investigating.
A scene doesn’t necessarily need a dramatic event or a major revelation. A quiet scene can do important work. But you should have some sense of why it’s there.
Ask: What does this scene contribute to the story?
Look at your scenes
If you’re writing fiction, do a scene-by-scene pass.
For each scene, ask:
- Who is the viewpoint character?
- What does this character want?
- What’s getting in the way?
- What changes during the scene?
- What does the character learn, realise, decide or do?
- Does the scene reveal something important about a character or relationship?
- Does it move the story forward?
- Is it repeating work another scene is already doing?
- Does it need to be as long as it is?
Sometimes the answer will be that a scene needs cutting. Sometimes it needs rewriting. Sometimes you might discover that you’ve started or ended the scene in the wrong place.
Don’t assume every scene needs to be more dramatic. It needs to be doing useful work.
Look for repetition
There’s a difference between repetition that is deliberate and repetition that has crept in because you were writing over a long period.
You might have:
- made the same point several times
- told the same story in different chapters
- explained the same concept more than once
- repeated information the reader doesn’t need again
- used the same word or phrase repeatedly
- shown something happening and then explained it again
That last one is worth looking at closely.
‘Show, don’t tell’ is useful advice, but it’s not a rule that you need to follow in every sentence. Sometimes telling is exactly what the story needs.
The problem is when you’ve already allowed the reader to understand something through action, dialogue, description or character response, and then explain it for them as well.
Trust your reader.
If you’ve already shown them something clearly, you may not need to tell them what it means.
Don’t assume repetition is automatically bad, either. Sometimes reminding the reader of something is useful or deliberate.
But if you find yourself thinking, Didn’t I already say this?, stop and investigate.
Check the reader’s experience
You’ve lived with this manuscript for a long time. Your reader hasn’t.
Try to read it from their perspective.
Where might they:
- become confused?
- lose interest?
- want more information?
- wonder why they’re being told something?
- feel that something has been rushed?
- think, I already know this?
- put the book down?
This can be difficult to do on your own because you know too much about the manuscript.
That’s one reason feedback from another reader can be so valuable.
But don’t rush to get feedback too early.
I’d suggest doing at least two substantial drafts yourself before handing the manuscript to someone else. You want your reader responding to the story you’re actually trying to tell, rather than giving you feedback on problems you already know you need to address.
Check your voice
Every story has its own voice. And within a story, characters have their own voices too. As you edit, be careful not to smooth those differences away in the name of ‘good writing’.
Instead, ask:
- Is the narrative voice appropriate for the story I’m telling?
- Does the language suit the time, place, genre and tone of the work?
- Is the voice consistent where it needs to be?
- Does it change deliberately where it needs to?
- Do my characters sound like themselves?
- Can I tell the characters apart by the way they speak and think?
- Have I accidentally made everyone sound the same?
- Have I changed a character’s voice while editing without realising it?
Self-editing isn’t about making every sentence sound polished in the same way.
Sometimes an unusual turn of phrase, an awkwardness or a particular rhythm is part of what gives a piece its character.
Before you change it, ask yourself whether it’s a problem or whether it’s part of the voice.
Read it aloud
Reading aloud is one of my favourite self-editing tools. Your eyes are remarkably good at skipping over problems when you’re reading something familiar. Your ears are less forgiving.
Reading aloud can help you find:
- awkward phrasing
- sentences that go on too long
- repetition
- missing words
- clunky dialogue
- changes in rhythm
- places where you run out of breath
You don’t necessarily need to perform the whole manuscript. You can read a chapter aloud, or even read difficult passages aloud while editing.
If you stumble over a sentence, pay attention.
Your stumble may be telling you something.
I like to do this with the printed copy and a pen in hand so I can make notes as I go. I’ve also used the ‘Read Aloud’ function in Word to listen to the manuscript, which can be useful because you hear the words without having to perform them yourself.
Look at your sentences
Once you’re happy with the larger structure, you can move closer in. Look at individual sentences and paragraphs.
Ask:
- Can I make this clearer?
- Is this sentence doing useful work?
- Have I used unnecessary words?
- Is the sentence too long?
- Have I used the same sentence structure repeatedly?
- Could I replace a vague word with something more precise?
- Have I used too many qualifiers such as very, really, quite or just?
- Are my paragraphs a manageable length?
Don’t shorten everything simply because you’ve heard that concise writing is better.
Sometimes a long sentence is exactly right. Sometimes repetition is deliberate. Sometimes a word you could technically remove is doing important work.
The question isn’t: Can I make this shorter?
It’s: Can I make this better?
Check your dialogue
If you’re writing fiction, read your dialogue aloud.
Does it sound like something this character would actually say?
Does each character sound like themselves?
Look for dialogue that:
- repeats information the characters already know
- exists mainly to explain something to the reader
- goes on for too long
- sounds like written language rather than speech
- says exactly what the character is thinking when they’d be more likely to avoid saying it
- could be replaced by action, silence or a look
And remember that real conversation isn’t necessarily good dialogue. You can leave out the boring bits.
Check consistency
Now look for the details that can quietly trip you up.
For fiction, check:
- character names
- ages
- physical descriptions
- dates
- locations
- timelines
- relationships
- point of view
- tense
- what each character knows at different points in the story
If something changes halfway through the manuscript, your reader may notice even if you don’t.
A simple character sheet, timeline or manuscript style sheet can be enormously helpful here.
Verify your facts
If you’ve included research, go back to your sources. Check names, dates, figures, quotations, references and anything else where accuracy matters.
If you’re writing historical fiction, this becomes particularly important. Check the details that might seem insignificant but could pull a reader out of the story if they’re wrong.
If you’re not sure about something, don’t guess. Make a note of it and check it.
Print it out
Yes, really.
Reading a printed manuscript gives you a different relationship with the words.
You may notice things you skipped over on screen. You can scribble in the margins, move sections around and see the shape of a chapter in a way that’s harder to do when you’re scrolling through a document.
You don’t have to print a 100,000-word manuscript if that makes you wince.
Print a chapter. Or print the sections you’re struggling with.
I often find that a printed manuscript encourages a slower, more deliberate kind of reading. You’re less likely to make a quick change and immediately move on.
Get another perspective
At some point, you need another reader. This might be a trusted writing friend, beta reader, writing group, mentor or professional editor.
The important thing is to be clear about what you want from them. Don’t just ask, ‘What do you think?’
You might ask:
- Where did you lose interest?
- Where were you confused?
- Where did you want more?
- Which parts stayed with you?
- Did the ending work for you?
- Does the structure make sense?
- Is there anything you expected that wasn’t there?
- Did any character feel inconsistent?
- Were there places where you felt the story slowed down?
You don’t have to act on every piece of feedback you receive. Feedback is information, not an instruction.
Self-editing makes you a better writer
There’s another reason I encourage writers to do as much self-editing as they can before handing their manuscript to an editor.
You learn from it.
The more closely you look at your own writing, the more you’ll start to recognise the things you tend to do. Maybe you rush endings. Maybe you overwrite description. Maybe your characters all start sounding alike. Maybe you explain things the reader has already understood.
Once you start noticing those patterns, you can begin to address them while you’re writing, rather than waiting until the editing stage.
This doesn’t mean you have to become your own editor. A good editor will see things you can’t, bring a fresh perspective to the manuscript and help you take the work further.
But the more work you do yourself first, the more useful that editorial process can be.
And, of course, it can also mean there’s less for your editor to do, which can make the process less expensive.
Leave the proofreading until last
Only once you’re happy with the content, structure and writing should you turn your attention to the really fiddly stuff.
Check:
- spelling
- grammar
- punctuation
- capitalisation
- typos
- quotation marks
- apostrophes
- page numbers
- headings
- spacing
- formatting
- chapter breaks
- headers and footers
Use spellcheck, but don’t rely on it. Spellcheck won’t tell you that you’ve written form when you meant from. And don’t proofread the manuscript endlessly.
There comes a point when you need to let it go.
Check the formatting
If you’re submitting your manuscript, make sure you know what the recipient expects. Different agents, publishers, competitions and editors may have different requirements. Check things such as font, spacing, margins, page numbering and file format.
If you’re preparing a manuscript for submission, you might like to check out my free manuscript template.
And then stop
This might be the most important self-editing tip of all. Editing can become another way of avoiding finishing. There will always be another sentence you could change. Another word you could replace. Another paragraph you could fiddle with.
At some point, ask yourself: Am I improving the manuscript, or am I trying to make it impossible to criticise?
They’re not the same thing. Your job as a writer isn’t to produce a manuscript with no flaws. Your job is to make the best manuscript you can, then let another reader, editor or publisher help you see what you can’t. And if you’ve done that, perhaps it’s time to type The End again.
This time, you can mean it.
Want my self-editing checklist?
I’ve created a practical self-editing checklist to work through alongside your manuscript, taking you from the big-picture questions through to the final proofread.