How to edit your own book

If you’re reading this article, I made it to the end of my fifth, edited and translated draft.

My book has been an idea for six months, and then a work in progress for eight more months.

Since I’ve already written about my first draft, now I want to tell you a little bit about editing your own work, polishing it and fixing mistakes.

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1. Print and Re-read

Since I had problems reading things from screens, I decided to have my novel printed on A4 paper. It’s incredibly satisfying and also practical if you want to just read it and take notes.

Normally, I’d set a number of pages to read every day, and go through them with a pencil in my hand.

I used three indications:

a. rephrase à for good paragraphs that just needed to be put down differently

b. crossed paragraph à for things that must be deleted

c. added test à words or paragraphs that I’ll put in my next draft

d. gratification emoji à a little “O.O” that highlights the parts of my novel that I love, because after two hours of intense criticism on my own work, I needed a break!

2. Edit file + chapter sequence

Once I was done with the re-reading, it was time to modify the WIP on my laptop.

But apart from just adding edits, I needed to also check my chapter sequence.

My general rule is this: two boring scenes can’t go together, but neither can two fast-paced ones, but exceptions are accepted.

So a section of my novel looked like this:

- fast paced scene

- heartbreaking scene

- scary scene

- fluffy scene

- love scene

- character exploration

and I didn’t like to read it, so I structured it like this:

- fast paced

- fluffy

- heartbreaking

- character exploration

- scary

- love

One important thing was also giving the due attention to all of my characters (I have several POVs, like Game of Thrones and Six of Crows) and so I’d mix chapters careful not to write seven scenes in a row with the same oc.

This is just a part of my editing process, but this article is becoming already too long!

Let me know in the comments if you’d like a part 2!

-And what are YOUR editing rules?

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