Editing: the long journey.

As I’m winding down the first draft of the manuscript of my next book, I thought it might be a good time to talk about my writing process. For those people who are interested in how I do what I do, or perhaps other writers looking into other’s processes; here we go.

The first thing that happens to make a book is to, well, write the book. Okay, that’s it, done. No more steps… (lol I wish).

No once I’ve gone through the process of writing the first draft of the manuscript what I’m left with is a messy, disjointed pile of words that needs a lot of work. In artistic terms, the first draft of my manuscript is like a detailed sketch; it ain’t a drawing yet, but all the lines are there, more or less.

After the first draft is complete, it’s time to start the lengthy revision and editorial process. My second step is to write an outline for the book. Now, I know most people think it’s more logical to write an outline BEFORE the first draft, to plan the book, but that never works out for me. Whenever I write up even the most rudimentary outline it changes completely by the end of the story. So, I write an outline AFTER the first draft.

My outlines consist of a paragraph or two for each scene in the manuscript. Each scene is then numbered, and I state the POV character (POV never changes in a scene, only between scenes), word count, flow, engagement, development, and conflict. The flow describes how quickly I feel the scene reads, and my target is fast. Engagement describes how I feel the scene captures the readers attention, my target is high. Development means how much of the story is progressed in the scene, and my target is moderate to high, the story much be advanced each scene but I don’t have to overwhelm the reader. Conflict details how much I feel the scene shows the story’s internal/external conflict, and it needs to vary up and down throughout the story. Then, I write down any plot holes or big developmental issues specific to each scene.

Once the outline is complete, I have a detailed roadmap of the novel, and I read through the outline itself to get a birds-eye perspective of the story. This allows me to make sure there are not slow patches, or too much info dumping, and to make sure the conflict ramps up and down appropriately.

After reading through the outline and planing for a bit, I have a clear idea of what needs to change in the story’s big picture. I then set out to change the parts that are too slow, awkward, or just plain wrong. These alterations constitute the first edit.

Immediately after the first edit, I go through the book again, fixing any smaller errors and issues while updating the outline to reflect the changes. After this, I put my manuscript into an online proofing software suite, one scene at a time. (Actually I use two, editminion.com and hemingwayapp.com. Both are free.) When every scene has been picked over by the software I perform another quick read and update the outline again. This is the second edit.

Then, beta readers come into the picture. I send out files to my beta readers and wait for their feedback. When the feedback starts to come in I go have a good cry, drink a bottle of whiskey, put on my big-boy pants and fix problems. After the beta feedback is Incorporated, I do another pass on the manuscript and update the outline again. This is the third edit.

Finally, after running through the book no less than four times I send it off to a professional editor. It is my objective to fix all the glaring errors and issues before it hits my editor’s inbox the best I can. The manuscript returns, bloody, battered, and breathing its last into my inbox. Triage begins immediately, and I see what participles and paragraphs can be saved, and what grammar must go to digital heaven. This is the most painful edit, but what comes out is far better than what came in. It’s also during this time I contact my cover designer and get the book cover process started. The professional edit is the fourth edit.

Finally after running the story through its paces, I send it back to the editor and have them perform a proof read for minor errors. After getting the proof back, I reread the manuscript and perform a proof of my own to pick out one or two more errors. I know there are still some very minor problems still lurking in the pages (usually introduced in one of my post-professional edit tweaks) but I feel confident the story at this point is ready to move into publishing. This is the fifth and final edit.

After the words are pinned down and ready to ship, I do the layout and publishing steps then push it out to the stores. This article is concerned with my editing process, so I won’t go into the details of what the publishing process is like; that will be another article later. But, it is safe to say it is another lengthy and complicated process.

So, if you ever go through one of my books and see a little typo and think to yourself “did this guy even edit the book?” The answer is VERY YES. Also, please email me the typo and I’ll revise the published files, which is the secret post-final sixth edit, which is persistent and ongoing. So, sing along with me! Yes this is the edit that never end; it goes on and on my friends. Some author started writing it not knowing what it was, and he will keep on editing forever just because…