An Editor's Guide To A Self-Edit

So you’ve reached the end of your first draft and typed out the words ‘The End’.

Except now what? What exactly do you do after revelling in that feeling of ‘Oh my giddy aunt I’ve just finished a whole book’?

First off, give yourself an almighty pat on the back. Not many writers actually finish a novel (because shiny new ideas, right?), but you did, and that’s something to be incredibly proud of!

Some ignorant people out there seem to think that once the last sentence is written, then that’s it, the book is done and it can be uploaded to KDP, or Ingram Sparks, or whoever.

But that’s not the reality of being a self-published author. At least not one that wants to actually sell a book or secure a fanbase.

The truth is, first drafts are never perfect. In fact, they are more often than not a hot mess. Sorry, not sorry, someone had to say it.

This is where self-editing comes in.

And I hear you; you’re a writer, not an editor, so it’s likely you know very little about editing.

I’ve been there, stuck in the dire panic of endless questions. Where do you start? What do you start with? How will you find the time? How are you going to comb through 80k of words and decide what needs changing and what needs the chop? What if you get stuck in an endless editing loop? What if you make your manuscript worse?!

It’s okay, I’ve got you covered.

My first bit of advice is to split your self-edit up into steps. This makes everything much more manageable and much less daunting.

But what are these steps? What order is best? Fear not! Below is my step-by-step guide to a self-edit (which I use myself) so you can hopefully dive into your second draft with confidence and have a firm idea of how to neaten up your manuscript.

Step 1 – The First Read-Through

Most writers fall into one of two camps. There are those who put off and put off any attempt at a self-edit, and there are the others who want to dive in before they’ve even finished the last paragraph.

If you fall into the first camp, good news! The very first thing you should do is to tuck your manuscript away for a week or two and not look at it.

Finishing the first draft is a mammoth achievement, and you absolutely need time to let the story rest. Trust me, you aren’t going to pick up on any errors if you read back through your manuscript as soon as you finish it.

That means if you fall into the second camp, you’ve got to exercise some patience. Distract yourself. Keep yourself busy (if you have a 9 to 5 as most writers do, I’m sure that won’t be difficult). You can return to your book baby soon. But you need a break.

Once you’ve taken that break, it’s time to settle in and read back over what you’ve written, start to finish.

Keep a notebook next to you to jot down anything you spot on this first read-through, such as a plot hole that has jumped out or a paragraph full of repetition.

Some of your notes may be small, such as a character putting their coat on twice in the same scene or something. Others might be a bit larger.

I remember reading back through the first manuscript I ever finished, where half way through writing that first draft I changed the dynamic between my two main characters entirely, from them hating each other, to their best friends hating each other, and the two MCs being caught in the cross fire.

My note for that was ‘change dynamic in first half’. Five simple words, right? Yet it was probably responsible for the largest chunk of rewriting I did on that manuscript. And that was fine! It needed fixing, but when I did that first read-through, I really did think, ‘Well s**t, how am I going to sort all that out?!’ And it’s perfectly normal for you to feel the same.

Try not to worry about the ‘how’ at this stage. Just remember that at this point you’re reading it through to see what it sounds like. Don’t get hung up on typos or the way a particular sentence is worded. I promise the fixing bit will come later, and it will make logical sense. Right now, just read and make your notes.

Step 2 – The Detailed Read-Through

Yes, that’s right; once you’re done with your first read-through, you’re going to go back and read it all over again.

Only this time, you’re going to make detailed notes, focusing on the characters, what scenes they appear in, what plot points are being touched on in each scene, and what is happening in each scene.

How complex your manuscript’s plot is will depend on how easy this step will be.

If you have a simple main plot with maybe one subplot, then you’ll probably find this step a breeze as you go chapter by chapter, noting down all the above points.

However, if you’ve got a more tangled main plot with several subplots, you’ll need to employ some organisation to these notes.

My first manuscript involved two main plots happening at the same time, one for each main character, and in turn there were also one or two subplots running alongside each of the main plots. That’s a lot of plots!

What I found helped me was to colour code each plot, so that when I looked back at my notes, I knew all notes in purple related to main plot one, all notes in green related to main plot two, and so on so forth.

This can also work if you have a lot of characters. Each character can be assigned their own colour, and when you look back, you’ll know that notes in red, for example, relate to your main character and every scene they are in.

Another technique that may help is to print your manuscript out and grab a set of coloured Post-It tabs. Assign a plot or character to each different coloured tab and as you read through, alongside your notes, tab each page with the relevant colour so you have a visual representation of how often your plotlines appear and how often each character shows up.

Don’t fret; a physical copy of your manuscript is not a waste of paper. It’s very useful, and you will probably rely on this copy in a later step. If you don’t have access to a printer (or printer ink!) then you can always mark this in your chosen word processor by including coloured headers or comments.

While I call this the detailed read-through, you don’t have to give chapter and verse. And don’t forget about the notes you made during the first read-through. Some of these may be helpful in sorting out which character was doing what, and when.

A simple sentence about the plot points, what happened and a list of who appeared in the scene is fine. Below is an example from my first manuscript, to give you an idea:

Scene 21

-FMC and two friends get into an argument with MMC’s two friends.

-Sub Plot 1 – disagreement between friends. Subplot 2 – upcoming party. Main Plot 1 – missing murderer.

-Characters who appear: FMC, friend 1, friend 2, MMC friend 1, MMC friend 2, MMC friend 3

The idea of all of this is to help you with the first part of the actual self-editing, which is the developmental bit. You’ve got to have all your characterisation in place and your plot lined up before you can even think about how the story is worded.

Which brings us to step three.

Step 3 – The Developmental Self-Edit

It’s always best to tackle anything to do with your story, your characters and the overall structure of your manuscript first, before diving into the grammar and spelling mistakes. There is no point in correcting every typo now if some chunks are just going to get re-written anyway.

This step is for focusing on the meat of the manuscript only; we’ll worry about the presentation on the plate later.

You may be thinking, ‘But my story is structurally sound, can’t I just skip this bit?’ No! Never skip your developmental edit.

You may think you’ve caught all your plot holes and your characters are full of life, but I can guarantee there is something you’ve missed and it’s better to sort it out now, rather than towards the end of the self-edit when you should only be looking at punctuation. Analysing the story now will save you some time down the line.

So, grab your notes from step 2 and get ready to pull your manuscript to pieces before sewing it all back together again.

I found the best place to start was with my characters. Go through each one, starting with the main character, and ask, are they believable? Have they been described enough? Is their behaviour consistent with the situation at hand? Will the reader relate? Is their goal obvious?

This is where your notes from step 2 will come in handy, as you now have a list of all the scenes each character appears in and you can check their introduction, their actions in every scene, and what they say, without having to trawl back through every scene in your manuscript one by one.

As you ask yourself these questions, you will find some areas of your manuscript where work is needed character-wise. Does your main character have a fear of heights but is then happy to go rock climbing a few chapters later? Is someone described as blonde-haired but then as a brunette? Do you have any children who remember events from what would be before they were born? Does the main character start off wanting to avenge their dad but seems to have completely forgotten about said dad halfway through?

If you have your physical copy to hand, you can highlight these areas to refer to in the next step. Be sure to leave a brief note to yourself as to what is wrong with this area; otherwise, future you might get confused! If you only have a digital copy, you can always leave comments on your manuscript.

It probably goes without saying that your main character should be getting the most attention, but don’t forget to give your side characters some thought as well. What is their role? How do they relate to the main character? What is their relationship like? Do you have anyone who appears only in one scene? Perhaps that character can be removed altogether and another side character can take up the lines and/or actions from that scene?

Do you have anyone in the story who is there purely so they can be killed off at some point? Does their death move the plot along or affect the main character somehow? If not, maybe change this death? Kill someone else off that might impact the main character more. Or make the death mean something to the story.

Another aspect to consider is dialogue. Is it realistic? Does it fit with each character? Does anyone sound the same?

In my first manuscript, I had a character who was more gentle and softly spoken than my other characters, so when I came across a scene where she cursed, it felt really out of character for her. That part got highlighted, and her dialogue was changed to something more fitting.

Also, be wary of any ‘as you know’ conversations. Usually put in as a way to give the reader some info, but remember, if both the characters already know this information, why are they telling each other? These are instances where the dialogue can be cut and the information can be put into the text some other way, through the narrative.

Finally, you need to consider what everyone is doing and when.

If your main character is at a 12.30 dentist appointment in one scene, they aren’t likely to be watching the 12 o’clock news at their mum’s house in the next.

Keep track of where everyone is in your story. Where were they in the scene before? Where are they heading next? Who had they seen already that day?

One thing I found helpful was to write down the date and time each scene happened, so that I could then double-check all my timelines matched up. That way no one is having two breakfasts, or heading to work on their day off.

Think of your characters as little puzzle pieces, and you’re just making sure that they are correctly placed at all times.

This will move you nicely into then focusing on your plot points.

Refer back to your step 2 notes. You should be able to identify which scenes touch on which plotlines. Of course, your main plot will typically appear in most, if not all, scenes. But your subplots may only come up every now and again.

The first thing you need to ask is, what is your structure like? For your main plot, do you have a natural story arc? Are there any lulls in the story where the main plot is not focused on for ages? Is your ending crammed with action compared to the middle, which is dragging? Can you identify a slow build-up towards the finale? Have all your subplots been tied up nicely? The only exception to this last question is if you’re writing a book in a series and you intend for some subplots to carry over into the next book.

Watch out for tonal shifts. You don’t want your reader sobbing their eyes out over a tearful breakup in one scene only to find the next one being all laughs and jokes at a party. Sure, you want the reader to go on an emotional rollercoaster, but you don’t want to give them whiplash in the process.

After checking your structure, you can then hone in on your subplots. How often are they woven through your story? Are they a little cliché? Do they provide a nice break from the main plot? Or are they there for filler? Do you have any that you just, sort of, forgot about?

As I said above, I had a lot of plots in my first manuscript, and what helped me was to consider my entire story a piece of rope with each plot being a thread contributing to that rope. If I had a loose thread or one that I couldn’t intertwine with the others, then I knew that that plot needed some work. Or needed cutting altogether.

And don’t be afraid to slice away! Subplots are usually small breathers for the reader, and they should fit nice and snugly in between all the action beats of your main plot. Don’t bog your story down with dead weight, no matter how attached to a subplot you are.

Don’t fall into the trap of letting the subplot take over the main plot. You may be able to get away with some small, overshadowing subplot moments here and there, but on the whole your readers will have come to your story for your main plot. And that’s what they will want to read about.

For your main plot, it’s important to ensure that each scene that focuses on it does indeed move the main plot along.

Depending on the type of pace you want for your manuscript, this movement can be minuscule or it can be massive, as long as there is movement. Your characters shouldn’t be in the same place at the end of a scene as they were at the start.

One trick I found useful was to look at every scene that involved my main plot as a mini story itself. It had a beginning, such as my FMC analysing a piece of evidence in a murder, it had a middle, FMC finds the piece of evidence to be too coincidental and perfect, and it had an end, FMC realises the evidence has been planted!

Just by looking at it that way, you can see how the main plot is inched along by the scene. We have the question of ‘how can we connect this piece of evidence?’ at the start and by the end, we have a new, more exciting question: ‘Who planted this piece of evidence and why?!’

Readers love a good question, and a scene should aim either to ask one, answer one, or both. If you’ve got a scene floating around that doesn’t do that, it’s probably best to dump it.

The largest task you will most likely have when it comes to your main plot is any potential plot holes. This is where you have full permission to overthink to your heart’s content.

Look carefully at each plot point. Does it make sense considering the point that preceded it? Does it lead to the next point well? Is there anything you seem to have forgotten? A character with a broken leg isn’t going to be running after the bad guy in the following scene.

If a character has mentioned they are going to do something that is pivotal to the plot, then make sure the reader either sees this play out or has a later reference to it, and vice versa. It’s going to make no sense if the main character’s sister is angry at them for not sending her wedding invitations as asked, if there has been no mention of invitations, nor the main character being asked up until that point.

Always consider your what, where, when, why, who and how questions. What would most people do if they ran into their ex-partner? Where would most people obtain poison? When would be the most opportune time to conduct a robbery? Why would someone head back into a burning building? Who calls their estranged mother to tell her about a promotion? How did the treasure hunter end up lost when he had a compass and map in the previous scene?

The answers to some of these questions may be fundamental to the plot, and get answered later in the story, but if they go unanswered altogether, then you may have a plot hole to fill in.

For the non-contemporary writers in the room, double and triple check all ‘in-world laws’ you have laid down. Readers will notice if you’ve stated that men can not wield water magic at the start only for you to have a wizard creating tsunamis later on.

By the time you’ve poured over all these areas, your manuscript will probably look very colourful, and you’ll likely have notes galore of all the developmental things you need to tinker with.

You are also likely to feel a bit downtrodden, after all you have just torn your own story to pieces, and that’s normal. But hang in there; you are about to get to the best part of self-editing (in my opinion).

Step 4 – The 1^st Rewrite

Finally, it’s time to make some adjustments!

You may be thinking, ‘But I have so many developmental issues highlighted and noted, how am I going to fix all this?’ I say, channel your inner Julie Andrews, and start at the beginning because that’s a very good place to start.  

Take a look at all your notes for chapter 1 (or prologue if you have one) and decide which area is your largest issue. It’s most likely to be something relating to your plot, but it can also be a character thing.

For me, my prologue in my first manuscript had two glaring issues. One was that the character it was following was supposed to be a badass, and yet they didn’t do any badassery. The second was that it was a countdown of eighteen minutes until a set time where THE BIG EVENT was going to happen. Except I forgot about mentioning the time towards the end, and some characters were taking forever to do something that in real life would take about five seconds.

Once you’ve identified your big problems, go through the chapter scene by scene, rewriting where you need to. Some rewriting might just be a sentence or two, but it could be whole chunks of paragraphs. Things may get added. They may also get deleted. It all depends on the issue.

For my prologue, fixing the time bit was easy, just adding a few reminders of what the time was towards the end, and moving some about so I didn’t have anyone spending three minutes pressing one button.

But for my badass character dropping his clean-cut attitude? That took a lot of rewriting. In the end, he was given a gun (which he did use on people), he got into two fights, left his manners at the door, and ended up throwing a guy off a moving train. All in all, a success.

After sorting the large issues, you can go in and fix the smaller issues you’ve highlighted. You will probably find this easy to do after the major rewriting of your big problems. Incorrect eye colour or mis-named characters are a piece of cake compared to gaping plot holes.

It is also why I suggest sorting your big-picture areas in the chapter first. You don’t want to waste time correcting the little things if the paragraphs they are sitting in are just going to get re-written as part of a larger issue anyway.

With all notes and highlights addressed in that first chapter, do go back and read through it quickly. You need to make sure you’re semi-happy with how it sounds and that you have indeed sorted all the things you wanted to. If you’ve missed something, go back in and do any necessary rewriting.

Don’t get hung up on absolute perfection; remember you are only focusing on story at this point. How something is worded and whether it's grammatically correct doesn’t matter right now. That’s a Future You problem.

Now you can rinse and repeat with all your other chapters. Most writers will typically find these rewrites easier and easier as they get further and further into their manuscript. There isn’t anything more motivating than seeing all the chapters you’ve already re-written sitting there with no highlights.

If you hit a wall at any point, take a break for a morning or an afternoon. It’s important not to exhaust yourself. Some fixes are naturally harder to do than others. Keep reminding yourself that you can do this; you already wrote the whole manuscript once!

And one last tip for this stage. Mash that save button. Seriously. You don’t want to rewrite entire sections only to forget to save and lose all that work. Save. Save. Save.

Step 5 – The Line & Copy Self-Edit

Your story is now in place, and you should be fairly happy with anything developmentally related to your manuscript. Time to get into the nitty-gritty.

Typically, most professional editors will do a line and copy edit separately (although this can vary from editor to editor), starting with the line edit, which looks at the readability. Think descriptions, voice, atmosphere, pacing and flow.

The copy edit focuses on all the technical stuff, your punctuation choices, grammar, spelling, and consistency.

As you’re a writer, and this is only your self-edit, it’s fine to lump these two edits together, especially because they can cross over into each other.

As with your developmental edit, I’d recommend reading over your manuscript once more, chapter by chapter, scene by scene, line by line.

This time, look carefully at how your sentences are worded, how your paragraphs fit together, whether your prose is engaging, whether the pace is appropriate, whether you’ve shifted tense anywhere, the spelling of any unique terms and your punctuation preferences.

Remember those notes you made in step 1? Time to dig those out and see if you picked up on any pesky typos the first time round.

But what exactly are you looking for?

Line wise you want to focus on your descriptions. Do you have any sentences that ramble on and on? Any that simply tell rather than show? Are there any sections that don’t make sense? Have you got a scene suffering from ‘white room syndrome’?

Fight scenes and sex scenes can suffer with clunky choreography, so be sure to comb these over carefully. You don’t want your reader going ‘huh?’ cause it’s a right passion/tension killer.

And don’t forget your pacing. Does it match with what is happening? Nail-biting moments should have readers hurrying through your prose, but the calmer scenes should be taken more leisurely.

As for the copy, you are really looking at the mechanical side of things. Punctuation errors, spelling mistakes, incorrect grammar, tense shifts, word repetition, paragraph formatting and capitalisation consistency all fall under this umbrella.

Dialogue punctuation can be a tricky area. Make doubly sure you have opening and closing quotation marks around all speech. The find and replace tool is handy for checking this.

Don’t panic; it doesn’t matter if you aren’t a grammar expert. This is just a self-edit, so anything you do miss will eventually be caught way down the line when your manuscript goes through its professional copy edit. For now, pick up the obvious where you can.

Step 6 – The 2^nd Rewrite

You’ve guessed it. Exactly as you did with your developmental edit, take all your notes from step 5 and go through your manuscript scene by scene, correcting and mending.

Again, don’t stress yourself over a sentence sounding completely perfect. Your manuscript has a long, long way to go yet, and perfection at the end is near impossible, so you sure aren’t going to get it during a self-edit.

If there is anything you’ve identified as a readability issue but are completely stumped on how to re-word it, simply leave it. Plenty more eyes are going to see your manuscript before publishing (not to fill you with panic). Someone, somewhere, will give you a fresh perspective on the problem, and you can sort it out then.

I would recommend reading each chapter back as you finish line & copy editing it. There may be sentences you’re still not happy with, but as long as everything is clear and readable, then that is fine.

You may be sick of reading your manuscript by now, but buckle up, because by the time you reach publishing, you’ll be reciting it in your sleep.

This is why you need other eyes on it before you publish. You are too familiar and too close to your story to spot every single issue.

Step 7 – The Final Read-Through

Phew! You’ve reached the very end of your self-edit. A massive well done, because editing is never easy.

But, hopefully, the end result of all that grinding away should be a manuscript that is in much better shape than it was when you started.

You’re probably exhausted, and sick of words and character arcs, so it’s a good time to take a well-deserved break. Not for too long, however, as there is one last task to complete. The final read-through.

As you did at the very start of your self-edit, settle down, and read your entire manuscript over again, start to finish.

Only this time, you’re just keeping your eyes peeled for little typos here and there, fixing anything as you find it. You’ve worried enough about flow and plot for one day.

Something you might find helpful at this final stage is to read out loud. Your ears may be able to pick out a spelling mistake that your eyes don’t. Typos such as form instead of from, or not instead of now are quite often found this way.

If you are brave enough, you can ask a trusted loved one to read it out loud to you. I had my partner read my first completed manuscript. He isn’t a reader (it was the only book he read that year), but it helped massively as he didn’t know where the emphasis was supposed to be placed in sentences, meaning I could double check the clarity and tone of my prose.

Plus, getting someone else to read your writing helps you get over the dread that is the next stage of your manuscript’s journey.

What Next?

Beta readers! That’s right; it’s time to let your manuscript out into the world.

Nearly every writer finds the beta reading stage the scariest, because what if people don’t like it?!

Try not to panic; a decent beta reader is gentle and considerate with authors, while also being constructive and fair. Beta readers are book lovers at the end of the day and are just itching to have more decent reads out there. They. Are. Valuable.

Remember, your manuscript is not perfect yet, and the point of beta readers is to get a feel of what is or isn’t working in the story. Finding out how readers feel now is far better than after you’ve published, because you can’t fix anything after publishing.

If you’ve reached the end of your self-edit and are looking for a beta reader, I do offer beta reading services. I am detailed, honest, and efficient, and always willing to help authors get to publishing day.

Check out my packages here and get in touch! Don’t forget to check my discount page here, in case I’m currently running a discount that you can grab to save some money.

Hopefully, you now have the bare bones of how to tackle your self-edit. Every writer is unique, and you may do some things differently from what I’ve suggested, and that’s perfectly okay. Find what works for you!

However, splitting the self-edit up into these stages will certainly help you stick to a clear path and will avoid any time wasting.

 If you have any quick questions, you can contact me. I’m always here to help.

Good luck and happy rewriting!

Sasha Lysette x