Tips to Self-Edit a Novel

For most of us, writing a novel is easy. You have the story and it’s only a matter of pounding away at the keyboard until the story magically enfolds on the pages. Right?

Wrong!

Getting the story onto the computer with a word processing program is the easy part. In previous posts I discussed the YWriter5 program, which is still free and I stand by my recommendation for first-time authors to attempt to use this program to plan their novel. The program has been updated and currently it is truly editing-friendly as well. 

It allows you to break down your novel in a series of scenes and chapters, which you can export to MS Word or other program for editing. After you’re finished editing the selected chapter, you simply import the chapter back into YWriter5 and viola, everything is together again.

But, a program alone will not help you edit your work to such a fashion that you can submit to a publisher. You’ll need to work really hard before any publisher would look at your work. If you’re anything like me, editing your novel could take longer than writing the damn thing. I searched the internet for tips and advise on how to hone those sorely lacking skills in self-editing and there is a myriad of information available.

I listed only the ones I found most useful.

Tips on How to Self-Edit Your Novel


The Fiction Doctor – Cindy Davis

She lists a total of ten tips on how to improve your writing with fairly detailed examples of how to fix the problem in your writing. They are:-

1. Show don’t tell – our old favourite and one that causes the most headaches to all writers. What does it mean? How do you know when to tell and when to show? Is show always better? I found the explanation given on the website quite helpful as it contains examples of what she means.

2. Avoid Overuse of Pronouns – this speaks for itself, but check out Cindy’s example if you’re unsure.

3. Don’t Intrude as Author -  I think most of us are guilty of this at some point. It goes without saying that authors shouldn’t underestimate the reader’s intelligence. If you are in the character’s head, don’t tell your reader this over and over again.

4. Less is more – don’t explain everything to death. If it doesn’t really matter where the book case is in room, don’t explain this.

5. Don’t over-describe your character – it speaks for itself. Give just enough information that the reader can form a mental picture of your character. As Cindy’s explains, these descriptions are static and slows down the narrative.

6. Limit the amount of background you give on a character – rather drivel it through the novel in small pieces.

7. Keep your point of view steady – nothing frustrates a reader more than to try figure out from whose perspective the story is told. While head-hopping can make for interesting reading, if done badly, it can alienate the reader pretty quick.

8.  Use the best word to describe the action – walking carefully could be substituted with tiptoed, being nervous could be substituted with fidgeting, biting the lip, etc.

9. Avoid using passive voice – we all heard this before. It slows the action and is one of the pet peeves of editors at publishing houses. Take a look at Cindy’s examples, they’re quite insightful if you have problems with this.

10. Make sure the dialogue in your novel sounds like your characters and not yourself- this is a mayor point in writing realistic dialogue. Keep the dialogue true to the character you portray otherwise it might come across as stifled and forced.

Other points I found helpful when editing is to check for repetitive words.  I use MS Word’s find function to highlight pronouns – you’d be amazed at how many you can eliminate in this way. You can also upload a section of your work to the Autocrit – program where it will give you the word-usage. YWriter5 has a function where it will tell you the word usage in a scene. The problem with seeing it only in one scene is that using the word once in a scene seems fine, until you remember that you have fifty or a hundred scenes all using the same word.

Watch out for problem words. These words are usually words you can delete without making a difference to the sentence. Words like down, around, away, back, almost, already, nearly, really, actually, quite, wanted to, started to, began to, tried to.

Another wonderful resource for writers is Bob Mayer’s 70 Solutions to Common Writing Mistakes.  You can obtain a copy of this by subscribing to the Writer’s Digest Newsletter. You could also do worse than check out their archive of articles on writing. In particular the articles pertaining to revision.

If you are stuck, the internet provides loads of useful information on writing and revising. Advise on actual editing your novel, however, seems a little harder to find. So, please share if you find a useful resource for self-editing your novel.

Blogs and Books on the Craft of Writing

Every so often I stumble upon a blog with valuable information on writing and I realize that I have not even reached the tip of the iceberg in honing my writing craft. If you read every single blog and book about writing as a profession, you will have no time left to write the novel or non-fiction book. This is why finding a blog or blogs that keeps you on track without stealing your precious writing time, is important.

Many people spend hours a day surfing the internet, trying to gather as much information as possible on how to write, what is acceptable, how to hook a publisher or agent to invest in their books, that they end up with little or no time to do the actual writing. Don’t get me wrong, you need to know all this stuff, but without the finished novel, polished to as close to perfection as you can get it, the information is useless. You need a book to sell in order to sell your product. You need a completed manuscript to compare to the books doling out advise on how to write before you know if you’ve made the mistakes.

In a society where time is a precious commodity, I found a couple of blogs and books that will help you manage your time better while still keeping up to date on the business of writing a book. This is personal preferences to me and what I felt was helpful without spending all my time in the learning mode.

As for blogs:

Kristen Lamb’s Warrior Writers must be my absolute favourite. Her posts are well researched, informative and written in an easy to read voice. Her eight part series on the structure of a novel is particularly informative and any writer would do well to read them.

Another blog I found particularly helpful is Writers Digest. This website posts hundreds of helpful articles and tips not just about writing, but about the whole writing industry. It is one of the sites every writer should visit regularly.

As for books:

Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schmidt is a good starting point. I found the book a little tedious to read(especially if you’ve just read a blog post from Kristin Lamb), but the information is invaluable. It sets out the different structures required for different genres as well as a little bit on handling conflict in the novel.

How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N Frey and his subsequent books on writing remains my all time favourites. This author has the ability to set out the steps to writing excellent fiction in a no-nonsense voice and in terms that the layman (that’s me) can understand. Besides a good dictionary, these books are a must in my opinion. 

As I’ve stated above, writers don’t have hours a day to learn the craft – we need it to write. These books and blogs made my life a lot simpler

What Makes You Stop Reading?

Whether you read fiction or non- fiction books, some books you just can't seem to read to the end. What makes you stop reading? This must be the most prominent question in a writer's mind along with the question: "What makes you keep reading?"

Consider the following:

Learning How to Write - Books on Writing Skills

If you do a search on Google or Yahoo for tips on how to write a novel, the volume of results will render you speechless. The novice might find the selection of a good book to start with, a daunting task. Just writing down your story is not enough. You need to make people want to read your book and once they start reading, to keep on reading until the end. If you are not born with a natural writing talent, like me, you will need all the help you can get.

The consumer and would-be novelist are spoilt for choice by the numerous printed titles on the market. Books such as-

• The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri
  
• Writing Novels that Sell by Jack m. Bickman
  
• The Craft of Fiction by Raymond C. Knott
  
• Professional Fiction Writing by Jean Z Owen
  
• The Basic Formulas of Fiction by William Foster-Harris
  
• How to Write Damn Good Fiction by James N Frey
  

Offer the reader insights into the mind of the editors and prospective readers. Writing workshops all over the world use these books and although some were first published as early as 1946, the basic concepts still hold true. All of these books will offer the inexperienced and even the experienced writer new insights into storytelling and the craft of writing fiction.

Personally, I prefer the books by James N Frey. He wrote a range of books on the subject of writing fiction and his practical, no - frills approach makes his arguments easy to follow. He uses plain language to explain concepts like creating the fictive dream, creating suspense, using memorable characters amongst others. Through all the practical tips and guidance, one important factor shines through in all these guides on writing. You cannot be a good writer if you do not write often. Writers need to practice and practice and practice. Good writing skills require dedication and perseverance.

So whatever you do - KEEP WRITING.