Edits to Make in Your Novel

All writers who have isolated themselves to vigorously typing alone know the amazing feeling you have when you finish your first draft. For some of us, this rush of success might come when finishing writing the first half of your book. It feels great executing your idea and getting every thought onto that devastating but inspiring blank page. We jump, finally step away from our computers, maybe even call those friends we haven't talked to in six months, but then we realize what we really should be doing. Yes: Editing—probably the least pleasing task for a writer. If I'm being honest, I'm probably going to be reluctant to edit this. Whether you're trying to get your book traditionally published, or thinking of going the self publishing route, editing and revisions need to be done before putting your work out there. For those of us writers who can't afford editors, this process is tiresome. Most of the time we don't even know what we're looking to change. No matter how perfect you think your first draft is, it needs work and edits, and here are some to consider. These edits and tips are directed towards fiction novels, but I'm sure they an apply to other work.

#1 Step Away from the Book

The most essential editing tip for writers is when your first finish the first draft of your novel take a break from it. I'm not talking about a five minute stretch break, but a month long break away from your work. In order for you to thoroughly edit your work, you need some time away from it so you can look at it differently. If you start your editing and revisions right after you finish, you will still be looking at your work as a writer and not an editor. In my opinion, you should take this break to read because that is how you become a better writer.

#2 Beta Readers and Critique Partners

The next best things to editors are beta reader and critique partners that you can find online or in person. Their job is to give you constructive criticism on your work, and you do the same for them. There are many critique partner and beta reader sites where you can find people. These beta readers should not be your friends or family, because you need criticism that is going to improve your work instead of just compliments.

#3 Essential Parts

Now on to the actual editing: The first thing you want to do is make sure you have the seven elements of fiction. These are character, theme, plot, point of view, setting, conflict, and tone. After you check for those next are the exposition, inciting incident, climax, falling action, and resolution. By checking for these, you should be identifying what they are. Then you go in deeper and more specific by focusing on the characters. I will go deeper into the elements your characters should have in another article. Vaguely, your protagonistshouldhave a goal or something they want.

Specifics

Now I'm going to get into specific elements you may want to take out or add to your story when editing. These are just suggestions.

#4 Character Soup

One thing that can make the story very confusing is too many characters that can take away from the plot. My advice if the character doesn't add to the plot, then take them out or combine them with another character. Quality is better than quantity! Focus on developing your characters more. In movies, there is a reason the protagonist often only has one friend instead of a full table. Adding to this, try not to give characters very similar names or very out-of-the-box names.

#5 Narrative to Action Ratio

In fiction, depending on the genre or age group you are writing for, there has to be a certain amount of narrative and action. Narrative is more about telling or explaining, while action is more showing. Too much narrative, I have to say, may be worse than too much action, because narrative can often be long and drawn out. In terms of keeping your ratio good, I'd have to say 50/50 is a good percentage. For YA it should be 70/30 action more because YA readers have a shorter reader span and need to have action to keep them reading.

#6 Words to Take Out

If you are an over-writer, there are plenty of words you can take out to get your novel to reach that word count. These words are adverbs like "really" and "very." These are often unnecessary, and there can be better ways to write the sentences. "Sally ran over here quickly," versus "Sally almost lost her breath coming towards us." Other words that can be taken out of your novel are "wonder," "ponder," "think," "thought," "feel," "felt," "understood," and "realize." These words disconnect the readers from the narrator. For example, "I feel happy" should be "I am happy."

#7 Info Dumping

Info dumping relates back to the narrative and action ratio. Info dumping is when you dedicate a lot of the story to explaining or recapping the scene before with information. Getting rid of info dumping doesn't mean getting rid of description, but getting rid of over-description. For example, we don't need to know your character's fun morning routine or everything everybody is wearing. Info dumping, to me, can work, but only in third person and if it flows nicely.