I got my developmental edits back from my editor. This is one of my favorite parts of the writing process because the structure is there, and I can focus on improvements instead of creating from scratch. But if your story needs a lot of work (which mine does right now), it can be hard to tackle the whole thing at once.
I have a lot of plot restructuring I need to do. I have characters that need to be better defined. I have to be sure that all the politics in my world make sense to the story and come through for the reader. I have prose I want to improve, and chemistry I need to hone, and cheesiness that I need to cut out.
Trying to do all of that simultaneously can be overwhelming. So how do we break it down? I don’t remember where I found this approach, but it’s been helpful for me.
The six stages of self-editing:
- Structural Edit
- Character Edit
- World Edit
- Scene Level Edit
- Nuance Edit
- Line Edit
Instead of getting caught up in making my prose pretty while I’m also trying to restructure my plot and bolstering character attributes, I’ll just focus on the structure first. What plot elements am I going to keep? Which ones need to go? Then I get to re-write my entire first chapter, adjust a lot of the two end chapters, and then go through the whole thing so be sure that everything lines up well.
When I’m done with that, then I can focus on the characters, then the world, etc…
And hopefully, at the end of it all, I’ll have a wonderfully crafted book that can be enjoyed by all. Wish me luck.
Clean Romance Highlights
Songbender by Everly Haywood is a new release fantasy.
The Sweetest Companion by Laura Ann is a contemporary enemies-to-lovers.
I think not.
When You Returned by Havelah McLat is a contemporary second-chance romance.
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