how to edit after your first draft
is it ready for publishing? who should look it over? how many drafts should there be? what errors to look for.
All writers would love to publish their first novel right away. Have everyone around the world read it. Walk into a bookstore and see it on the shelves selling in the millions. You have finished your first draft, but is it ready to send it out to literary agents? Is it ready for the world to see, or have you just begun?
in this blog, we will be looking at how to edit after your first draft…
HOW TO EDIT AFTER YOUR FIRST DRAFT
Table of Contents
What is the difference between an amateur writer and a professional? The answer is, rewrites. An amateur will write a novel and claim it to be finished after their first draft. They will send it off to a literary agent expecting to be signed within days.
Whereas a professional writer knows when they’ve finished the story they have only just begun. What they have written is a first draft. a draft of many. Before sending it off they will have others read it. Have editors look it over who can tell them if the story is weak in some areas. What needs to be changed.
AN AMATEUR WILL NOT TAKE ADVICE
A professional writer will then take the advice and make the changes. An amateur may not like hearing something is wrong with their novel and won’t look for advice.
The first draft is you telling the story to yourself. The second draft is you telling the story to the reader. Before you can tell a story to someone you have to get it right in your head to start with. You never want to tell someone a story and ramble on. Your first draft is pretty much that. But the rewrite is you getting the story in order for everyone to understand. you’ll find in the second draft is about leaving things out, deleting the unnecessary. If you published the first draft most readers will find it filled with unnecessary chapters and storylines.
LIKE AN ARROW FLYING FORWARD
A successful story needs to feel like an arrow flying forward. Like a car switching from gear to gear getting faster as it goes. It’s next to impossible for any writer to accomplish this on their first draft. Being an amateur writer and believing you have achieved this is not a good idea.
All writers are told, “do not send your book off to a literary agent within minutes of finishing writing it”. When you have finished the novel you are now ready to move into “step two” (which is not sending it to publishers.) What needs to happen is you need to put the book off to the side. Leave it for a bit. Start a new novel. For a few weeks, you need to forget about the novel. As though you have never written it.
YOU’D BE AMAZED BY THE MISTAKES
Come back to it a few weeks later (some writers wait months) and read it over again. As though someone else wrote it.
You’d be amazed by how many mistakes you find. Not just spelling but the flow and story arc. You’d be amazed by how many things do not make sense. If you had sent it to a literary agent they would’ve noticed those mistakes right away and stopped reading. Now is the time to fix those mistakes.
THEY HAVE ONLY ONE-TENTH WRITTEN DOWN
By finding your own mistakes you have saved yourself a lot of time. Instead of sending your book off to a literary agent only to get rejected and having to make changes later on. One of the things amateur writers do is lie to themselves. They believe they have captured everything necessary to tell the story. But in reality, all they did was write down one-tenth of what’s needed to tell a story.
This happens because they see the rest of the story in their mind. They can read their story and know what’s happening because all missing parts are filled in within their own mind. But as a reader, you have no idea what the other nine-tenths of the story consists of. You can try filling in the missing pieces, but in reality, anyone reading a book like that will simply put it down and stop reading it.
DO NOT HAVE A “TALKING HEADS” STORY
If an editor were to read the story they would point this out to the amateur writer who can then fix the problem by adding the missing nine-tenths. completing the novel.
What you do not want is to create a story made up of “talking heads” where everyone is talking but the reader has no idea where the story is taking place or what anyone is thinking or feeling.
HE UNDERSTANDS WHERE HE WENT WRONG
Imagine a teenage boy in high school writing a love letter to a girl he likes. He writes the letter and reads it over a million times. He reads it to himself like a Shakespeare actor. believing it win her over.
However when she reads it she runs away leaving him wondering what went wrong. many years later he finds the letter in a box in the attic and reads it. He quickly realizes why she ran away. After re-reading it many years later he reads it as she did. All the Shakespearian romantic voice absent. All the necessary “missing” parts not there. He now understands where he went wrong. Instead of it being romantic as he thought it actually sounds creepy.
THEY WONDER WHY THEY WERE REJECTED
But he was convinced it had passion and was romantic because in his mind he filled in any missing parts. All necessary inflections in his voice were not there when reading it the second time. And the inflections were never in her mind the first time she read it. A lot of new writers expect readers to read their book with the proper inflections. But how can they when so much information is missing?
New writers write a book, send it to a literary agent, get rejected, and wonder why. Many years later they re-read their book and it all makes sense. No wonder it was rejected by agents. If they had done rewrites in the beginning it might’ve been published.
YOU HAVE TO USE ALL 5 SENSES
A lot of new writers’ books are like “coles notes” or “synopsis” that summarizes a bigger book. By giving you the brief outline. as a writer, you have to give rich details by using the 5 senses.
When you read your novel after a few months you suddenly see all the mistakes. Realizing just like the love letter you failed to connect to the reader. You fooled yourself into thinking your novel was ready. But by putting it away for a few weeks you could read it with fresh eyes.
SEE YOURSELF AS AN EDITOR
If the guy in high school had done the same thing and put the letter away for a few weeks and read it later he would’ve noticed how many mistakes he made and could’ve saved himself some embarrassment.
It’s not easy but of the greatest things you can do as a writer is think as an editor while you write. Have the ability to step out of yourself and see your work as though you’re a stranger reading someone else’s work. All writers like to believe they’re writing the best novel ever. But in reality, you may or not be. A literary will tell you right away if you are or not.
YOU CAN ZOOM IN AND OUT
Successful writers have a unique ability, they can see their own work like an editor would while writing. They can zoom in on their writing and tell if a sentence is written properly or needs fixing. Or zoom out and see the story overall. They know when the story is getting away from them or if they’re on track.
Too many new writers trick themselves into thinking their story is amazing. The plot twists works, the pacing works. If they find plot holes they convince themselves it’s not that bad. But in reality, the story might be all over the place. Professional writers have the ability to sense when their story is off track. It’s as if they can see the story in their mind from start to finish.
YOU CAN SENSE WHEN SOMETHING IS MISSING
They can see their story like an arrow shooting forward. Staying on track in a straight line. But when it starts moving off track they can sense something is wrong. They can read their novel from start to finish sensing when the main theme is missing.
It’s like a comedian who can sense when a joke will be funny or not. They’re home alone picturing themselves on stage telling a joke and knowing it will work and what changes have to be made to make it funny. They have the ability to see the bigger picture. They know when to be honest with themselves.
HAVING BETA READERS CHECK IT OVER
New writers can send their books to beta readers. (other writers helping out new writers.) They read each other work. The beta readers will give advice and answer questions given to them. Questions about character, flow, pacing. They can help spot mistakes you never knew were there.
It’s important to note a lot of beta readers are amateur writers as well. They will try their best to help out. But when you hand the book to a professional editor they’ll tell you mistakes in characters arcs, flow, pacing, subtext right away. Things you never have noticed.
THEY CAN POINT OUT ERRORS RIGHT AWAY
Make note not to have your mother or friends read your nook. They’ll tell you it’s great all the time. No mother wants to tell their child their novel is average or not good. In a mother’s eyes, their child’s book is perfect. Besides most mothers may not be able to spot mistakes as a professional editor could.
Professional editors are good at pointing out errors in subtext, opening, characters arcs, pacing however your average person doesn’t know how to look out for these things.
IT CAN BE WORSE THAN HAVING NO EDITOR
What’s the difference between a professional and an amateur editor? Well, imagine if you walked into a nuclear power planet and tried describing how it works, your description would be basic. However, a 20-year employee would describe it in detail using words you have never heard before. The same goes for a friend acting as an editor compared to the well-known ones.
Amateur editors can be worse than no editor because they give the writer a false sense of security believing their novel is amazing. So the writer stops rewriting and sends the book to publishers believing it’s ready.
SADLY IT COMES WITH A PRICE TAG
Unfortunately, there is a price tag when hiring a professional editor. Most new writers don’t have the money to hire a well-known editor. This can hold them back from having a well-written novel., this is why novel writing is not easy.
Do keep in mind knowing your theme helps a lot. It guides you along, keeps the story focused, and characters in the right direction. Most stories go off course because the writer didn’t know the theme.
HAVE TO RE-WRTIE THE BEGINNING
When you start your novel your characters are at their weakest in terms of development. But as you write chapter after chapter you’ll find your characters. They’ll take shape and come to life. By the time you’re done your characters are strong and alive. However, your beginning is still weak with thin characters.
You have to remember to go back and rewrite the beginning this time with your fleshed-out characters. So the characters at the beginning and end are strong and alive. Do not leave the beginning weak by not rewriting it. When someone reads your novel they will be turned off by the weak characters right away. Not knowing they get better with more detail as the novel goes on. No one wants to read a weak beginning to get to the middle.
IT CAN TAKE TWO OR MORE YEARS
The worst part is when amateurs do not want to rewrite because “it’s boring.” They want to write a novel as fast as possible and get it published. this mindset will stop any novel written from being published.
Some well-known professional writers will take a year or two to finish one novel. but some amateurs believe they can finish their novel in less than a month. But is it worth reading? Professionals know that time is needed to get a story right. It’s not about racing through it trying to finish it in record time.
you might be interested in these blogs…
WHO’S WRITING STYLE SHOULD YOU COPY?
SEEING THINGS THROUGH A LITERARY AGENT’S EYES
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T SWITCH GENRES HALFWAY THROUGH
