Novel Editing Tips
When it comes to writing, whether it be a novel, short story, or poem, most people have no problems getting a first draft completed. However, in the grand scheme of getting published and being a successful writer, the first draft is a long ways away from the final product. This point is where most people get lost and give up on their work. We've got a few tips that should help you turn yourself from a one draft novice, to a novel editing pro.
Paragraph Review
When you're happy with your piece, a great technique is to do a paragraph review. Read the piece and after each paragraph, write down what the paragraph adds to the piece. This will help you evaluate what information is necessary and what is fluff. Kurt Vonnegut put it best when he said: "Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action."
Writing Groups
One of the best ways to keep you writing and finishing work is when you have a deadline. If you don't ACTUALLY have a deadline, having a regularly meeting writing group is a great way to impose a deadline on your work. It also allows people to provide input and give you further insight on your writing. As such, by joining a writing group, you're able to get people to edit your work, come up with new ideas, and keep yourself on task.
Proofread Regularly
Proofreading a piece isn't just a simple read through of the piece you're working on. It's important to proofread your writing on several occassions with different goals in mind. Doing so will enable you to catch different mistakes and to look at your writing with different perspectives.
Write First, Proofread Later
When you read over a piece, don't get caught up on fixing grammatical mistakes or poor sentence structure in your first few drafts. Before these details even become relevant, it is important to craft the story you are trying to tell. Most of those poor sentences will likely be cut out before you even reach a final draft, so there's no point wasting time killing them now.
Hopefully these tips will get you off in the write direction as you begin editing your writing. Revision can be a difficult, slow task, but in the end, it is what ultimately turns a good story into a great one. Nobody is perfect their first time, and by doing some proper novel editing, you'll be able to make sure that at least you can be perfect on your fourth or fifth time.
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