A quick start for self-editing.
I recently posted on my website that I’ve opened my editing service for booking in 2024. I’ll be offering proofreading, line editing, chapter critique, and manuscript assessment. But there’s a lot of room for improvement between the first draft and line editing services, and, understandably, not everyone is interested in or can afford paying for a manuscript assessment.
Thus, I offer “Editing a Manuscript, Part One,” a quick start for self-editing. These are just a few things to check and decide if there’s room for improvement!
Specificity
Sometimes being more specific just gives a better image, but other times specificity is the best way to convey mood and tone without becoming tell-y.
“The tree was bright with fall color.’ vs “The sugar maple leaves created a canopy of yellow and orange speared through with soft sunlight.”
Not specific: “They ate and drank.”
More specific: “They ate roast and drank their finest merlot.”
Even more so: “They ate the less-moldy bits from a scavenged bread loaf and drank their final mouthful of trustworthy water.”
Voice consistency
As we grow as writers our voice and style may change over the course of our draft or even series. We also might use different voices for different points of view. The trick is to recognize when the change in voice is intentional and beneficial. For our different POVs we want different voices, but if our style of writing is wildly different from the beginning of the story to the end, perhaps we should consider putting in the effort to make it more consistent one way or another.
Set ups and pay offs
“Don’t leave a gun in the scene unless you plan for it to fire later.”
-Chekhov
Make sure your big twists are a little bit teased, or at least coming from what the reader has already been told about the world. For example, an actual real live giant appears in the middle of my book and that's not super shocking for my characters. So I have to make sure the reader knows that giants exist in this setting long before I let Tor stomp his way into their lives.
At the same time, don’t draw importance to what doesn’t matter. If a character learns a spell to unlock doors at the beginning, it would be a missed opportunity to not use it!
Filter Words
You may remember I did a post about filter words recently, that’s linked at the bottom. Here’s a quick recap!
What exactly is a filter word? Words that force the character to act as a “filter” before the reader gets the information.
They saw.
She realized.
I watched.
Whether we are writing in first person or third person, if we know who the protagonist is, we automatically understand they are the one experiencing these things without having to be told. Removing filter words tightens point of view and can help us cut subject-verb sentence starts, which I personally struggle with! Find the full post on filter words here!
Look for part two in the next Mossgrovewrites newsletter!
In other news, Atlas Creed recently did a reading of “The Wingbreaker” on his weekly livestream. He did a wonderful job! Check it out…
A huge thank you to Atlas and to everyone else who has helped me find a place in this bookish community. I could never find the words to express how grateful I am for the support and encouragement I have found since all this began.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Remember, there are no absolutes in writing. In the end, the story itself is what matters most. Mossgrovewrites hopes to scrutinize traditional craft wisdom and ponder its pros and cons, alongside offering one writer’s opinions and the experiences that shaped them.
Happy writing!
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