How I Edit a Manuscript

Basically it goes like this.

Notebook round: I write down what’s what and what I need and different world details and plot points in my notebook. I have a lovely set of pens just for this. They give good scratch and it inspires me.

Rough Round One, Fight! I type up my manuscript, chapter by chapter. I used to do it out of order but my scene transitions were always too jarring, so I ditched that bit. I refer to my notes as I type, possibly have to stop occasionally to revisit the notebook round and flesh out new avenues of plotting-ness. And as I type, I edit. Now, I don’t recommend this for anyone because a lot of people get super hung up on every word they type being perfect, and I’m just like, “It’s gonna be good, and I don’t need it to be good right now, because I’ll fix it. So check this lyrical prose, b*****.” So if I don’t like how a sentence flows, I’ll change it mid-scene. But I don’t obsess over it. That way lies madness.

Between this round and the next, I sit for about 2-3 weeks and do other things. Otherwise, I run into problems. Waiting is a good idea, mah peeps.

Don’t Be a Passive Pansy (Check Yourself): I print out my manuscript and go through my entire manuscript with 4 colored pens, looking for passive voice, filter words, basic typos, and any copy-edit mistakes because I’m always gonna stab those to death when I find them, to prevent them from breeding and spreading across my manuscript like demon bunnies. I also go through looking for repetitive information/dialogue tags/actions.

More waiting, my lovelies. 2-3 weeks is a good time period, especially if you’re working on another project or reading a lot of different books.

Don’t Be Racist/Ableist/Sexist/A Douche: after making all my changes from the previous round, I reprint my manuscript and take new pen colors to it, looking for any kind of anything that could be racist, sexist, anti-lgbt+ in any way, or that just doesn’t conform to the religious, racial, cultural, or queer identities of my characters (this usually snags almost all characterization contradictions, so it’s doubly useful). Usually this is only a very small thing. 

For example, in Eidolon there’s a moment where Janine is thinking about a kiss, and it’s not clear that this kiss is supposed to be a chaste and sweet one instead of a passionate teeth-tongues-and-drool kiss, so I underlined that sentence and rewrote it to make it clear that Janine’s not into those kinds of kisses, because she’s ace. Or like, also in Eidolon, I did a Google search on ways to describe a deaf person’s voice and vocal patterns without being offensive, because I’d left a footnote-mark in a certain color of pen where said mentions needed to appear when describing Princess Madeline’s voice.

And yet more waiting. Don’t worry, this keeps you from wanting to chuck your manuscript out the wind because you’re just so dang tired of looking at it.

Taste the Freaking Rainbow Round: the final round of editing before chucking it over to a crit-partner, with a third round of printing (so I’ve used up 2 reams of paper at this point). Basically I’m double-checking for all the things you were looking for before, and also slashing through any excessively overwritten or purple prose, or any prose that due to situation may sound good but ends up being confusing. This is also my last chance to triple-check for repetition, my ultimate foe.

And then I give it over to someone else.