You've finished your draft, and now you're ready for editing! But wait one second before you jump on the hunt for an editor! One editor cannot read your entire manuscript for all its mistakes, and will therefore focus on one branch of editing. You need to figure out exactly what kind of editor(s) your novel needs! There are many different types of editing and different times at which you will need these edits. Some authors may depend more on editors, while others do not. It all depends on experience, so don't think the amount of editing you decide on for your book determines your worth as a writer! To help you find what type of editing you want, I'm going to describe the general types. SELF-EDITING. Before we look at professional editing, let's cover self-editing. Self editing is just as important as writing. Before you turn to professionals, rewrite your draft one or two times. This way you'll catch grammatical errors, and maybe find a better flow to your story. You may even find continuity errors you hadn't noticed before.
Self-editing is important because reading through your book when it's all complete is much different than writing and reading your book part-by-part. Your guaranteed to find errors or things you'd consider changing that you hadn't caught or considered before. This is because you're reading to edit, you're not reading to brainstorm. Keep in mind that self-editing will never be 100% reliable. Your eyes can be fooled by your brain, reading over errors as if they aren't there because your brain *believes* you wrote it a certain way. In addition, t's just generally difficult to correct yourself, and I think that has something to do with human nature. COPY EDITING. When you think of editing in general, you're probably thinking of copy editing. Copy (text) editing is editing that focuses on grammar and sentence structure. It's solely focused on: Does this writing look professional enough to be printed? Copy editing is a final step. You won't need a copy editor until you think your manuscript is finished. If you were to make dramatic paragraph changes to your manuscript after a copy editor evaluated it, these new chunks could have grammatical errors. DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING. Developmental editing is a broad category, and refers to generally broad edits like plot, characters, pacing, etc. If you find yourself stuck while writing, you can turn to a developmental editor. Ie, if you're unsure if the plot is realistic or if you think you have a plot hole and are unsure how to fix it. HOWEVER, developmental editors can also be utilized after you believe your manuscript is complete. You can have a developmental editor read for the things I listed above. How much they can evaluate depends on the editor and the time they have at hand, so keep that in consideration. Some people believe developmental editing is just a during-the-process editing option. They offer other category names: content/substantive editing and evaluation editing. It's sort of like a spectrum from broad editing to detail-specific editing. Content editing is more specific, while evaluation editing is more broad; therefore, developmental editing falls somewhere in the middle. LINE EDITING. As it sounds, line editors work line-by-line. Like developmental editors, they're focused more on story than grammar. They will evaluate lines for good flow, how readable they are, and if the lines work together. Line editing is going to be near the end of editing process, but still before copy editing. You'll look to a line editor if you're worried about your writing style/sentence structure. So make sure you have all the details and scenes of your stories written out prior to line editing. PROOFREADING. Proofreading is the final "editing" process. Once you truly think your manuscript is complete, you send it to a proofreader. Proofreaders check for minor things like grammar, but, in general, are just reading, making sure nothing is so wrong that it takes them out of their reading mindset. You can hire professional proofreaders, but, I believe, beta readers are just as good. Beta readers are those whose judgement you trust, and those who like reading. They're the people whom you send your "complete" manuscript to so that they can read and give you their opinions. They'll surely tell you what they liked, and if there was something bad that stood out to them. You don't need too many beta-readers, just 2-5. Keep in mind, inexperienced beta-readers or those who are close to you may feel bad saying "negative" things about your writing, so be prepared to pry. Alpha readers. You may or may not have heard of beta and alpha readers, but I wanted to denote their distinctions for you, as an alpha reader can also be a handy friend for editing. They read rough drafts of your writing, and are "editors" you go to early in the process. They're there to help you smooth rough patches, and, like beta readers, give you their opinion. You may just have one person you trust to be your alpha reader, and that's okay! I'd recommend an alpha reader after your first re-write of the draft. You may even wait to send your draft to professionals until after you've heard from your alpha reader. An important note: there are many variations among writers and editors alike on the different types of editing. Some may think there are more categories, while other's may think completely different from my explanations. This is why, when you're looking for an editor, you should ask for or be able to find their exact set of editing skills. From there, you make your requests and payments!
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More InfoErin blogs because she wants to help other young adult writers and new writers. It's aimed to educate others on the writing and self-publishing process. If there is anything you'd like to know that she hasn't covered yet, please contact her! |