Finished NaNoWriMo? Don’t Rush to Editing Yet!
Five tips to get the most out of editing your new manuscript
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood
Congrats on making it through NaNoWriMo!
Whether you’ve hit your 50,000-word goal or another personal writing goal, it’s a huge accomplishment. After reaching the coveted words, “The End,” it’s time to book an editor, right?
Wait!
Before you spend any money on editing, there are a few things to do first to make sure you aren’t wasting your time or paycheck.
What is NaNoWriMo?
First, for those of you wondering, “what the heck is this NaNoWriMo?”: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) started as a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days so a writer could have (most) of a novel complete with only 1 month of drafting pain. The concept is that with 50,000 words written, and most writers setting out to write a novel never finish a manuscript, NaNoWriMo offers a method, resources, and inspiration to get writers into that minority. I’ve used it, and havign the accountability works.
If you’re interested, check out their website: nanowrimo.org.
What to do when finished writing a manuscript
Making it to the end of a manuscript is a huge accomplishment. And I can empathize with the desire to be done — after all that effort, the starting at the beginning again for a second draft is daunting and may feel impossible.
But here’s the truth: If you want somebody to spend the time and effort to read your story, you need to put in the work to make it readable. And rarely — very rarely — does a first draft hit every critical story element.
If you took that first draft to an editor, you’d either be paying them for heaps of corrections you can easily make on your own. What’s worse, taking a manuscript to an editor before it’s ready means the editor will be forced to prioritize what to edit or flag for attention(sadly, we can’t fix it all — we really do want to!) and end up missing or forced to overlook other issues due to time or budget constraints.
With some effort before hiring an editor, though, you’ll get to a polished story much faster, and with a lot less money spent on editing.
So rather than jump into editing and pay for too many rounds, what do you do with your first completed draft?
1. Put your manuscript away
I know it’s all you can think about, and maybe you’re excited to jump to the next step, but put that sucker away. If handwritten, put it in a drawer for later. If digital, create a new folder and hide the file in there.
Why? Because your brain is currently stuck in this first draft, living each detail in vivid memory. The details are too fresh, and your brain will make connections that it thinks are there, but aren’t actually on the page. It happens to all of us, and the best thing you can do is set the manuscript aside and revisit to see what your first draft brain overlooked.
So how long does this break from the story need to be?
Weeks, maybe even a couple of months. Some authors wait three to six weeks, some wait a whole year while they work on something else. Personally, I give it two to six months, and by that time I usually remember the plot but the details are fuzzy so they become a pleasant (or sometimes confusing) surprise. You want fresh eyes, like you’re reading the story for the first time as a reader, to catch the inconsistencies and plot holes of a first draft.
2. Change your font
After you’ve waited and are ready to tackle the second draft, change the manuscript’s font before reading anything.
A different font from the one you wrote in will make the writing feel just unfamiliar enough that you will catch more mistakes. While the story may feel familiar, the writing itself will come to the forefront, as if you are reading a published book and find a typo. It’s a surprisingly easy way to trick your brain into seeing the story with fresh eyes, especially after a break.
I also recommend to clients to have the computer read your manuscript aloud as you read. This is a great way to catch missing words, duplicates, and misspellings because the brain easily skips over these but you’ll hear them and cringe.
3. Focus on content, not spelling errors
The second draft is for content, meaning this is the time to make sure the story flows well, all the elements are present, and any missing details are added to fill in the world building, character, development, or plot.
While you may be tempted to fix spelling and other minor errors, don’t let this become your focus, because you may find that you decide to rewrite sections and any edits would be deleted anyway.
I’ve gone into detail about different story elements in previous articles, and there are excellent resources available to writers (here’s a list of some of my favorites), but here are a few of the items you’ll want to look for:
Plot: Does the plot lead naturally from one point to the next? Do the other story elements support the plot, and what can be changed to make them more cohesive?
Character: Are the characters unique and varied? Do they act logically and of their own volition? Do any stereotypes pop up and how can they be changed to make the character more unique?
Dialogue: Does the dialogue support the plot? Does each character sound unique, as in the reader can tell who is speaking without any dialogue tags? Can dialogue tags and action beats be added to make the story clearer or deeper?
Setting: Are there adequate setting details for the reader to imagine the scene? How can the five senses be added to each scene.
It’s the content that improves the story, so focus on those elements first. The rest is just polish.
4. Get feedback from beta readers
Now that you’re pretty sure that you’ve caught all the big holes in the story, run a spell check, and pass the manuscript to a beta reader or two. They’ll find what you missed, and save you from publishing a manuscript that has obvious plot holes that didn’t make it from your head to the page, confusing actions, and other issues.
A beta reader is primarly a reader, someone who loves the genre of your manuscript. As readers, they’ll know when something feels off, when the plot sags or gets confusing, or if a story doesn’t meet genre expectations (for example, cozy mysteries shouldn’t include the gorey details you’d find in in a noir or police procedural.)
Don’t have beta readers? Here’s an article I wrote on how to use them and where to find them: You Need a Beta Reader.
Beta readers often find glaring issues before the manuscript even goes to editing, giving you a chance to fix those issues and the editor a chance to focus their polishing efforts elsewhere, bringing the entire manuscript to a higher level.
5. Choose the right editor
After putting in all this effort, you’ll be excited to jump into edititing — but don’t go with the first editor you find. It’s important to find an editor who is the right fit for your story, specifically someone who specializes in your genre and is excited to work on the project with you.
Editing comes in different packages, depending on the complexity of the story, your experience as a writer, your budget, your publishing intentions, where you are in the publication process, and other factors.
In general, I recommend first-time authors get a developmental edit, or at least a manuscript evaluation. This type of edit is not focused on spelling or grammar, but story fundamentals. A professional editor knows writing craft and will tell you not only what is not working but also why it’s not working and how to fix it. In the end you’ll get an editorial letter that is basically a mini writing guide just for you, explaining how to boost what is weak in the writing and what additional resources would be helpful. Even if you’ve written for years, having an industry professional tailor writing craft advice specifically to you will boost your skills more than several years of writing could.
Good editing, costs what it does because publishing is a competitive industry. Readers are picky (we’ve all left a book unfinished because it was “boring”), and industry professionals know writing craft beyond correcting typos and fixing grammar. To get familiar with average industry rates, check out https://www.the-efa.org/rates/. Then, take a look at editor profiles on professional editing association websites, such as ACES: The Society for Editing, the Editorial Freelancers Association, or Reedsy.
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With these tips, you’ll take your first NaNoWriMo draft from a rough draft to a polished manuscript in far less time than if you’d hurried off to editing.
Congratulations again on finishing a manuscript, and happy writing!