Ready to master the art of self-editing? For fiction writers, this can be a love-hate process. But when self-edits are done well, it can save you a lot of time and money when finishing your fiction novel.
A book without proper editing is like watching an international film without subtitles. If the person watching doesn’t understand the language—or in the case of a book, the reader doesn’t understand what the author is trying to say—the message is lost.
And who wants to waste their time on something they don’t understand?
Guide to Self-Editing Mastery
Learn how to avoid the most time-consuming editing mistakes most authors make and self-edit your book like a seasoned professional with our free guide.
Here’s the truth: Good writing is about skill and talent. But great writing is good writing that has passed through the editing process. Great writing shines.
And every great writer knows that editing can make or break a book. At selfpublishing.com, we always recommend that our authors use professional editors—either ones on our book production team or a freelancer you hire yourself. Just as good writing is a skill, quality editing is a skill, and both are necessary for a book to have the best impact.
As a fiction writer, your focus is on the story—the images, conversations, locations, and conflicts you see in your head—and bringing it to life. Your ability to harness your imagination and put it into words is a gift that not everyone possesses.
Editors, on the other hand, have a deep understanding of the mechanics of language. And there are dedicated editors for different types of manuscript editing, such as those that focus on character development and finding holes in your plot. They look at a story from a structural perspective and, like an architect, find the missing pieces to ensure that it is sound. Similarly, there are line editors who strictly stick to grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure fixes and copyeditors who do a final check of your manuscript to ensure a clean read.
Related: Learn These 10 Different Types of Editing for a Better Book
While we won’t be covering all the stages of professional editing in this post, we will be taking an in-depth look at how you, as a fiction writer, can get the process started with a fail-proof self-editing process.
What is self-editing for fiction writers?
There are two definitions of self-editing. One refers to writing and the other to human emotions. The focus of this article is on fiction writing, but the second definition around emotions gives us a deeper understanding of the term “self-editing” and how it can be applied to writing in a more creative way.
For example, The Conscious Professional describes self-editing emotions as “the act of managing your emotions, without judging yourself for having them, to avoid a sticky outcome, or, indeed, to move towards a positive and constructive outcome.”
That being said, a straightforward description of self-editing is the process of revising and refining your own manuscript before handing it off to a professional editor. It involves reviewing the story for issues related to structure, pacing, character development, dialogue, consistency, and style, as well as correcting grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. The goal of self-editing is to elevate the quality of the manuscript, making it as polished and readable as possible so that a professional editor can focus on deeper improvements rather than surface-level fixes.
Our tips to help you self-edit as a fiction writer
If you’ve been here a while, you’ve probably heard us say this: don’t self-edit as you write.
The best and most thorough self-edit will come only after you’ve completed your rough draft. Trust us.
It can be tempting, but it can slow down the writing process significantly. Whether you self-edit by chapter (we only recommend this in some rare cases) or wait until you’ve finished writing your first draft (our preferred method!), self-editing always works best from a distance. And usually after you’ve spent some time away from your book and characters.
In the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, authors Renni Brown and Dave King second this notion of creating distance between yourself and your book:
There is no better way to spot room for improvement in your manuscript than by looking at it with fresh eyes. We routinely advise all writers to put their manuscripts in a drawer for a while, as a way of becoming their own fresh eyes.
It’s easy to get too close to your work and lose perspective. Stepping away from the content to put space between you and your words is the best way to prepare for the self-editing process.
If you haven’t written the initial draft of your fiction novel yet, stop here and go back to writing.
If you’re still reading, let’s get into some more tips.
1. Start with the big picture before getting into details
In other words, do your developmental editing first.
Without getting too long-winded, this is a look at your book structure and character arcs. We’re not worried about grammar at this time, though you can always fix a stray typo when you see it.
First, take time to play detective and hunt down any plot holes that appeared while writing. Move chapters around if the flow no longer makes sense. Slash sentences, paragraphs, or even (gasp) entire chapters that don’t make sense or slow the novel down.
We’ve previously written about using the Save the Cat method to structure a fiction novel. That’s a great reference if you’re still having issues with plot or pace.
As a fiction author, you’re likely attached to your characters after bringing them to life. But you need to be impartial and see the story from your readers’ perspectives.
Ask yourself:
- Does the plot make sense and follow a logical story arc? There should be a clear beginning, middle, and conclusion (even if it is a cliffhanger!).
- Are the characters consistent? Make note of inconsistencies so you can re-workshop any part of your characters before you complete your self-edit.
- Is the POV (point of view) consistent? Getting the point of view right can be tough for any writer, especially when you factor in the narrator and multiple character dialogues.
- Do the scenes connect and/or is my story weighed down? Too much background information, unrelated side characters, confusing dream sequences, and more can stop the flow of a potentially great story.
Hey, we said self-editing for fiction writers is important, not easy! You’re probably close to your novel and your characters, so it’s normal to not want to let go of certain parts of the story. But successful self-editing requires an honest look at what’s working and what can potentially dampen a reader’s experience.
2. Audit your characters and their dialogue
Feel free to skip around your manuscript for this step.
After making sure your novel flows, you’ll want to take a magnifying glass to each character and any chapters or sections that contain dialogue. This is the time to get your fiction character bio template out and have any other notes about your characters handy. If it doesn’t work for you to audit each character in one read-through, you can go character by character.
Tip: If you’re writing your novel with Google Docs, you can use “CMD + F” on your keyboard and then type in the character’s name to quickly highlight all the places where their name appears.
Here are some character-specific questions to ask yourself while self-editing your fiction novel:
- Does each character have a distinct voice and personality? Make your character real. Bring them to life with more descriptions or by amping up their background story.
- Are my characters believable? They don’t have to be likeable, but they should be complex and multi-dimensional, even contradictory at times. Referencing a list of common character flaws could help you add in some “humanness” to a too-flat fiction character.
- Does the dialogue sound real and true to each character? The best way to do this is simply to read dialogue out loud—clunky lines will become obvious.
- Is there a clear character motivation that readers can grasp? Ask yourself what each character wants in each scene and how that desire drives tension.
We’ve all put down books because of a bad character. But to really drive home the point, here’s a list of some of the common complaints of low-star reviews for fiction novels on Amazon:
- “I am shocked at the idiocy of the characters.”
- “The characters are too contrived.”
- “Completely dissatisfied with the story and character.”
- “Her character is completely undeveloped.”
Comments like these are not hard to find. Look at one- and two-star reviews on Amazon and use the FIND command to search for the word “character” on the page. Unsurprisingly, characters are extremely important to readers. They want them to be interesting, flawed, and relatable, not predictable.
You’re well-positioned to audit the characters when self-editing as a fiction writer. After all, you created them!
3. Use tools to complete a thorough grammar check
While the first two require a decent amount of subjectivity to implement, this one does not. A grammar and style check is the last thing to self-edit before shipping your manuscript to the professional editor.
We recommend doing this last because you probably made changes, omissions, and additions up to this point. So there was a chance that new typos snuck in. Do not fear.
Rather than meticulously reviewing every single line of your novel and asking yourself a list of questions, we recommend that you use editing and formatting software during your self-edit. Your copy editor will do the manual check and read-through later.
There are a slew of free and paid options available, but our authors have had great luck using Grammarly and/or ProWritingAid.
The former is a more general grammar check tool with a browser plugin, while the latter is specific to authors.
Related:
Optional: Use AI prompts for quick fixes
One way to help the overall editing process is to use AI for editing. Since some AI platforms allow you to upload your entire manuscript, it’s easy to ask it to do several tasks to make self-editing easier. From creating detailed outlines to searching for missing content, AI can help you fill in the blanks.
If you do want to try out AI for self-editing, try the following prompts:
- To create an outline: “Create a detailed outline of this manuscript.”
- To improve dialogue: “Adjust this dialogue so that it sounds more ____] (“casual”, “funny” “threatening”, etc.)
- To check grammar: “Check this section for grammatical errors.”
- To check for style issues: “Check this section for style issues based on [style guide—enter your preferred style guide, e.g., Chicago Manual of Style.
- To create a setting description: “Describe the setting of a [adjective] + [location] in [time period] + [Outcome].” For example, “Describe the setting of a futuristic city in the year 3025 and how technology impacted daily life.
- To analyze character arcs: “Analyze the character arc of my manuscript and make recommendations for areas of improvement.”
- To optimize a paragraph: “Assess the following paragraph and suggest improvements for clarity and conciseness.
- To elevate a scene’s impact: “Suggest ways to enhance this scene’s descriptions.”
- To eliminate repetitiveness: “Find repetitive words or phrases in my manuscript and suggest replacements that would fit.”
As you can see, using AI doesn’t mean replacing your creativity or publishing something that isn’t yours. Nothing could replace your unique perspective! But tools like ChatGPT can be used to quickly spot and correct things that a human may miss or that would take hours to spot.
Final thoughts on self-editing for fiction writers
The ultimate goal of most fiction authors is to have the best book possible. This doesn’t just mean the best story or characters, but also the best reading experience. Successful authors understand that the quality of their books impacts book royalties and the success of future books.
By self-editing and then hiring a professional editor, you’ll set yourself up for success while staying mindful of the cost of publishing a novel.
Of course, there are other parts of book production and you need a thoughtful marketing plan to get your novel in front of potential readers. But while a professionally designed book cover and well-crafted excerpt can encourage someone to make the initial purchase, a well-edited book will keep readers engaged and ready for your next book.