editing checklist

Every writer has a completely different process for editing their work. As I am knee deep in editing my novel, I am going to share my editing process.

After I finish the first draft, I find it is best to take a step back from the work for a bit and come back with fresh eyes in about a month. It worked out well for me that I finished my first draft at the end of November. I took a break over the holidays and then dove into the deep end of editing.

I started with a read through of my novel on my kindle. I took notes and wrote summaries of what I was reading, but I didn't change anything yet.

After I finished my read-through, I went and wrote a full summary of the novel as it was, not what I hoped it would be. Then I wrote a few sentences of the heart of the story (helps to focus you back to the point of the book) and a few paragraphs about its strengths and weaknesses. This process helps see where my novel is currently at. That way when I go to start changing things, I have an idea of what is going on and can then get it to where I want it.

I find it helpful to know who I am writing about in my book, so I then wrote out a list of all major characters and thought through their arc and how they connect to the main character. I did this with the settings in the novel as well.

The next step is to look at the heart of the novel by examining themes. Looking at what themes are present and how they could be enhanced.

After all this, I went through and read the story again, this time taking note of what is at stake in each chapter and making small edits. This is the point where I just start editing. I don't find it completely helpful to start from scratch when editing. Of course there is room for that and can be necessary, but for this project, I am not starting over.

I have gone through and done a solid first round of edits. I am taking a short break to attend the Women in Publishing Summit and then I am going to go through the first part of the checklist again.

Once I have gone through the checklist twice, I plan to find a few beta-readers and get feedback from other writers. Then I just keep going through the checklist until the novel is where I want it to be.

Here is a more concise list:

1. Read through on new device, take notes.

2. Summarize: synopsis, heart of story, strengths, and weaknesses.

3. List all major characters.

4. List important settings.

5. Look at the theme and how it can be enhanced.

6. Read each chapter and think through what is at stake.

7. Read through and edit as you read.

8. Take a break.

9. Go through again.

10. Beta read.

Hope this helps to give you a new perspective on editing!

-Cath