Self-Publishing Part One: Editing

There are 18 days until my work in progress, The Otherfolk, comes out! Which means my first post on how the self-publishing process works: editing.

Of course, the first step is really writing, but I'm not going to have a post specifically for that step. So, assuming you're done with your manuscript (stick to it!), the next thing is editing.

There are three types of editing (that I executed): Developmental Editing, Line Editing, and Copy Editing. There are more types for other genres, plus you can get more specific, but those are the three general areas for fiction. If you write nonfiction or historical fiction, you may also need a Fact-Checking process, which I won't go into here as it's pretty self-explanatory.

Developmental Editing

Developmental Editing is the broadest type of editing. It deals with the plot of the book. This is where you read through the book looking for plot holes and inconsistencies. I did this with my three best friends: Lena, Noel, and Talitha. I came across lots of little things; it isn't easy.

Of course, like I said, you want to check for plot holes. Sometimes they're easy to find, and sometimes they aren't. There's a lot of rewriting in developmental editing, so don't be afraid to start a section over if you need to put in something big. But it isn't only looking at plot holes - it's also making sure everything else is consistent.

You'll want to pay attention to where your characters are. If you don't have a map, I highly recommend making one. If your characters travel a lot like I do, trace their route and figure out how many miles it is. How long should it take to make the trip? Is their travel time too long or too short? Are they realistically tired or sore if they aren't used to walking a lot? You might want to sketch out blueprints of buildings they spend a lot of time in, or draw their bedroom.

Make sure you check on the little plot points you have and make sure they carry through. Put in some foreshadowing if you want. If your characters have a little problem, make sure it gets solved or talked about.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is losing pieces. For example, pets are always tricky for me. If your characters have pets, you may want to go through and see how often they come in and if they should appear more. If your characters have hobbies or nervous habits, make sure they come up every once in a while. Maybe they play with their hair or roll their eyes or bite their fingernails.

It's so, so helpful to have friends work with you for this part of the process! Lena, Noel, and Talitha did so much for me. Noel checked the accents and pets, and Talitha worked on making sure the units of measurement and currencies stayed consistent.

Line Editing

Once you're all finished with developmental editing, you'll want to start with line editing. I'll tell you... I actually did them both at the same time. It would have gone so, so much faster if I'd done them in order, though, so take it from me and do it the hard way!

Line editing is the process of making sure the book is readable. This is when you want to look at sentence flow. Lena was my official line editor, and we'd spend ten or fifteen minutes trying to figure out what was wrong with a sentence and trying to fix it. Reading your manuscript or difficult scenes out loud can help a lot.

You'll also want to look at the tense and person during the line editing process. Check that you're staying consistently in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person. Edit any incorrect past or present tense.

Check on your style, too. Is the narration more casual? Is your narrator 3rd-person omniscient? Limited? Unreliable? Sarcastic?

Copy Editing

Copy editing is the last part of editing (before proofreading, which will fall under my proofing post). Copy editing is purely technical - developmental and line edits will show themselves at the most inconvenient of times, but that isn't truly copy editing. Instead, things like spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure fall under this category. Of course, you can break these rules artistically, but only if you know them first! Make sure you're only breaking them when you want to. I had a professional editor do my final and copy edits, but you can ask your parents or English teacher, too.

The editing process is extremely long and tedious - it took my friends and me over 13 months. The strongest advice I have to give is this: don't do it on your own. Not only will you miss things that are wrong - you'll see too many issues and be too hard on yourself. You can reread a line so many times that it sounds bad to only you. Getting friends and professionals to help you balances the process.

It's also very worth it! It might be just the first step towards publishing, but it's every bit as valuable as any of the other steps.