The 'Elusive' Editor's Eye
A recent discussion on Twitter has reminded me of a subject I wrote an article about not all that long ago – revision – and that it often seems to me that stories are subbed, at best, one revision too early, at worst, not revised at all! So, how can we writers do our best to critique our own work?
Give it some distance. Yes, we’ve all heard it, but in our angst to get something published we often don’t do this and sub anyway. Leave it alone! Work on something else for a week, two weeks, a month. Whatever. Just try and – literally – forget your story.
When you do go back to it, try not to think about your story and remember what it’s about. You want to give it as little thought as possible so you come to it with a blank(ish) mind. Try to just read the words, not think about your characters’ backgrounds or motivations. You are aiming to glean the context from what’s on the page, not what’s already in your head. This is a little like staring at one of those pictures to find the hidden message/number/image within. Only opposite. It’s hard, and sometimes can only be done in short spurts. If needs be, walk away, make a coffee, Put on some music and dance! Think about something else.
If you have Word Track Changes function, use it. Click onto Track Changes then save the document as a separate working file. As you read through your work you can add new comments where you see places for improvement or deletion/change without interfering with the original text. This way you look at your work with more of an editor’s eye, and it can help you to stop becoming too involved in your own story. (If you do not have TC, print off your typescript in double spacing, and make notes in the margins and between lines.)
Once you have been through and added comments, save and close the file and leave it until the following day. When you go back to it you can decide which of your own suggestions you wish to keep and which to reject. You may find a suggestion you made on the first round isn’t worth changing to at all, but at least you made a considered decision about it.
Once you feel you have adequately dealt with inconsistencies, contrived situations or dialogue, irrational motivations, emotional punch and emotional subtleties, characterisation, etc., leave it again and grow some distance.
When you are ready to get back to it, print it off (double spaced lines). In a different font. Larger, too. Read it through first without making notes so you get a sense of the pacing and flow. Once you begin to stop and note mistakes, etc., you lose that perspective so DON’T DO IT! Read through without stopping even if you end up howling at the moon with rabid drool frothing out the corners of your mouth because you had to resist corrections. At the very most use a red pen to mark a red dot (only!) roughly where you feel the pacing is out, or something needs your attention. You will most likely remember why you marked it when you go back to it again, so don’t worry.
When you read through again, while thinking about the pacing and flow, consider some of the following: awkward sentences that need fixing; ambiguities; have you given that all important scene enough space to develop and play out without leaving the reader feeling as if they missed something, or that it happened too quickly, or not quickly enough; What about your characters’ emotional responses to what’s happening around them? Has the character's or reader’s perspective shifted? If not, has the story world changed in some way as a result of your character's actions?
Again: time, space, reread. Adjust accordingly.
Eventually, you should be able to wipe the sweat from your brow. The hard stuff is over. Now ‘all’ you need to do is a thorough grammar and punctuation check. If you need to brush up on those, this site may help for UK English and this one for US English.
Even with the most thorough of revisions, it’s still a good idea to have someone else read it through to point out inconsistencies you may have missed, and general impressions. If it’s not a writer colleague, even a family member or friend would help. Make it clear the reason you gave it to them to read is to pick up any mistakes you may have missed, and to keep their feedback constructive. But be prepared, too. Your reading tastes may differ widely from theirs. Try not to take it personally if that’s the case.
Don’t expect all these areas to be dealt with in one swift revision. You may need to repeat any and all of these steps several times. But also, different people tackle revision in different ways. This is not meant as a definitive step-by-step works-for-all editing programme. There’s lots of other areas to consider when editing your fiction, but this would become a long article if we were to discuss them all. Maybe another time I’ll list the more common oversights we receive at TCL…
