As I have been going through the editing process with Nowhere Feels Like Home, I felt it might be time to talk a little bit about the phases that I go through when editing. I will state up front that these phases are my phases and not all authors edit in the same way, just as they don’t write in the same way.
For me, it breaks down as follows:
Phase I
Repetitive word editing, or as I like to call it, getting the wuzziness out. I happen to be a very wuzzy writer (meaning I use the word was as if it were going out of style), and it simply won’t do for a finished product. I generally find all of the highly used repetitive words and attack some of them based on those which I feel I may have overused. I have an article discussing my method and how I work through the identification of the repetitive words. During this phase, I don’t necessarily edit for content, continuity, pace, or any other type of editing, I try to keep my focus on eliminating as many of the repetitive words and passive verb forms as possible. As a result, I do end up editing a little for content, continuity, pace and all the rest, as a side benefit to attacking those pesky words that don’t belong.
Phase II
Editing for Pace or Flow – This is the phase where I go through the entire manuscript at least once (and more likely five to six times) reading it out loud and marking text where I have a tendency to stumble, or something doesn’t look right, sound right, or in any way shape or form bothers me in some way. Hearing the words points out a whole new aspect of the manuscript itself and sometimes you can hear what doesn’t work better than you can see it. During any read through, any time I stumble on the phrasing, the passage gets marked for closer attention. If it doesn’t flow off my tongue, then it may not flow on the page. Of course, it could be that my tongue just isn’t cooperating on the day in question, or I’m tired, or several other reasons. All I’m doing is marking the passage for further review.
So, you guessed it, Phase II B is reviewing all of the passages marked during the reading session and making a determination as to whether the wording on the page is right and gets to stay or whether it is ripped out, reworked and put back in.
Repeat until satisfied, or so sick of the manuscript you’ll scream if you have to read it out loud just one more time. It is pertinent to note in this phase that I used to die a thousand deaths when trying to read my own work out loud. Now, I have improved to the point that I only die three to four hundred deaths during the verbalization of the manuscript. I don’t embarrass easily, this just happens to be one of my buttons.
Phase III
This is one which sometimes doesn’t get to happen, because you are dependent upon the mercies of your friends. It is still editing for pace or flow, but you have someone else read the work out loud and mark down anything which doesn’t flow well as someone who has not read the manuscript before reads it. The important part here is someone who has not read the manuscript before (I thought it bore repeating). Since the words are fresh to them, and they don’t know the plot and characters like they’re wearing them, it is important for you to hear how the words flow as someone else is going through the reading out loud process. Trust me, my mind is way ahead of me when I’m doing the reading process, and it fixes phrases before my tongue gets to them because I know the work intimately.
Once you have completed the read through, then follow Phase II B process. By the way, this read through will generally only happen once because if you have been lucky enough to find a victim, I mean, volunteer willing to assist you with this aspect of the editing process, they probably won’t want to read through the manuscript more than once. Plus, you lose that never seen before aspect, which is invaluable for this phase.
Phase IV
Final Read through – This is editing for content, continuity, pace, flow, and anything else you can think of. I use the term Final loosely, as it generally takes me around three final read throughs before I am satisfied.
Then I go through the manuscript one last time to make sure I have removed all of the editing marks and comments that tend to creep in while I am going through the editing process. Once complete, it is ready to be sent to other parties to read and rip apart. This could be a professional editor, a former teacher/librarian, or again throwing yourself on the mercies of your friends.
