“Editing Doesn’t Matter!” by Developmental Editor Jessa Slade

With the self-publishing market matured and the early “easy money gold rush” days contracted, I’ve been seeing more posts in online author groups about belt-tightening and ways to minimize overhead in order to maximize profit. This is a valid concern for small business people, which is what self-published authors are.

Toward that end, some authors have turned to a churn ’em and burn ’em book production schedule of faster, shorter, and cheaper books. To keep the volume high and the costs low, one of the suggestions sometimes made to such writers is to ditch editing.

To which I, a freelance editor, say—do it!

…If you can.

As an editor, I adore clean copy and beautiful, powerful prose. But as an author, I know that STORY is the One True God.* Everything else exists in service to the story. Cover art, blurb, marketing—none of that matters as much as the story itself. Editing doesn’t matter either…except where not editing gets in the way of the reader’s eager consumption and enjoyment of the story.

So, if you are a newer writer or a more experienced writer making adjustments in a changing marketplace, how do you decide if editing matters to you?

If you are in command of your plot and characters and can objectively review the last draft for its strengths and flaws, you might not need a content or developmental editor. (Although you might if you are pushing yourself to the next level.)

If your grasp of grammar, syntax, tenses, spelling, punctuation, and a thousand other nitpicky points of writing is professorial—not to say perfect—you might not need a line editor or copyeditor. (Although you might if your writing speed or focus would be improved by not nitpicking.)

If you can search’n’destroy every typo… Well, you’re fooling yourself. J Everyone needs a proofreader.*

Editing isn’t a necessary evil. It’s not a rite of passage for a newbie, to be escaped asap. It’s not even a way for editors to pay rent. (Okay, it is partly that!) The purpose of editing is to smooth a path from the author’s intent to the reader’s interpretation so that the story shines as clearly as possible between you.

For writers who want to self-edit—whether to try to save money or to sharpen their storytelling craft—I’ve put together an editing highlights reel. These are the elements of editing that I consider most important and that writers seem to struggle with most often. This covers the three stages of editing: 1. big-picture developmental or content editing, 2. mid-level line editing or copyediting, and 3. polishing or proofreading. This is not a complete list, and if it still seems like a lot…well, it is a lot!

And that’s why some writers work with editors. J

Self-Editing Checklist from Red Circle Ink

Let yourself forget the story and come at it cold.

Rewrite the cinematic tagline of your story as you know it now.

Re-read your story as a first-time reader, keeping the revised tagline in mind.

Start with big-picture re-visioning of conflict, character, and cadence:

Conflict evaluation: Is you plot (i.e. stakes and consequences)…

…Clear

…Instantly relatable

…Deeply personal

…Compellingly dramatized

…Escalating to a satisfying conclusion

Character evaluation:

            Core personality (relatable and interesting)

            Goal, motivation, and conflict

            Character issue (wound)

Fear (holding back, driving forward)

Purpose (want vs. need)

Growth arc (sequential steps of change)

Moments of change (linked to plot)

Cadence evaluation: (pacing)

            Master scene list with rising tension

            Gray pages

            Varied length (of chapters, scenes, paragraphs, sentences, even individual words)

Refine mid-level issues: Do you have clear and compelling…

            …Emotion—Have you moved the reader?

            …Point of view (the characters’ and yours)

            …Worldbuilding (fresh, coherent, and evocative)

            …Setting and timing (continuity)

            …Theme

Polish line-level issues including:

Create unique character voices with character-specific imagery

Evoke a sensory experience with the full range of senses

Limit filter words that put the reader at a distance

Leverage power positions (beginnings and ends)

Punch up dialogue and internal monologue

Tackle word-level copyediting after everything else is “perfect”

Amplify power words—strong verbs, specific nouns, evocative adjectives

Avoid clichés

Be aware of your darlings

Proofreading: “Last” pass

Change the font. Print it out. Read backward. Read aloud. Have your computer read to you.

The one rule*:

Be compelling. The story matters most. All editing serves the flow of story.

You can find the one-page Red Circle Ink Self-Editing Checklist here:

https://redcircleink.com/writing-and-editing-philosophy/one-page-self-editing-checklist/

* Anytime I write in absolutes, please just assume we all know That One Exception. If you are that exception, how nice for you!

***

Jessa Slade writes paranormal romance and science fiction romance as Elsa Jade. She launched Red Circle Ink developmental editing services in 2013 as another outlet for her love of story and to better understand what works in storytelling and why—as impossible as that may be! Since then, she’s worked with dozens of authors in many genres and won awards for editing. Please note that she does not always practice what she preaches, and as always with writing advice, YMMV.