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Once you, a friend, or a client have finished the first draft of any type of work, you reach the editing stage. Unfortunately, I have found very little literature as to the editing process, save for grammar tips and some technical clean-ups. For this reason, I am writing a few quick tips for editing the first draft of a written work—particularly works of fiction.

Tip 1: Let the story sit.

I have heard that C. S. Lewis let his stories sit an entire year after their first draft before he edited them. There is a two-fold wisdom in this. First, time gives you a chance to detach from the story you are so emotionally invested in—forces you to take a step back. From a more detached perspective, you will be able to edit your work subjectively and not so emotionally. Second, letting a story rest gives you time to forget it. This is important because when authors read their own work, they tend to fill in the gaps of information with what is in their head. In other words, they can't see what it missing because their brain already sees the story vividly, even without the written word. A year may be a bit much, but I advise writing a draft for a new novel or writing a short-story before ever returning to your previous work.

Tip 2: Read the story aloud.

Even if you are only whispering, reading a work aloud allows your brain to hear the structure of sentences. If one comes out a little wonky, your subconscious will pick up on it and send a wonkiness signal to your conscious mind, helping you to find errors that you would have otherwise missed.

Tip 3: Check your point of view (POV).

When you go back through your story, read it through the eyes of the narrator or focus character. Make sure that your audience can see all the important details that the POV character can see. If the POV character is looking someone in the eye, for example, make sure that he or she cannot see that the other character has their fingers crossed behind their back.

Tip 4: Don't be afraid of the delete button.

If you are a good writer you will use less than 5% of the text from your first draft, if that. Think of the first draft as setting the foundation of a building. By then end of the construction, you don't want to see the wood planks or steel beams or concrete holding the building together, and neither do you want to see the building material that is your first draft. It's still there, and it is meaningful, but it is not meant for your audience to ever see.

Tip 5: Mark what works, what doesn't, and what you have learned.

As you are editing your first draft, do so visibly and keep a copy of your first draft. Mark what worked in the story, what did not, and what you learned in every chapter. This way you can more effectively clean the rest of the chapters, firmly established what you learned from the previous draft (bringing growth to your skills as a writer), and have a copy to help teach other writers the techniques you learned early on.

Tip 6: Focus on the three worst flaws in your draft.

As you edit, find the three greatest weaknesses in the draft. Then, write them down, write down how you plan to solve that problem, and then go through the entire manuscript with those three flaws as a sort of checklist to edit each and every chapter by. This will hone in your editing focus and make your writing much more purposeful, while also not giving you too much to handle or remember.

Tip 7: Find a brutal editor or reader.

The most important step in being a writer is finding someone to read your drafts who will tell you the truth, regardless of your feelings. This person must be encouraging, telling you what they liked about the story, but also have the guts to comment about what they hated—hurting your feelings and putting a burning pain inside you to fix the problems and make your art even better than before. Harsh? Perhaps, but true writer are not in the craft for the warm feelings of constant praise, but for creating the best imaginable work as a gift to the world.

Feel free to comment with other suggested resources. Any questions about writing? Things you want me to discuss? Comment or send me a message and I will be glad to reply or feature the answer in a later article.

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