The importance of editing and revision – Part four
No matter how experienced you are as a writer, it’s always tough to edit your own work, because this is your baby and you’re biased, even if you don’t think you are. You have to have a thick skin to be able to handle the rejections which come to all of us and you have to be hard on yourself before you send it out in the first place to publishers. Once the novel is done, I always read it through as many times as I feel is necessary, making fewer and fewer changes as I go through the text. I find that reading the novel aloud helps as well, since this is the closest you can actually get to experiencing another person’s point of view.
How do you know when to stop editing? Well, there are no hard and fast rules on that, but at some point you will know. At that time, you have to take a deep breath and finally get someone else to read your masterpiece, whether this is an editor or just someone you hire to evaluate your manuscript. Is it then ready to send out? Again, there are no set procedures, but eventually, you have to make a decision. The fear of rejection is a very strong emotion and holds many people back, but at some point your work has to be submitted. Just make sure it’s ready, doing whatever you need to do and taking as much time as you feel is necessary. Never rush things or take shortcuts, because you’ll most likely regret it.
I’ve provided substantive and copy editing services for many other writers over the years. This has been for novels, short stories, fiction, nonfiction, biographies, inspirational books and many other genres. You can view details of some of the projects that I’ve worked on here.
