E.N. Gussler

It took me eight months, almost exactly, to write my first draft of Everything For You. That’s when the real work began.

I’m a “pantser’ with a touch of a “plotter” mixed in there. So, for me, the first draft truly is about telling myself the story. Once that is complete, my editing process goes something like this.

Full read-through edit – I read the story from start to finish and make any changes or corrections which stand out to me. Sometimes big plot holes are found, scenes I reworked suddenly creating continuity issues, words used FAR too many times, things like that.

BETA readers, round one – I send my manuscript, a copy so I preserve the original draft, to two friends. In this case, the people I chose consume books in large quantities and also write their own stories. I use Google Docs so that they can both leave notes and suggestions. I ask that they point out anything that comes to light for them. Places they were lost, things which didn’t make sense, or didn’t feel authentic to the characters as they have perceived them, as well as formatting issues, plot holes, mistypes, or words they didn’t think quite conveywhat they felt I was going for. It is also helpful to me for them to mark lines they love, or scenes which moved them.

Edit round two – I take the copy with their feedback and start from the beginning. This edit looks a lot like the read-through, in that I read the story from start to finish, making changes as they stand out to me, and also considering their notes and feedback. These changes can result in backtracking to an earlier part of the story to provide more context, foreshadowing, or altering character traits which didn’t land the way I intended later on.

BETA readers, round two – This time, I make a copy of the second draft, created through the editing brought on by the first BETA readers. I send this copy to two different readers. In this case, I sent it to my mother and one of my closest friends. Again, the instructions are largely the same. Note anything which stands out, bothered you, mistypes, misspellings, character issues, formatting problems, etc. I find comments on lines and scenes which they enjoyed helpful as well.

Edit round three – This is where I’m sitting with Everything for You. It starts with another full read-through edit.

This edit is proving much more difficult than the last two, for me. Certain things standing out which didn’t initially, nor did they necessarily stand out to any of the BETA readers. I’m noticing minor things, for the most part. A character name which is too close to another, a very tertiary character with the same first name of a more significant character, story elements I think need to be more prevalent, and considering things I might want to cut.

One thing which is hard about editing, I think, is that I might love a scene or a line, and know it needs cut. In this case, I don’t just remove it, I save it to a new document so that I can use the idea later in something else if it will work. I always try to remember that the goal is to have the most polished manuscript possible. It doesn’t mean those cuts don’t hurt sometimes, though.

So, here I sit…stuck halfway through my book. I took a couple days away from editing, so that I could look at it all with fresh eyes, ideas have been swimming through my mind. So many thoughts about how to make the story even better have plagued me. At this juncture, I am debating if I should go back and add in the pieces sticking out to me now, or finish this edit and then go back for another full read-through on my own before sending it to the next round of readers for feedback.

Decisions, decisions.