Like many crafts, writing is actually a number of different skills all wrapped up in the process of creating something. Like all craftsmen, writers are better or worse at various aspects of the process. In the case of editing things are particularly polarizing. Authors seem to either enjoy the process of editing, and indeed claim to do their best work in this stage of the craft, or they hate editing and just have to slog through it. I must confess that I fall firmly into the second category.

Let me be clear. Editing is a very necessary part of the process and there’s nothing I’ve ever written that didn’t benefit from having a good editing pass to make it clearer and more consistent. However it’s not something I enjoy doing and as a result this is the part of the process where my advice will probably be the weakest. So, what’s the purpose of editing?

Well, as I already mentioned, making it clearer and more consistent is a good starting point. Watching for consistency is pretty simple. Check your set ups for important pay offs and make sure the set up actually leads into the payoff you are aiming for. When I discussed outlines I mentioned I didn’t tweak my outline to reflect revisions I made as I planned scenes but I probably should. Why did I say I should? Because scanning the most current outline I have is the fastest way to remind myself what payoffs my setups should be pointing to. (Again, I keep coming back to the outline as the fastest way to keep your story straight. This is why I stress its usefulness as a writing tool.)

Clarity is harder to gauge. It’s best to set a piece of writing aside for a while before editing it, although it’s best to acknowledge that the time available to the writer is a factor into how practical that is. When you come back you’ll hopefully be able to read what you wrote without your intentions clouding your mind. That will make it easier to gauge whether you actually said what you intended to say. Developing the proper perspective when doing this is also important. You’re not reading and asking whether you said something other than what you intended, that’s not the way unclear prose works its way into what you write. What happens is you write gibberish instead of something understandable.

I should also note that, in my case, how long I must leave something sitting before I can effective edit it is dependent on how many times I’ve edited it. Often a week or two of down time is enough for the first editing pass. This is part of why I try to give myself a couple of weeks of material in padding for the stories I am writing. I can edit them the day before they are posted and have a pretty clear eye for what I’m reading. However it can take a month or two before I can make a second editing pass with any clarity and even longer before a third is effective.

Ultimately editing on your own will only take you so far. It is also wise to seek out the input of people who are willing to give fair and even handed critique of your work. Ideally that would be a professional editor. The problem with going that route is that such people will rightly charge you a fair amount of money for their services and if you are not yet a major publishing phenomenon you may not be able to afford it. I understand this problem as I also suffer from it.

That said, there’s really something to be said for having one person who handles all your basic feedback. An editor who knows you, your style and your priorities is going to give very personalized input. You also won’t have to constantly go back and fill in important context and thematic through lines as you discuss your story. If I could afford that kind of consistent input from someone I would definitely pay for it. Sadly, I can’t afford it and I suspect, if you’re reading this, you can’t either.

So what’s the alternative?

There are plenty of forums, websites, Discord servers and the like where you can find like-minded, struggling authors and exchange feedback with them. While you won’t get the same level of personalized input from them as you would an editor, any feedback is good. It’s not impossible, of course. Sometimes a collaborator will be able to work with you for months or longer on multiple projects but it’s not a guarantee and you shouldn’t count on it.

Managing feedback is a whole ‘nother thing. Hopefully you’ll be able to engage in a lot of dialog with them and not just get an email outlining a few thoughts on the story. Ask as many questions as you can. Again, clarity and consistency is a major thing you want to ask questions about. Did they understand characters and decisions? If not, how can you make them clearer?

Beyond those two basic issues dealing with feedback is a lot harder. Readers will offer thoughts on your characters, the tone of your story, your prose, your genre of choice and many other things you won’t think of until people bring them up. All of that feedback is good and useful but you should be careful. Don’t chase any one particular kind of response from your audience. People have many and diverse opinions on these many facets of your story and you cannot control them. The ultimate question is did they see what you were trying to do with your story or not? Don’t concern yourself as much with whether they liked what you were trying to do.

Ultimately, whether you are editing yourself or asking someone else to do it you are not trying to make people like your story. That’s not something you can do. What other people think of your story is their business. You are the creator of your story and you need to focus on whether the vision you had for that narrative is getting through to your audience. If you didn’t have enough confidence in that vision to stick with in the face of criticism you shouldn’t have written it. This part of the process is about making your vision as clear to others as possible. If you can do that, you’ve fulfilled your role as storyteller. With that, your role in the process is done and thus, so is this series.