How to edit your own book (part one)

Part One of a very long guide to making your book extra super awesome

Dec 17, 2024

A few questions I see a lot: how is anyone supposed to edit their own book? Where do you even start? How do you know if you’ve done a good enough job to either query the manuscript or pursue self-publishing?

I’m going to share a few (lol from the future) guidelines to help you get started, but keep in mind, this can’t cover everything! It might not work for you, the way you work, or your story. That’s okay. This is just a place to begin.

My hope is that you’ll be able to take these suggestions and find an editing method that works for you. When you query, go on sub, or publish your book, I want you to know you gave it your very best.

I’m sending in two parts:

Part one: global/developmental edits (that’s this one!)
Part two: mid-level, line edits, copyedits, and proofreading

Make sure you subscribe to get part two the moment I send it!

Okay, let’s go!

Generally, we do edits from large to small, beginning with overall character motivations and arcs, worldbuilding and setting, plot and structure, and theme. This is so we don’t bother straightening the art on the wall before we knock a hole in it to create a doorway, you know? There’s no point in fixing the prose and commas when that scene might get cut later.

So, let’s start global.

Bonus step: write an outline of your story . . . from memory. No cheating! This will help you get an idea of what is truly important to you in the story — and what’s less important. And also where some things might be a little shaky.

This is also a point where I like to write a query letter style description, if I don’t have one already. Same reason: it provides a sort of north star while I’m working.

1. Developmental/structural edits

The first thing we need to do is see what’s actually on the page. (If you can take a break from the story — a couple of weeks, at least — I’d do that. Go in slightly more clear eyed.) So let’s start with a reread.

Note any place where you start to skim, motivations that doesn’t quite make sense like you thought they did, scenes that seemed important to write but don’t actually go anywhere now. Don’t worry about fixing your prose here, but if you notice that you tend to reuse phrases or descriptions, I’d take that note down for later.

Once you’ve read your book and gathered your notes, pull up a blank document. We’re writing our own edit letter!

Edit letters are what you’d get from an editor at a publishing house. These are meant to help you look at the big picture—the story as a whole. When you get one from someone else, they can sometimes be hard to digest! A lot of authors find they need a couple of days to read their letters a few times and let suggested changes take root.

Because we’re just doing this by ourselves for now, it’s important that we be really honest and perhaps even look at the book as if it isn’t even ours. (This is one of the reasons people say you learn more from critiquing other writers’ work — you’re not as close to it!)

Basically, write this edit letter as though you’re not the one who has to do all the revision on the other side. :P

Let’s break it into a few major sections to keep things organized:

A. Character

Who is your main character? What do they want? What are they willing to do to get it? And what happens if they don’t? (If these questions look familiar, it’s because I bring them up a lot when I’m talking about how to write a query letter.)

Ask yourself if their motivations make sense the whole way through the story. Are their choices tied to their goal? Do their actions get them closer to (or farther away from) that goal?

Look at their backstory. How does their past inform their present? How does it affect their choices throughout the story? How does their life affect their voice and the story they tell about themself? Are they a reliable narrator?

Is your character driving the story, making things happen? Or are they reacting to outside forces the whole way through? Do their decisions matter? Do their actions change things in the world around them? And remember when we asked what they’re willing to do to achieve their goal? At some point during the story, are they actually challenged on that? Perhaps they’ve acquired something meaningful along the way . . . and the only way to achieve that original goal is to give up this new thing. Can they do it??

And by the end of the story, has the character reached their goal? Did they learn something about themself along the way? Remember, in the beginning, we identified the character’s wants. But what about their needs?

Take your other characters through the same process, especially if you have multiple points of view. Love interests, antagonists, and other major characters all deserve the same depth as your protagonist.

And speaking of side characters — are they all needed? Can you combine or eliminate any? I know we love to populate the world with lots of interesting people, but make sure they’re pulling their weight if they’re going to be more than extras in the background!

B. Worldbuilding/setting

I know we use this word a lot in science fiction and fantasy, but even when you’re writing a story set in the real world, you’re still building a world on the page for the reader to explore.

Whether the world is big or small, it’s important for it to make sense to the reader, to feel real and lived in. So start with that: does the town, kingdom, or big city function in a way that makes sense? Is there a culture and economy? (There are probably a few of these, especially in bigger settings!) How many people live there, and what kind of things do they do for work and fun? What’s the history of this place? What do they celebrate and what do they fear?

You don’t need everything on the page, but the world should feel alive, like all the extras in the background have lives and worries and hopes of their own.

And when you talk about the world, note places where the action stops for an explanation or description. A page of someone monologuing about the price of eggs probably isn’t that interesting, but a debate between a farmer and a baker — both of them just trying to get the best deal they can because they have bills — is less likely to make your reader skim. And if the story doesn’t have anything to do with eggs, farming, or baking, you probably don’t want to spend a whole page on it anyway. This might be more of a background argument, something your character overhears part of while they’re walking through the market one rainy morning, and it actually just speaks to a growing tension in the village. Things are not going well there.

Also, think about how the world shapes your characters. We’re all deeply affected by the world we live in. Make sure your characters are, too!

C. Plot and structure

If your characters are driving the plot — making choices, reacting, and shaking things up, you’re probably off to a good start. But while we’re here, let’s make sure we look at the way everything unfolds.

Depending on the audience you’re writing for, does your book have the plot triangle, with the inciting incident, rising action, climax, and resolution? Do the various plots intersect at an interesting time? Are the subplots earning their places on the page? Is your plot causal? By that, I mean does one choice/event cause the next thing to happen?

I find that I usually have three main legs of my stories, like a tripod: two external plots and an internal plot (per POV character). One of my external plots is a “world” plot, one is my character’s personal plot, and the internal is emotional, closely tied to their development throughout the story. And, like a tripod, those three plots rise up together and intersect around the climax of the story. If they don’t do that, then I need to fiddle with something.

This is also a good point to check out your subplots — side quests, sort of. Are they useful? Do they add depth and interest to the main story? Or are they distracting/taking over? If you find you’re more interested in one of the subplots, you might want to . . . adjust what story you’re telling. And if the whole book is way too long, you might look at cutting a couple of subplots.

D. Theme

And finally, take a look at what your book is saying. What is it digging at? What makes the story resonate?

I find a lot of authors repeat themes throughout their work, exploring things that are important to them. For me, that’s often looking at environmentalism/climate change through a fantastical lens (this is especially obvious in The Orphan Queen, Before She Ignites, and Nightrender). Tied to that is inheriting problems from previous generations. And I often include a bit of duty vs. desire — for example, duty to marry for the good of the kingdom vs. desire to be with the person they actually love.

So while you’re working on your edit letter, take note of the themes you spotted throughout the story. Do they make sense with the characters you have? Are they explored this way and that? Do the characters talk about them? (Not directly, probably, but when they’re talking about their problems/emotions with others, more likely.)

Identify the main themes of your story. Perhaps forgiveness, love, betrayal, or isolation. You’ll probably have a nice handful!

Now, I usually find themes take care of themselves when I’m editing. If I know what’s resonating for me about the story, I will subconsciously include that everywhere it feels right. But if you’re worried about striking a good balance, don’t worry, there’s still time to look at this again.

Whew! Now hopefully, we’ve got an idea for what we need to tackle in this first round of edits. It’s time to go into the draft and start digging in.

I find that if I’m doing a big, structural edit like this, things can get pretty messy. For a while, it looks worse than when I started. Sometimes, it helps to plan out my changes in chart form, especially when it all feels too big to fit in my head at once.

So if you’re struggling here, pull up a spreadsheet and start with a few key columns: Draft 1, Draft 2, and Changes

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Below draft 1, write down what you have right now. Below draft 2, write what the next draft will look like. Under changes, you might add notes like “rewrite x scene and fix the dialogue to match the previous exchange” or something.

You can add other columns, too, if you like, to focus more on different aspects of the story. Some things might just be reminders for you!

And remember, you don’t have to make a sheet like this, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed at the scope of the edits you want to do, it can help to make a plan.

Okay, depending on how substantially you’ve changed the story in this round, you might want to do another round just like it. Ask all the same questions. Does it need any more large-scale edits? I know this was exhausting, but if you need to do it again, do it again.

If it’s worth writing your story, it’s worth revising it, too.

Okay, like I said above, I’m breaking the next part into a second letter, which I will send soon. (It’s already written so I promise it’s coming!) If you’re editing now, this will probably keep you busy until then.

Let me know if you have any questions!

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