Novel manuscript editing1/2/2024 ![]() ![]() Indie authors might be in the corner giggling to themselves right now, but be forewarned. When that happens, it won’t matter how much time you’ve devoted to editing-your manuscript won’t get published! And if publishers won’t work with you, your agent won’t be able to find you work, which will soon leave you agentless. Publishers certainly won’t like it They need manuscripts submitted on-time to fulfill their scheduling needs. For the rest of us, missing deadlines is a sure way to build a bad reputation. Douglas Adams can joke about it because he wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. If you allow yourself to miss one deadline, what’s to stop you from missing more? And at that point, you’ve likely entered into changes-not-improvements territory.įurthermore, you don’t want to become known as an author who misses deadlines. As long as you’re working on your manuscript consistently and diligently, you should be done by the date you’ve been assigned (or chosen yourself). If you’re editing so much that you’re going to miss your deadline, you’re likely editing too much. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” You might’ve heard this Douglas Adams quote before: “I love deadlines. And if it continues to be the latter, you’re probably done editing. While editing, constantly ask yourself, “Is this an improvement or a change?” If it’s the former, do it. As a result, we compensate by making too many changes. As we near our deadline and editing time dwindles, we subconsciously realize that we’ll soon be unable to make any further changes. My own personal theory on this phenomenon is simple: we get scared. Adding a syllable to a supporting character’s surname was lateral movement, not forward progress. At some point, I realized none of these changes made the work any better-they just made it different. A few weeks before my deadline (more on those in a minute), I began rearranging chapters, toying with fonts, and tweaking character names. This happened to me while editing my book. There may come a point in your editing process where it feels like you’re moving laterally. Lateral movement, on the other hand, won’t get you any closer to the end zone. Writing a manuscript is a lot like American football: only forward progress counts. You’re Making Changes, Not Improvements.If any of these three signs sound familiar, you’re done. That’s what we’ll cover in today’s article. So the question is, when is it good enough? When can you be sure it’s safe to stop editing and hit “Submit”? If you just keep going, no one will ever read your work (except maybe your mom). If you answered, “Never,” this article is for you.įor a manuscript to become a book, editing must eventually end. ![]() Massa from ProWritingAid is helping us with a problematic decision: knowing WHEN it’s time to stop editing a manuscript. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |