Okay, maybe you don’t think editing is sexy, but it feels soooo good and I find that sexy. Seriously, editing it where the fun is, where you turn those first drafts into targeted, crafted masterpieces. I have a wonderful weekly critique group (alpha readers), but before I send it off to them (and beta readers after that) I try to self-edit with these 6 sexy editing tips.
Sexy Editing Tip 1: The Three-Jobs Exercise.
Take a finished chapter and write in the margin what every paragraph accomplishes: P = plot, C = character, E = emotion, W = world building, R = relationship, T = tension, F = foreshadowing. A paragraph doing only one thing isn’t automatically bad. But circle every paragraph doing only one thing and ask, Could it effortlessly do two? Don’t add material to accomplish this. Look for ways to make the existing piece carry more weight.
Sexy Editing Tip 2: The Exit-Earlier Exercise.
Take a scene and highlight the exact sentence where the reader has understood the emotional point. Now read everything after it. Are you explaining, reiterating or giving us another image for something that already landed? Try cutting out one sentence earlier than feels comfortable.
Sexy Editing Tip 3: The Emotional Contradiction Exercise.
Pick the five most emotionally important scenes in a manuscript. Write: X Character feels ____. Then prohibit yourself from using that emotion. Ask: What else do they feel that they are ashamed/inconvenienced/confused to feel? Grief + relief. Terror + arousal. Love + disgust. Anger + longing. Jealousy + shame. That’s where writing gets interesting.
Sexy Editing Tip 4: The Propulsion Test.
At the end of every scene, write three private notes that won’t appear in the manuscript:
- What changed?
- What does the POV character want now that they didn’t want at the beginning?
- What must happen next as a result?
- If #3 is “anything could happen next,” the scene may not be generating enough momentum.
Sexy Editing Tip 5: The Body-Before-Brain Pass.
Search an emotional scene for places where the character identifies or explains an emotion. Before that thought, ask whether the body could register it first: mouth, scalp, gut, fingertips, breath, temperature, balance, skin, saliva, muscle tension. Not every time. The point is to catch places where the character’s intellect is getting there before their body does. Look for words like: Felt, thought, sensed, remembered, experienced (basic filter words).
Sexy Editing Tip 6: The Ten-Percent Compression Challenge.
Take a 1,500-word scene you already like and make a duplicate. Cut it to 1,350 words without removing a single event, revelation, emotional turn, image you love, or piece of necessary information. You can only eliminate redundancy and make sentences/paragraphs perform multiple jobs. Then compare them. Don’t automatically keep the shorter one. The exercise trains your eye.
Tam’s Fave Writer Craft Books:
- The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
- Story Genius by Lisa Cron
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King
- On Writing by Stephen King
- Understanding Show, Don’t Tell by Janice Hardy
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Which of these have you tried and which will you try first? More broadly, how many drafts do you do of your novel before you send it out? Do you have alpha and beta readers? Do you pay an editor or proofreader?
Tam Francis is a writer, blogger, swing dance teacher, avid vintage collector, and seamstress. She shares her love of this genre through her novels, blog, and short stories. She enjoys hearing from you, sharing ideas, forging friendships, and exchanging guest blogs. For all the Girl in the Jitterbug Dress news, give-aways, events, and excitement, make sure to join her list and like her FB page! Join my list ~ Facebook page
Great advice.
I try to do it, but it’s hard to do it all. I try to focus on a few things at a time with each editing pass. What about you?
Those are all fun, thought provoking tips! Where I am at in my journey right now, I’m trying to ADD, not condense. But I can see how these could be very helpful. Also, emotional contradiction is literally my favorite thing.
Another though I’ve had, not an argument, but contemplation… On Body Before Brain, I worry about overdoing it. For me, at least, it seems like there are significantly more very cool, very specific words to describe how a person is feeling than there are body parts to have react in unique ways. Sometimes, I *could* have a stomach flutter, or I could tell you with deliciously precise language how they feel, knowing you’ve felt that way before and will be able to relate.
It’s a thing I struggle with as I write
That’s a good point about brain and body. I think, perhaps you can do both, if the body feels something, and the brain intellectualizes it or makes a connection or leap? I know I’ve read stories where I don’t feel connected to the character b/c all emotions are intellectualized and although I “know” what the character is feeling, it’s hard for me to “feel” what the character is feeling. I think it’s about balance and having both. I believe we were talking about too much “showing” sometimes makes a story drag, too, right?