To Edit, or Not to Edit...That is the Question!

So here's something of a conundrum that one can come across when getting ready to publish/submit your manuscript for the first time. You've just slashed off the final page, you're feeling good and dandy, you've got the query letter written and your pile of potential agents and publishers all mapped out...

Uh oh...no one else has looked at this beauty yet. It hasn't been edited.

Ah. Ok, so first things first. Do you need editing?

The answer is always and unquestionably a resounding YES. No matter how carefully you read over your work, you are always going to miss something. Perhaps you descriped the "beauty of love as lovely" or wrote "hte" instead of "the" or "an" instead of "and" (especially if you're using Microsoft Word, whose grammar and spell check functions are about as useful as a rock). You are going to have mistakes in there, from the very basic of typing errors to larger grammatical errors you didn't even realize were there to simply awkward diction and sentence structure that you wouldn't notice with your eyes, because you wrote it.

There are several tricks to editing on your own that can get you very far. For one, do a first read-through. Then do another read through, this time reading aloud. When you read aloud you force your brain to work differently, and you also force your ear to hear what the words are going to sound like to someone else. You can also get a keener tuning on the flow and rhythm of what you wrote and discover awkwardly metered sentences.

Another trick that I've heard of and have only partially tried once before is to change the font, size, and color of your manuscript and read it that way. This also tricks the brain (by tricking your eyes) into thinking it's reading something for the first time, and will allow you to catch more errors that your eyes merely slipped past the first or second or third time.

But even then-- even then-- you need someone else to read your work. I can tell you from personal experience: my own manuscript has been through the editing ringer. Not only did I essentially rewrite it at least a dozen times, but I edited it just as much for a period of time longer than a decade. And even then, after that I had my twin sister edit it for me, rigorously. That red ink came flying. And you wouldn't believe the mistakes, awkward diction, name errors, and plot points she picked out. Imagine if I had sent that off to an agent? Oh wait...I have.

So that answers that question. You need to edit. Another pair of eyes have to look at your manuscript.



"One should not aim at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand" ~Quintilian

 But here's the follow up query-- whose eyes?

Now, I would highly suggest you don't get your entire family and your friends all to read your book/short story and give you their opinions. For one, it will drive you nuts and you'll never get anything done. The whole everyone's a writer mentality here will bite you right in the butt. You can't please everyone-- there will be people out there who won't like your book, perhaps will even despise it, and people who will adore it as the best thing in the world (just look at Twilight, for instance. Or maybe don't. Don't look at Twilight.) You can share your writing just for fun with as many people as you want. But limit your editors. Limit the amount of opinion you have to deal with.

You also want to get someone who has an eye for the thing. Not just someone who is a good writer, but someone with an eye for the industry. I'm luck in that my twin sister has the same goals as I have and the same industry experience (such as it is) that I have. We've both interned at a publishing company and have worked at editing/approving manuscripts. So I've got it made as far as editing is concerned.

But if you don't have someone like this (and even if you do...weigh the costs and the gains before you decide) you can consider looking for a professional editor.

If you're on a budget but want someone to give you a professional job, I have just the person for you. Over the summer I had the pleasure of interning at the publishing house I have mentioned before with one Ms. Flannery Winchester, who (guess what) just so happens to have a professional editing service. She calls herself The Word Weeder and provides several services, including:

• Copyedit
• Developmental Edit
• Sample Edits
• Quality Follow-ups

She will also give you a cost estimate and a time estimate up front.

Now remember this distinction. Never, ever, ever, NEVER pay anyone to read your manuscript. If an agent or a publisher requires a reading cost, run far in the other direction. Run as fast as your little pages can carry you. Editors however will and can charge for their services, because they are offering you more than a pair of eyes to glimpse the words on the page. They can check your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanical content.

In Ms. Winchester's case, if you go with her Developmental Edit, she can reorganize paragraphs and chapters to maintain a logical flow, ensure sentence and dialogue clarity, maintain consistent tone throughout the manuscript, and offer suggestions on strengthening character development or aspects of the plot, all while preserving your original voice and tone.

She offers to do all of this for an I'm-broke-and-in-high-school-or-college. Or as she put it, "I-can-swing-this-in-less-than-one-paycheck affordable. I’m-a-teenage-author affordable. I’ve-only-got-sixty-bucks-but-my-manuscript-needs-some-help affordable."

 Well. What are we waiting for? If nothing else, give her a ring, see what's what. As writers we are excellent at querying and asking questions, so don't let anything stop you in this case. Don't let that one weak sentence, paragraph, or character stand between you and a manuscript you can wholly and utterly confident in.