Is your draft ready to go to your editor?
Are you wondering if your manuscript is ready to query or self-publish?
Hint: It’s not the first or even second draft.
It’s easy to think that once you’ve completed your first draft, your novel is ready for editing. Schools perpetuate this myth by having you revise your work only once or twice before submitting. And tight deadlines at school might mean you don’t have time to do more than reread your first draft before submitting. To be fair, you probably don’t rewrite and revise your Instagram captions more than once either. That’s okay.
But novels are different. There are different standards and norms in publishing. You probably don’t want to submit a second draft to agents or KDP. It just won’t be as polished or as complete as it needs to be to go out into the world.
Novels are complex. You have to take into account so many aspects—world building, plot, character development, etc.—and refining each one takes time. Of course, each revision is going to make your book stronger, so all your effort is worth it!
How do you know that you’re ready to either query or send your draft to your editor before self-publishing?
You’ve worked through several drafts.
Your first draft of your novel is an accomplishment. Your manuscript exists! At this point, it’s still pretty rough. No matter how much time you spent outlining it, there will have been changes you made as you wrote it. Now, it’s time to fine-tune it.
It’s important to go through a couple rounds of self-editing after you’ve finished your first draft. Read it through with an eye for something different each time. Maybe your first readthrough is to make sure your timeline make sense and your second is to work on the pacing. You can take a look at some tips for self-editing here.
Here’s a sample for some rounds of self-editing:
Update outline
Review purpose of each scene
Cut and/or add scenes as needed
Rework timeline
Finalize timeline using outline
Rewrite scenes to match updated timeline
Review pacing
Reread to flag any boring/extraneous bits
Review purpose of those scenes based on outline
Rewrite/combine/cut scenes as needed
Revise character arcs
Reread to flag any out-of-character actions/dialogue etc.
Make sure your characters are reacting/acting logically for them and that they’re being challenged
Rewrite any scenes as needed
Review language
Reread to ensure language flows
Remove filler words
Correct grammar mistakes and typos
A critique partner and/or beta readers have provided feedback.
It’s important to get outside opinions on your work before you pay a professional. That way your editor can dig deeper and give you more nuanced feedback. A critique partner is another writer who reads your work and gives you feedback on craft. Generally, this is an exchange, and you do the same for them. A beta reader, on the other hand, is someone who’s close to your target audience who reads your finished draft and provides reader feedback.
Having one or both of these kinds of feedback can help you iron out big-picture arcs that you might not have seen on your own but are easy enough to spot with fresh eyes. If you know where your weak spots are but you aren’t sure how to fix a plot problem, you can always ask your beta readers or critique partners questions to direct the feedback so it’s the most useful it can be.
Some ideas for questions to ask your beta readers:
Are there any parts that feel out of place or where the pace is dragging? If so, where are they and can you pinpoint why they feel off?
What parts feel the most exciting? Is there anything that stands out?
Does the magic system make sense? Do you have any questions you feel weren’t answered in the text? If so, what are they?
Does X character’s actions in Chapter X feel consistent with their actions the rest of the book?
Do you understand the villain’s reasons for destroying X?
The above are open-ended questions that allow you, the author, to understand where your writing is successful and where you might need to tweak things. You don’t want to ask your beta reader or critique partner a yes or no question without following up on the how and the why.
You feel like you’ve worked out the major plot holes and character arcs.
Once your story feels finished, that’s when it’s time to send it to an editor. Your editor will be able to spot complex patterns and help you elevate your writing that much more if you’ve worked out all the major plot holes and character arcs.
With all the major points smoothed out, you can focus on the nuances of your characters, developing the themes of your book and weaving them more intricately throughout using your characters, plot, and world building. You can also dig deeper into your characters to bring out unique character traits and nuances that are in your head but not yet on the page.
Make sure you’re confident that you have the major elements worked out in your:
timeline
character arcs
plot points
world building
You’ve done a final check for spelling and grammar.
Your editor won’t expect your spelling and grammar to be perfect, but it’s always a good idea to clean up your draft as much as you can before sending it to an editor. That way your editor doesn’t have to reread paragraphs to make sense of them if they could have been fixed by one last check. (That’s true of your beta readers as well!)
Once your novel is as clean as you can make it, it’s time to send it to your editor! They’ll thank you for giving them your best work and endeavour to help you bring it to the next level.
If you think your manuscript is ready for an editor, take a look at the different kinds of editing that are available to you!