WRITING CORNER: 7 Steps of Editing a Book-Length Project

7 STEPS OF EDITING A BOOK-LENGTH PROJECT

1) I do all my initial longer fiction composition (and poetry) in long hand, which I recommend. I sometimes involve my husband, friends, or writers groups at the brainstorming stage—for help with what direction the piece will take and what devices to use, etc.

2) Then I read it out loud to my husband, giving me an opportunity to see it again and hear it for further corrections. 

3) Then I key in the work, hopefully, no more than 30 to 50 pages at a time. As I input the handwritten work, I find many other things to change. This is where many inconsistencies will make themselves obvious. During stages 2 and 3, I may return to brainstorming exercises that help create projects. Sometimes, those are necessary for the creation of new directions or continuation of the project’s momentum. 

4) Next, I go back through, on-screen, looking for spell and grammar check suggestions, as well as re-reading in a more holistic way. This is the point where repetitive word use, descriptions, or dialogue strategies get caught—my thesaurus gets a heavy work out here. 

5) Then the piece gets run out in hard copy, and I present it to my writing groups, friends, my husband.

6) After selecting which changes to use suggested by those people, I add those and make changes necessary to accommodate them, including going back through stages 3 to 6 again, if necessary—usually needed if the changes require relatively large additions or re-directions that require re-writing.

7) Finally, I go through it all again myself, looking for those neglected errors and typos. All my work typically has these seven stages; although, articles and columns often are done initially on the computer and skip being shared with groups and friends.