How to Know When to Stop Editing a Novel
This year I’m publishing five novels! Yes, five! Eeek!
The first book of the five released in June, A Reluctant Bride (my bride ship series). The next four books (in my medieval YA series) are releasing this fall, two books in August, one in September, and the final in October. If you missed the cover reveal for Always and Evermore releasing in August, here they are!
With so many books coming out in one year, guess what I’ve been busy doing over recent months? Editing. Yes, I’ve been editing until I’m blurry eyed and dream about nothing but commas and em dashes.
Thankfully, I work with some very wonderful editors who are skilled at looking at my messes and offering insightful feedback that doesn’t discourage but rather inspires me to take my lump of a story and form it into something cohesive and workable.
Not only do I have editors, but I also have proofers who then are able to polish the manuscript to a shine.
Finally, for some of my books, I also have Beta Readers (which I call First Readers). As they read an early copy, they use their keen eyes to keep track of any final details that may have slipped through the cracks.
Let me tell you, my team of First Readers is superb! Not only are they fantastic at spotting tiny missed details, but they go above and beyond the call of duty to read for me whenever I need it as well as taking the time to compile and send me their feedback. They are true gems!
Even after all that work and feedback, there’s still more editing! During the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading through printed versions of Always and Evermore for a final proofing. I’m not surprised that I’m STILL finding things I want to change or tweak.
When I reach this point in a book’s life, I’m almost always discouraged and think I’m the worst writer in the world. My internal editor is out of her cage and is raging like a crazy mad woman.
I read an article in the Huff Post titled, “You think writing’s a dream job? It’s more like a horror film.” One line in the article really stood out to me: “Any author will agree with the statement that a work of art is never completed, only abandoned. And, as perfectionists, we always fall well short of our goals. We live with failures, even when we are successes.”
A work of art is never completed, only abandoned. I love that line. Because it’s so true.
Could I go on editing my books forever? Yes, probably. That’s why after a book is published, I never read it again, because ultimately I know I’ll find issues I’ll want to change.
If a work of art is never completed, at what point, then, does a novelist know when to stop editing?
For me, that point comes after I’ve put my book through rigorous editing “tests” on multiple levels (as I’ve already listed). Once I’ve done that, I finally have to say, “I’ve done the very best I can. And now I have to let go.”
No matter how I feel, I have to make myself abandon my manuscript and hope that the heart of the story comes through and that readers will be forgiving of anything left uncompleted.
How about YOU? Writers, when do you know it’s time for YOU to stop editing? And readers, how keen is your editing eye while you’re reading? Do you often spot mistakes? If so, have you considered asking an author to be a First Reader?
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Yes, I spot mistakes all the time. I just read a book that had some really irksome mistakes. I want to take a red pen and correct them, but resist as I don’t want to mess my book up. 🤪
Blessings,
I find that errors have been increasing over the past 15 years, especially in ebooks, and it drives me crazy. Both my sister and daughter have mentioned the same thing.
Regarding the editing process, I like your statement, “A work of art is never completed, only abandoned.” I am not a writer, but taught writing to 5th graders for 23 years. I know that sounds strange, but I attended writing workshops throughout my career because we were responsible for preparing our students to pass the state writing test, first The Literacy Passport test in 6th grade, so we did a mock test in 5th, then later when our state test moved to 5th. One of the most difficult things to do was to convince students to go back and edit their work, as well as proofread. They wanted to be done when they were done!
More power to you as you go through the editing process! Your professionalism and love of your craft come through in your words.
It must be hard to know when to stop editing. I have no gift whatsoever of being a writer, but I am on several author teams. I’m not as good at grammar, but do find wrong words used (or missed entirely in a sentence) much more than I find typos anymore. Maybe because the typos are usually combed through pretty well before the ARC’s are dispersed.
I’m good at spotting mistakes. My crazy brain picks up on typos, wrong usage of words, etc. If there are too many, it takes me out of the story, because I start looking for mistakes! I’m much better at finding random mistakes than editing for content, though. I’d probably be good at doing a final reading edit on a book. It’s always good to have fresh eyes read for mistakes. I feel the more times you read something, the more your eyes/brain miss, because you know what’s supposed to be there.
What drives me nuts is when a character may stand up when he/she never sat down or something similar and misspelled words are like fingernails on a chalkboard. If I’m in my Kindle I highlight them!
I’m a freelance fiction editor specializing in Christian fiction. I also review books, and a lot of those are the pre-proofed versions from publishers. As such, I’ve had to learn when to notice errors (when I’m being paid to edit!) and when to ignore them (because I’ll never be able to settle in and enjoy the story if editor-brain is turned on).
Most of the books I read for pleasure are pretty clean, but I do occasionally come across books with missing words (forgetting the “not” in the middle of a sentence makes a big difference) or spelling names in two different ways.
Last night I finished reading “A Reluctant Bride”. I really enjoyed the book except for one small thing. At first mention Sarah’s ring was gold. A few chapters later it was silver and by the end of the book it was back to gold. I know it was a small thing but I was going back and forth and getting a little confused. Maybe it can be fixed for later editions.
I just read a book where a person’s horse began as a mare, then changed to a “he”, then back to a mare later. Those details, along with misspelled words and missed words draw me right out of a story. I may still read it, but I’m not enjoying it like I could be.
As an unpublished author, I’m still editing. I’m hoping in the near future, I can experience the time when I am forced to “abandon” my work, but until then…
I occasionally see a mistake but I don’t let that bother me. Only the great story matters to me unless it’s unreadable. I read the The Reluctant Bride and I didn’t catch the mistake of the ring like someone said.
I have spotted errors before (not in your book) and wondered about the process. I would love to be a first reader! How do you go about getting to be one?
Thanks for sharing the process with us!
My first book was written as my thesis in a writing program. I changed a character’s name part-way through. From the time I did a “find-replace,” there were at least four critique partners, two professors, and a dozen or so readers, and two editors, as well as myself, who read the story. After publication, I found ONE place where the name change hadn’t taken place! It didn’t make a big difference in the understanding of the story, but I knew it was there. I look at it as one of those many things that helps keep writers humble. 😊
“I’ve done the very best I can. And now I have to let go.” I needed to hear that. My motto often runs more along the lines of “Dang it. How did I miss that?” I appreciate your thoughts on dealing with the inner editor.