Editing Tricks of the Trade

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Editing Tricks of the Trade
Terry Odell

Playing Tricks With EditingHitting “The End” on the manuscript doesn’t mean you’re finished. Once I have the full manuscript done, and have let it marinate for a while, it’s time to read it from the beginning. I wrote about my process several years ago, and I hope you don’t mind a repeat performance here. Some of my “Tricks of the Trade” might be helpful, either as a refresher for TKZers who’ve been here a long time, or for those who’ve joined more recently.

I finished my personal edits on the manuscript of my next book, Double Intrigue, and I thought I’d share some of the tips I’ve discovered over the years for that final pass before turning the manuscript in.

We want to submit the cleanest possible manuscript to our editors, agents, or the sales channels. By the time most of us hit “The End”, we’ve been staring at the manuscript on a computer screen for months. We probably know passages by heart, we know what it’s supposed to say, and it’s very easy to miss things.

What we need to do if fool our brain into thinking it’s never seen these words before. My tricks:

Trick #1– Print the manuscript. It’s amazing how much different it will look on paper.

Trick #2 – Use a different font. If you’ve been staring at TNR, choose a sans-serif font. In fact, this is a good time to use the much-maligned Comic Sans.

Trick #3 – Change the format. You want the lines to break in different places. I recommend printing it in 2 columns, or at least changing the margins. That will totally change the line scan, and it’s amazing how many repeated words show up when the words line up differently.

marked up manuscript printed in 2 columns

Trick #4 – Read away from your computer. Another room, or at least the other side of the room.

The above are all “Fool the Brain” tricks. Moving on to my basic process.

Trick #5 – Read from start to finish.

As I read, I have a notepad, highlighters, red pen, and a pad of sticky notes. This pass isn’t where I fix things; it’s where I make notes of things to fix. I don’t want to disrupt the flow of the read by stopping to check out if the character drove a red Toyota or a green Chevy. I have a foam core board by my chair, where I’ll post my sticky notes. Also, because it’s a hard copy, there’s not simple “Find” function.

When repeated words or phrases jump out, I note them on a sticky for a future search-and-destroy mission. I’ll circle or highlight words that could be stronger, or places where I might be able to come up with a metaphor that doesn’t sound writerly.

I’m also critical of “does this move the story?” as I’m reading. The beautiful prose might not be all that beautiful when reading it in the context of the entire novel. Don’t be afraid to use that red pen. On the flip side, you can also note where a scene needs more depth, or something needs foreshadowing. Are characters behaving consistently? Or do their personalities change because the author needs them to do something for the plot.

Another thing I look for is named characters. Naming a character tells the reader “this is an important person.” Do they play enough of a role in the story to earn a name? Can they be deleted, or referred to generically?

Once I’ve reached the end, I’ll go back to the computer and deal with the notes I’ve made.

The last pre-submission editing chore for me—and it’s a tedious one—is to let the computer point out all the clunkers I’ve missed. Because, despite all the ‘trickery,’ the story is still familiar enough that I don’t catch everything.

For this, I use a program called “Smart Edit.” (I might do a full post on this software another time.) I use the version that’s a Word add-on, and run its checks. I know I have my standard crutch words, but it seems that every manuscript brings a few new ones that I lean on too heavily.

Once I’m finished with the Smart Edit purges, the manuscript goes off to my editor. My work up front means she should be able to spend more time looking at the story, and less time dealing with clunky prose.

The last step for me, which comes right before I’m ready to publish, is to let Word read the manuscript to me. I’ve talked about that before, and using ears instead of eyes is another way to trick the brain into thinking the story is new. And yes, I still find things to fix.

What about you? How do you deal with whipping your manuscript into shape before submitting it?

How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate?

Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. A murder, followed by several assaults. Are they related to the expansion of the community center? Or could it be the upcoming election? Gordon and mayor wannabe Nelson Manning have never seen eye to eye. Gordon’s frustrations build as the crimes cover numerous jurisdictions, effectively tying his hands.
Available now.

New! Find me at Substack with Writings and Wanderings.

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

30 thoughts on “Editing Tricks of the Trade”

    • Thanks, Warren. They work for me. If any of them help others, I’m always glad to share.

    • Thanks, Louis. I found the columns make a difference in what I ‘see’ when I’m editing.

  3. Thanks for all the great tips, Terry.

    I like your double column trick. Besides repeated words, that should help with missing spaces (or two spaces) between words.

    I use text to speech twice, once when I’m finishing up my edits on Scrivener, and a second time on Word after I’ve fixed all the problems Word has noted. I’m finding that using it earlier, decreases the number of the mistakes I find when doing the final reads.

    Great post! Have a good day.

    • Thanks, Steve – I really really really dislike having to listen, so I admire that you can do it twice. I do it once after my editor and I think it’s “done” and then, if it’s an audiobook, a second time when my narrator reads it. Narrators are much easier to listen to, but they can make mistakes, unlike the computer.

  5. Excellent tips, Terry. I read the ms on my Kindle (large font) & in the living room to fool my brain. And you’re right. It’s amazing how many things I catch that way. I also run it through Pro Writing Aid (premium version).

    • I’ve done the reading on my ereader, but there’s something about that paper and red pen that works better for me. Whatever fools the brain is an effective method, Sue. Thanks for sharing your tips.

  6. Great tips! I’ll be trying out the double columns on this ms…I do all the others, thanks to you. 🙂
    I can only bear to listen to it once, but it really helps to catch typos, missed words and cadence.

    • The listening is tedious, but yes, catching everything (is that even possible) before going public makes it worth the effort.

  7. Great tips! I can’t quite do the “readthrough” trick without fixing something, or a lot of things. Working on that.

    This is my first time revising a manuscript, and I’m on my fifth or sixth pass. What I notice is that I first fix big problems based on a reverse outline, then do a readthrough cuttin down extraneous words, then another pass fixing big problems. Next, I’ll probably do a readthrough adding in small details.

    • Sounds like you have a system that works. I find using sticky notes for things that need to be addressed keeps me from getting bogged down in details. SmartEdit helps my cull the offending overused words. I work in 5 or so chapter chunks, so I’m fixing some of the obvious issues en route to ‘the end’.
      Of course, after my editor gets finished with her work, I’ll go through everything again.

  8. Great tips, Terry.

    I also edit a printed copy of the ms. It’s an entirely different perspective than working online. I’ll have to remember the two-column approach for the next one.

    Text-to-speech is an excellent tool. I always find errors that way, even after multiple revisions and professional editing.

    I’ll be looking forward to your substack postings.

    • I’ve found that SmartEdit works for the basics for me. I don’t need the fancy bells and whistles (and I’ve found that any program that tries to ‘fix’ my grammar is usually wrong, so it’s more trouble than it’s worth. YMMV

  10. Similar methodology here, Terry. I edit my previous day’s work and pick up a lot of stuff that way. It also helps me launch in to the daily quota. A finished draft I don’t look at for at least 3 weeks before the first read-through in hard copy. Minimal markings. Parentheses around sentences I want to fix, empty brackets to indicate I need to add material, a circle around words that need checking (where else did I use it? etc.) and the ol’ editor’s delete mark for cutting. But mostly I’m reading with the thought, “When might a busy or tired reader be tempted to set this aside?” I’ll put a big line down the margin for that section.

    • I remember my high school English teacher drawing a big red line across the page, which meant “I stopped reading here.” Nobody liked seeing a paper (mostly expository essays) with that line. I don’t usually wait three weeks, since I figure it’s been a lot more than that since I’ve seen the first chapters, but I do wait until I get antsy to get back to the manuscript.

  11. My editing (and writing) process has evolved since I switched to writing mysteries. The first editing pass is to flesh out the story, add in any missing scenes etc, which, like the writing itself, can see me jumping forward or backward in the manuscript as I do. Then I start over, make a story edit pass, and follow this with a line/copy edit.

    I then send it to my beta reader team, which includes my wife. She gets a printed copy of the manuscript, and goes through as an informed mystery reader but also to help with copy and line issues. Two more of my betas do the same thing.

    Out of seven or eight betas, I have three marked up manuscripts, two of which are electronic and the other my wife’s printed version, along with overall comments from everyone. I spend a few days processing those comments, then get to work going over the line notes and copy editing/typo issues. Once I’ve done that, I make another pass before sending it to my copy editor. Once I get it back from her, I implement her edits, making a close read of my own as I do to catch anything she didn’t. I make a final pass to make sure there’s no formatting issues.

    After reading your post I think I’m going begin printing out a copy for myself before I send it to my betas and go over as you do. I was still finding a lot of repeated words late in the process. Which reminds me: I do a “find” for words and expressions I tend to use and write up a list, pairing those down.

    Also, with this last book, I followed the advice to try and remove the weakest sentence on each page, a piece of advice I picked up from an editor. If not remove it, strengthen it. I didn’t hit every page, but it helped.

    • Thanks for sharing your system, Dale. I find that SmartEdit handles all the word/phrase usages, and you can customize it as you see fit. That way, I’m not missing anything that I didn’t realize I was overusing, and thus, not looking for it.

  12. Trick #1– Print the manuscript. It’s amazing how much different it will look on paper.
    All good tips, Terry, especially #1. I will also read the manuscript out loud. That’s another good way to catch typos.

  13. Definitely print it out. I tried reading it aloud. The dog left the room. Plus, my eyes continued to see what was supposed to be there. That’s why I turned that task over to the computer, tedious as it may be. (Easier on the throat, too.)

  15. Terry, I’ve always looked forward to reading your suggestions, even though I haven’t written in a while. My husband passed last week. I’ve lost interest in writing, but I did want you to know how helpful your tips have been. Thanks!

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