I Just Finished My First Novel! The Feeling Is Indescribable. Do You Have Any Advice On Editing, Big

I just finished my first novel! The feeling is indescribable. Do you have any advice on editing, big or small?

Dear fate-and-chance,

Congratulations on joining THE ENDTIMES CLUB. 

Editing is basically the place the novels become novels — it’s impossible to overstate how the rough draft is only 10% of the process. Here is a pie chart demonstrating the overall gist. It’s messed up because I aggressively and deliberately misunderstand math at all times and also because I traced a ramekin full of discarded date pits on my desk for the outside, but you get the idea.

What I’m trying to say is: be prepared to spend the same amount of time editing as writing. 

GET CRITIQUE PARTNERS

This is the first step to editing. You need outside eyes. You don’t know if you have written the story you intended to tell until readers tell you that you’ve succeeded. A story is not complete until it has an audience. 

You can find some here. 

BIG PICTURE EDITS

It’s important to do your edits in the right order: there’s no point focusing on word choice when you don’t know if you’re going to keep a scene or not. What you’re looking for in big picture edits are

• pacing (is it taking you forever to get to your inciting incident? Are you leaping into breathless action so fast that the reader doesn’t have time to get emotionally invested? Is the general shape correct — do your stakes both emotional and physical slowly ratchet up til the climax?)

• clarity (do we know what the point of the book is? Do we understand who the main character is? Do we understand the stakes of the magic or the mystery or love story, etc?)

• momentum (are your scenes stacked in the correct order, or do you move backwards in stakes or have two scenes that essentially do the same thing?)

• consistency of character (are your characters consistent and inevitable? can we predict their behavior enough to be shocked if they do something out of character for once?)

• correctness of cast (do you have two characters who do the same thing in the plot? do you need to delete or add POVs or characters to your cast?)

• simplicity of execution (does the reader understand where they are in the plot? can they guess they are halfway through when they are halfway through, etc.?)

Title a document “outtakes.doc” and throw stuff that’s not working into it. You can always come back to them if you need them, but it’s often easier to see what you’re doing with the chaff removed.

LINE EDITS

Line edits are when you stop having to move big chunks around and can start fixing things within your newly edited shape. That is when you can start looking at adjusting pacing, tone, and momentum on a line level. Example:

Original sentence: The box rolled out of the truck and hit the ground.

Speed things up: Wham. The box, dropped. Tssss. Glass, exploded.

Slow things down: She snatched at air, and felt the whisper of the box sliding against her fingertips. The sound of the bottles exploding on the pavement echoed down the alley.

Ground us: Everything changed the moment that box hit the asphalt.

Tell us about a character: Ten years before, she’d been watching a box fall from through her mother’s hands in just this way. MORE ANECDOTE HERE 

COPYEDITS

This is the part where you actually fix typos and continuity errors, and it’s the least important part of editing. This is where you can enlist a non-bookish friend to feel useful, because the less invested you are in the book, the easier they are to spot. 

IN CONCLUSION

You could write entire books about revision — someone probably has — but this might be a start.

Happy wording.

urs,

Stiefvater

You walk home from school. Your mind is dull, tired. It’s been two weeks. Nothing. No plan, no sudden epiphany, nothing. If only you were stronger. If only some sudden power would show up. And then what? You’d break him out? Run away? You’d be fugitives forever. Both your futures would be ruined. Somehow, you don’t think Jr would thank you… You suppose it doesn’t matter though, since you don’t have any powers to speak of. Jr’s brother comes up, startling you. He had missed a week of school, and then you had avoided him. You were too ashamed to face him. Too afraid. That makes you want to cry all over again. Why are you SO WEAK? You have no powers, no will, you’re even too much of a coward to face Jr’s brother… Frustration builds in you and you want to scream. If only you were a superhero. If only you were braver. If only you were smarter. But you're not. You're just a little girl, too weak and scared and stupid to do anything. “I want to go see him.” Jr’s brother’s words break you out of your thoughts, “What?” You stare in disbelief. “Jr. I want to go see him. I want you to come with me.” You laugh, but break it off quickly, “You CANNOT go out there. You’re a werewolf too. I’m not having you thrown in there-” “I’m not.” “What?" You blink, “What do you mean?” “I’m not a werewolf.” You roll your eyes, “Yes you are. Jr’s a werewolf. You’re his brother. It runs in the- Did he get bit?” He hesitates, then nods, “Yeah. Yeah he did. When he was young, still a kid. It almost killed him… I think dad was hoping he would die…” Your lips twist, “That’s awful…” He shrugged, “Is it? At least he wouldn’t be stuck down there if he had…” You frown, “Do you wish he had died?” His eyes widen, “No! No, of course not. I’m just… I don’t know. Let’s go.” You shake your head, “We can’t get in. They watch the inner walls VERY strictly. The furthest we can go is on the wall…” “Then I want on the wall…” You shake your head, “We can’t…” His glare is so intense it scares you, “YOU were with him! YOU were there! YOU did nothing! You OWE ME!” You flinch, heart sinking because... You do. You do owe him. It is your fault… You sigh, “Ok… But I can only take you TO the wall. We were on the wall and… Fell…” His eyes widen. You continue “So they’ll be watching that part carefully. I don’t know where the blind spots are and I can’t climb that wall…” He nods, “I only need as far as the wall…” You frown, “You really don’t know where it is? Everyone knows where it is…” He blushes, “I’ve… Never left the city… And I’ve never been curious about it…” You shake your head. You would think, with his brother being so into all that, he would at least know where the GIANT CITY FULL OF HOWLING WOLVES IS… Oh well. You take him, just like you said you would. The walk is long and awkward. You don’t know what to say, and he’s quiet anyway. You open your mouth many times to start a conversation. But how can you? After getting his brother put in Hell, you really have no right to speak to him at all. So you walk in silence. When you finally get there, you zigzag through there blind spots, just like Jr. had showed you. His brother follows. He seems to be fairly adept at sneaking… This worries you a little. What does he do to be that good at being sneaky? You reach the wall and look at him. Then your jaw drops. Feathers are springing up on his face and neck. “Wait for me…” And then he’s a blue jay, flying up the wall.

Jr’s home is very large and very nice, as expected from someone as powerful as his dad. Everything is in pristine condition. It’s almost uncomfortable how perfect everything is. In each room you pass, there’s at least one bell, sitting on a small table. Jr and his family go to the living room and you follow. His mother sits on the edge of the couch. His father stays standing. Jr sits comfortably on a different couch and pats the seat beside him. You go and sit by him. He leans back, pulling his feet under him. It’s such a comfortable and vulnerable position, you almost feel like you should look away. Surely you shouldn’t be seeing Jr like this, who always acted strong and cold? Surely he’d be embarrassed? But he doesn’t seem embarrassed at all. He watches you, unblinking. You sit awkwardly until he breaks the silence, “I guess you decided I wasn’t HORRIBLE… For a monster?” Immediately you want to slap him. Arrogant little prick! You JUST got out and you’re ALREADY trying to provoke me? But you smile a little anyway, “I…  Haven’t decided yet…” You shrug and look at the floor nervously. Really, if you’re honest with yourself, you have. But you’re not confident enough to admit it yet... He watches you. You don’t look up to see him, but you can feel his eyes burning into you. “Then why’d you wait for me? Why’d you send me messages? Why’d you bring Sam to me?” You look up, “His name’s Sam?” He blinks, then shrugs, “Yeah…” You frown, “Oh… I’ve known him for so long and never even thought of asking his name…” Jr smirks, “Well you ARE a little scatterbrained…” You glare, “You literally JUST got out and you’re already being a jerk…”

You scream and he twists, as if he's trying to run, even though he’s in the air. A net shoots out, catching him perfectly. He wails as it captures him, yanking him back. He slams into the wall and thrashes, struggling desperately to release himself. The guards help you up and, as you watch Jr being dragged onto the wall, tears running down his cheeks, it clicks. ‘He’s a werewolf…’ Terror immediately grips you. They can’t find out. They can’t put him down there. He’s not a monster. He’s not going to hurt anyone. What if they find out who his family is? You pale, your mind immediately going to Jr’s little brother. He wouldn’t last a DAY in there… You whirl on the guards, “We’re so sorry! We just wanted to see the city!”, you break down crying, unable to hold yourself together, “Please don’t punish us! We’ll go back to the city! We won’t come back anymore! We promise! Please-” “Calm down ma’am.” You sniffle and the guard continues, “We’re just gonna take you in, get you tested, to make sure you’re not wolves. But you DID break a major law. This is going to hold a hefty fine.” Your eyes flick to Jr. He’s curled tightly in on himself, trembling violently. Why the Hell did he have to come up here when he KNEW he was in so much danger. What kind of idiot, BEING A WEREWOLF, would go to the one place he SHOULD BE AVOIDING. You start crying all over again, “Please, we’re not werewolves! We’re just dumb kids! We just wanna go ho-ome!” I’m sorry ma’am, if you’ll just come with us, we’ll test you real quick, then set you free…” When it becomes obvious that bawling isn’t getting you out of it, you start fighting desperately. You can’t let Jr be taken. Why had you been so stupid!? Why hadn’t you just MADE him stay in town. Why didn’t you just FOLLOW THE RULES? The guard slams you to the ground and you let out a cry. “Please stop fighting ma’am. This’ll only take a second. If you’re clean, you have nothing to fear…” And like that, you’re dragged inside the tower.

Jr glares, “Look down there! Tell me what you see! Where is ALL that food going then?!” “How do you know this? Who told you about this?” Jr swallows and looks away, then looks back, “I had a friend… He was a changeling. He got put in there, but he used to sneak letters out to me...” Your heart speeds up a little, “Used to?” He nods, looking bitter, “They found out. I had got to where I came up here often. I watched it happen…” Your heart jumps to your throat and you barely get out, “Watched what happen?” He points, “They dragged him to the edge of the city. Shot him in the head. They just left him there for the clean up crew to pick up…” You turn your head away. There's so much to process… You look back at him, “I don’t understand. Why would they be MEAN to them? I understand containing them, but it just doesn’t seem realistic that they’d just torture an entire species unnecessarily…” Jr shrugs in defeat, “It’s easier to control a broken people, rather than a thriving nation. If they were strong, they could break out. Better to beat them down and starve them and let them die…” Tears prick at your eyes and you turn away quickly, looking back out, “But there are children out there…” Jr snorts, “Baby monsters you mean? Well, I mean, I’m sure at least half are werewolves. The rest are changelings, mimics, anything that can transform into a wolf. Even if they’re in full control while changed. Even if the moon doesn’t affect them. If any wolf DNA is in you, you’re classified a monster.” You blink away your tears. You will NOT cry in front of Jr. Though this IS horrible. You wish there was some way you could help them. But you know storming around yelling at people isn’t going to change anything. You have no powers to speak of. You’re probably the closest to human that exists. You don’t even have super speed, one of the most basic powers out there, that almost everyone has.You wouldn’t stand a chance against anyone. You’d just end up in jail, stuck, or dead, and then REALLY not stand a chance… Helplessness wells up in you and you lean over the wall, trying to distract yourself. You look for anything interesting. Livestock, trees, anything that's not the people. You can feel Jr's intense stare burning into you. You refuse to look at him. Suddenly a strong gust of wind sweeps by and you scream as it knocks you off balance. You topple over the wall, limbs flailing. “NO!!!” Your desperate wail is snatched away by the wind…

So I found a site that does a subscription box for your period- it sends you basics like hygiene products, pain medication as well as snacks and pampering stuff to make you feel good, 

but the best thing is they have a specialty boxes, like vegan or kosher only snacks but also 

they specifically offer boxes for menstruating guys and nb folks. 

which is pretty darn cool.

it’s called bonjourjolie and I think it’s 1000% awesome tbh