Boy, That First Edit Is Overwhelming…and It Doesn’t Go Away
But it can be beaten each time
You’ve done it!
You’ve type “The End.”
Good LORD, that’s satisfying. I can’t tell you just how satisfying I find it, typing “The End”.
I never keep those words in the manuscript but it’s become something of a ritual to type them out slowly.
Once those words are typed, something in me is released.
I’ve done it.
I’ve written a book.
Annnnd relax.
Except that most of the time, typing those two little words leaves me so excited and in the moment, that I want to move onto the next part.
The edit.
Now, a word of caution, if you too feel that pull: don’t act on it.
Once you’ve typed “The End”, give yourself at least a week before you look at your book again.
In that time, your subconscious may suddenly throw you a “Bah! We forgot to include that!” or “Meep! That bit was wrong!” or “Ooh! New idea for that!”.
Your manuscript needs that space to settle and you need a break to celebrate and rest.
So, you’ve written “The End”, you’ve put your book away for a while, and now you’re ready for the next stage.
The first edit (every book needs multiple edits!).
You open the document and BAM!
If you’ve written a novella, you’ll be staring at up to 40,000 words. If it’s a non-fiction, it could be up to 50 or 60,000. Written a novel? Then it might be more than 70,000.
That’s a lot of words, making up a lot of pages, staring back at you waiting for you to do something with them.
Not only that but suddenly you’re under pressure to view the book as a whole, to make it coherent, to make it gel and work and flow and ARGH!
Let me tell you something right now.
In my experience of writing and publishing nine books, that immediate first edit overwhelm doesn’t stop. I’ve had it for every single book.
But, in good news, that overwhelm is completely natural and normal.
And, even better news, there are ways through it.
First of all, take a deep breath.
You got this.
Next, break it down into steps. If you’ve got chapters, then you can take it a chapter at a time. If there aren’t any chapters or your chapters are big, then break it down by so many words.
You’re going to do this first edit in stages. One chapter or 2,000 words is a lot more manageable than 70,000 words, right?
The thing is, you do want to get that whole picture thing. You want to know you haven’t forgotten anything, repeated yourself too much (or at all), that you’ve filled in the gaps and everything flows.
At this point, I will reiterate what I’m always banging on about: everyone’s process is different and you have to find what works for you.
So, with that in mind, here’s what works for me.
I like to read and first edit the whole book in no longer than a week.
…I’m just going to await the reactions…
As a slow reader, this always scares me a bit, but I know some of you will be all “Yeah, and?”
If you spend some time every single day reading and editing your book, then you’ll be able to keep it fresh it your head. Just like when you’re reading for pleasure. The whole picture will form as you go and there’ll be no space to forget anything.
With that in mind, I take one of the blocks (which is usually a chapter) and I read through it, making any necessary changes as I go and adding comments for myself in Track Changes, and taking notes for future reference. I time myself doing this.
I do this with around three chapters and then look at the average time. Multiple that time by the number of chapters left and voilà! That’s how long your first edit will take…plus the time on the end to go through all those comments and sort those big changes out.
Now, figure out how to work that into your schedule so that you’re working on it every day (it doesn’t have to be in a week, it’s whatever works for you).
You have your task breakdown, you have an informed schedule, now all you need is a notebook or blank document for notes, the caffeine (or drink of your choice), some chocolate, and you’re away.
Put the overwhelm behind you and get to work.
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