Editing: Setting A Goal.

Taking The Necessary Steps.

Write down everything that happens in the story,

and then in your second draft,

make it look like you knew what you were doing all along.

~ Neil Gaiman

To my dearest friends and followers,

Last week I shared that I am starting to edit my novel, Beyond The Veil. This week I worked on several things to help me with that!! I'm not trying to give advice because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I do want to share those steps with you.

I asked several fellow writers over social media if they were editing/had edited their book and if they had any helpful tips to share. What I got out of their answers is to just make your writing the best it can be!! Boom. Simple. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I'll be done in no time, right?? Ha, I wish.
That kind of goes without saying. The question is, how? What do I look for? How can my book be the best it can be?
Basically, what I've been focusing on this week is what I need in order to edit, without actually starting the editing process. No, I am not procrastinating. I am being efficient in the best way I know how with what works for me. I'm working on getting things set up so I feel like I have goals instead of trying to get things done in the dark.

First thing is the notebook. When I was writing the story, I made a notebook for it. All of my scattered thoughts, drawings, research, ideas, and doodles go into that notebook, as long as it relates to the story. I didn't go anywhere without it. When I have an idea that I need to write down so I don't forget, it goes in the notebook. I am not one to use notes on my phone. It would take me forever to use the app, I would never look at it after that and I'd forget about it. I need physical paper with me.
So I made a new notebook as I go over the story again. New ideas, new thoughts, new drawings, it will all go in the notebook. And I won't go anywhere without it. You never know when the muses will start singing.

Next, I have been writing down things I am already aware of that need fixing, such as expounding on a few points in the book, and trying to make my point more clear in others. I also wrote down several objective points, such as making sure I'm really checking for spelling and grammatical errors.

Another thing I want to focus on more is my characters. I think that's the biggest thing I have ahead of me. I've been asking myself the question, "What is their purpose? What is the purpose of each character? Is that clear in the story?" This story definitely has the most fleshed out characters I've ever written about, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. While I feel like some are very likable and that the reader gets to know them well, others didn't quite have their story told in the way that they deserve.

One thing I've also been working on is quickly drawing several characters from the story and writing the first thing that comes to mind when I think of them. Not all of them are major characters, but they are the most interesting in my opinion. I shared those drawings at the bottom of this post. XD

I'm really open to hearing from any of you, if you have written anything or edited anything or ever done anything creative, on how that process was for you, and any tips you may have or any resources you found helpful. I've seriously never really edited any of my stories before, so I feel like I don't have much to share, but I really want to keep you guys informed as best as I can. As always, thank you for reading!!

Yours truly,
Me