Strong, Stronger, Strongest: Taking your manuscript from shoddy to spectacular
We’ve all heard the timeless wisdom: “First drafts don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be written.”
We’re also familiar with Ernest Hemingway’s famous dictum, reproduced here in a format I’m allowed to use when speaking to high school students about writing.
Indulge me for a moment, as I comment on two words: “dreck” and “spectacular.”
“Dreck” is a real word, and you can use it freely in polite company.
“Spectacular” may seem a little over-the-top—like hyper-caffeinated ad copy for a tacky commercial voice-over.
But as indie authors, we don’t aim for “good enough.” We aim for the moon. Therefore, “spectacular” is the preferred goal, versus “okay” or “less shoddy than yesterday.”
Every author develops their own repertoire of writing hacks over time. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, a devotee of the Hero’s Journey, the beat-sheet approach of Save the Cat, or a modified version of Freytag’s Pyramid, you’ve picked up tips and tricks along the way.
The editing journey—if you’re a typical indie author with a limited budget—includes the first draft, the substantive edit, the copy and line edit(s), and proof-reading. My own process isn’t the gold standard by any means, but as “one beggar showing others where to find bread,” here’s what I’ve adopted and adapted over the past decade.
First (& Second) Draft
Yep. That’s a blank notebook and a pen. When I first started writing, at the tender age of thirteen, I’d sit in front of my mom’s venerable Underwood manual typewriter, fingers poised and frozen as I wracked my brain for ideas.
Bizarrely, that’s what I often find myself doing, years later, on my Macbook: staring at a blank screen while story ideas whip around my brain like shrapnel in a tornado.
Or maybe my ideas were actually circling the drain. Or perhaps caught in the vortex of a toilet flush.
Because I wasn’t writing. I was (over) thinking myself into mental paralysis.
Writing my first draft with pen and paper has been creatively liberating in ways I didn’t think possible. It’s also how I approach character back-stories and world-building. I’m still amazed at the freedom and creativity brought about by the age-old instruments of pen and paper.
I put “second draft” in parentheses because at some point I have to input what I’ve written into my laptop. Inevitably, I end up copy-editing and revising at the same time.
Every time I change mediums—from analog to digital—it’s like reading through a new set of lenses.
Substantive (Developmental) Edit
Did I mention changing mediums?
Once my first/second draft is complete, I print it out on 8.5×11″ paper, single-sided, for the developmental edit. Copy-editing will also continue to happen because it’s amazing what you see in a new medium.
I print single-sided because it provides a blank page to revise, rewrite, and—at times—add completely fresh material.
The blue binder in the picture is Treehawke, which is awaiting its substantive edit. The white binder contains Darkwood, which has just survived its final-pass-before-proof-copy (more on that later).
And the binders are inevitably littered with the darlings I’ve killed along the way. Favorite words, sentences, paragraphs—entire scenes, at times . . . the chopping block takes all comers.
Of course, when I re-enter the changes into my Macbook, another round of copy-editing simultaneously takes place. It’s like an addiction.
Prepping for the Print Version
Formatting the print version forces me to work hard. It has to fit, line by line, page by page. It has to be consistent.
But sometimes, what I’ve written just won’t cooperate with the demands of page layout for print.
What’s an indie author to do?
Kill your darlings, of course.
“What?!” My creative muse is not amused. “Haven’t you killed enough darlings already?”
Whenever I’m forced to change what I’ve written to satisfy the blood-thirsty gods of page layout, it always improves how the story is told.
Proof-reading
After the manuscript is formatted for print, I order an author’s proof copy. Reading your manuscript on 8.5×11″ paper is revealing, and the same applies when you change mediums to a two-page spread in book form.
And I sit down, notebook and coffee at the ready, for the most excruciating task an indie author must face: the proof-read. Here’s why it’s absolutely crucial:
- Spell-check doesn’t catch everything. If I’ve accidentally typed “if” instead of “in” (actual error), it’s jarring.
- My brain inserts words that aren’t there, even at the best of times. It’s even worse now, because I wrote the story in the first place.
- Grammar check doesn’t catch everything.
That means I embrace the practice of reading out loud (or at least muttering under my breath), while simultaneously tapping each word with a pen as I slowly read (see #2 above). And scribble in my notebook the page, paragraph, and line number of any errors or omissions I find.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of going slow. This isn’t the one-hundred-yard dash for the finish line. My readers deserve the best I can give them. Beta and ARC readers should be able to expect the same.
Again, this is the process I’ve evolved into over the past decade. It’s not a “one size fits all” approach. As the saying goes, “eat the meat and spit out the bones.”
But I encourage challenge dare you to change mediums—from analog to digital to proof copy—and see if it doesn’t improve your writing. 🙂
2 thoughts on “Strong, Stronger, Strongest: Taking your manuscript from shoddy to spectacular”
Great article, Deven! Your thoroughness surely translates into spectacular novels that surpass many readers’ expectations when they buy a self-published book. Thanks for the great tips and pictures!
Thanks, Marilyn. It’s a learning curve that never quite ends. 🙂