So you've written a story or a book over days, weeks, months or years. How do you want to edit it? Read it through and hope everything that needs improvement will jump out and grab you by the throat? Hope again. Those words are so much a part of you that you'll probably skim over much that could be fixed. Also, you are tired and more prone to miss a patch of mold on that loaf of bread.

Put it away for now, long enough for your tired inner editor to forget. You don't want to rush. Use this time to start a new project or write that little story you've been writing in your head. You need distance.

Now drag your book out with a plan in mind. Take it easy. Divide your time into parts over three days or sessions (depending on the length of the story):
1. Proofread for spelling and grammar,
2. check for style and technique, and
3. check your story's structure.

Spelling and grammar

Use the spelling and grammar checker on your word processing program to alert you to possible errors remembering that homonyms can trick even the most experienced speller. Once you have made a careful pass-through, ask your critique group to help find any missed problems. It's not smart to leave those problems to your potential editor.Editors are busy people and usually take a risk on writers who have mastered technical skills.

Let the grammar checker alert you to POSSIBLE passive voice. Passive voice isn't a sin, but it can push the reader out of the story, so use it infrequently.

Style and technique

Here's a checklist of style and technique problems to look for: 1. Run-on sentences: This is also called the Comma Splice (where you attempt to join two sentences with only a comma). Your grammar check should have alerted you, but study all your mistakes to learn from them.

2. Wordy sentences: This slows the pace and even causes confusion for the reader. Clean out excess words.

3. Viewpoint: In children's writing it is common to select one point-of-view and stick with it. In adult writing you need to stick with the same POV throughout a scene. Head-hopping confuses the reader and weakens the emotional impact of a scene..

4. Dialogue: Who's talking? Can you tell? Don't over-do speech tags, but don't use too few. Can you picture the setting where the dialogue takes place? Try using "beats" or bits of stage business that identify the speaker and what they are doing as they talk. Also, check to see that each character has an individual voice.

5. Overused words: Look out for the same verb being used too frequently, or too many "as" both at the beginning and mid-sentence. Watch out for "that." Suspect a problem word? Use FIND to see how often a word occurs on a page or in a chapter.

6. Repeated words or phrases: Is there an echo in here? This annoys the reader.

7. Check each verb: Do you use muscle verbs or do they need adverbs to prop them up.

8. Too many sentences begin with the same word: Look at the first word. Is it HE or SHE or the name of a character? Variety is best.

9. Too many sentences begin with an --ing word: Remember, --ing is somewhat out-of-fashion, so keep that --ing beginning to a minimum although it's good to use for variety (look out for dangling participles caused by beginning --ing words).

10. Information dump: Too much information in a scene spoils the flow or pacing.

11. Show, don't tell: Look out for telling too much.

12. Choppy writing: too many short sentences or fragments of sentences cause this. Many short sentences are useful to build tension, but save them for the action part of the chapter.

13. Too many same length or patterned sentences: Variety is the spice in your writing.

14. Blocks of description: Blend in setting as needed and through the eyes of the viewpoint character. Dense paragraphs put the reader to sleep.

15. Too much interior monologue or angst: Boring!

16. Too much of anything: Dialogue, introspection, examples . . . . Weed it out.

Story structure

Each scene and the whole book need to be examined carefully for structure. For every scene there needs to be a reason for the characters to be there, an inciting incident, and each scene must have a reason for being. Ask yourself what would happen if that scene were removed. It makes no difference? Maybe it doesn't belong.

1. Pacing--Are any sections too slow? Do you need to add another character, or should you trim out unnecessary scenes or chapters. If a scene is flat or has too many talking-heads, here are some recommendations. (a) Enliven the story by adding action to the scene, making the story events worse, providing comic relief, or adding to the characterization.

(b) Change the setting. Put that same scene in a setting that will allow for more action. Readers thrive on action.

(c) Combine two scenes.

2. Motivation--Can you believe the motivation for your character? Does the story show a change in the main character's life, and does each scene logically lead to the next scene and so forth to the end. Make sure there are turning-points where the character's actions leads him/her in a new direction with no turning back.

3. Suspense and tension--Look to see that it builds throughout the story/novel leading to a climax. New facts and details keep the reader turning the page. Be sure that each scene has its own tension. There needs to be a point in the story where all seems lost. Is your conclusion satisfying (this seems to be the weak point in many stories)?

Summary

You have time and perspiration invested in this story, so take it slow. Break it down and examine each part to make it the best it can be. "Pretty good" isn't good enough. Once you've gone over every inch, do a final read through to check for flow and pacing. Have a trusted reader do the same. You'll be glad you did when the editor says, "Yes!"