Editing can be tricky, but there's no reason to be afraid of it. Here are some things that you might want to think about during the process:
- Grammar and spelling mistakes are easy to miss when you've been staring at your manuscript for a long time. Try sending it to beta readers - or to friends and family - to catch out all of those pesky typos.
- Review your work chapter by chapter (or scene by scene, for shorter works and scripts). Is everything in it serving a purpose? If not, cut it.
- Read your writing aloud! Especially your dialogue. You'll know if a sentence or line of speech needs work when hearing it aloud.
- Mark evidence of over-repetition, or the overuse of adverbs. There are always other ways to say and describe these things, and you have the talent to discover them!
- Finally, be fair to yourself. Regardless of feedback, this is your work. Sometimes comments from others can be helpful, but if you're sure a specific part needs to remain in tact, then by all means allow yourself small luxuries.
Looking at your work with a critical eye, and receiving feedback from others, is key to the revising process. Re-read, and re-read, and think of your work as an unpolished gem.
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