How to edit a book (when you don't know where to start)

AKA, my method for 2nd drafts

As someone who loves editing, it hurts my little heart to hear writers struggle with it so much. But having written a handful of books, I know just how overwhelming it can be to go from draft 1 to draft 2. It’s a lot.

So let’s assume you wrote a first draft of your current manuscript, and you’re now starting edits on it for the first time. Here are my tips for making the process smoother.

1. Read and take notes

After I finish draft one, I do a read-through and take notes as I go, paying attention to anything that needs to change or catches my eye. Now, I don’t know about you, but my first drafts are rough…so there’s usually a lot to make note of.

(To be honest, I hate this part. I just want to get going already!!)

2. Make an outline

Next up, using the notes you just took, create an outline for your next draft. Draft 2 should have a lot of big, developmental changes, so it’s beneficial to create a structure to follow as you implement those changes.

And okay, yes, this is easy for me to say because I love outlining. Maybe too much. However, even if you’re a pantser and hate initial outlines, they can be extremely helpful at this point in the process.

3. Rewrite (don’t just edit)

Yikes, you want me to rewrite that whole book I just worked on for so long? Yes, yes I do.

Rather than edit within your first draft document, you should start a new document and start over. This will help you get away from what is strumping you about draft 1.

You can open your first draft alongside it, you can copy and paste, you can keep lots of the good stuff. But you’ll find that forcing yourself to start fresh will open your eyes to a lot of what is wrong in your story. It also just feels less overwhelming when moving things around, because you have so much blank space to work with.

This is one of my biggest pieces of advice when people ask about editing, and here’s why: when you edit within your first draft document, you can get caught in a cycle of tweaking and retweaking the text over and over, without really finding those big structural things that need to be rewritten.

I know this isn’t a super popular idea, and that’s okay—your process is your process. But I will say, this method works really well for making strong changes, so don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

4. Start big, work small

Start with your big, sweeping changes. Think developmental first, then move to line edits.

So what qualifies as a big edit? Think timelines, character arcs, adding and cutting scenes, adding and cutting characters, and introducing subplots.

Once you have that down, you can go back and do more edits on the line level. For those, think descriptions, dialogue, characterization, etc.

5. Do multiple passes

Go through your book multiple times with a different lens each time. I usually do this a bit later in the process, after developmental changes. Going through with a specific lens can keep you from getting overwhelmed by this massive document with so many things to change.

For example, say I’m doing a characterization pass for my protagonist. As I read through, I’m specifically looking at their character and making sure that every action, motivation, bit of dialogue, etc., is accurate to how I want to portray them.

You can do passes on things like your timeline, dialogue, descriptions, subplots, romances, or anything else, really!

5. Know that editing takes time

It will take multiple drafts and multiple passes to get your story to a strong place. If you really want your book to be good, you have to be willing to rework it over and over. That’s just a normal part of writing.

Some books will require more edits than others before they *get there* (my record for one of my books was 27 drafts before I even sent it to beta readers…yikes), and some books might be great from the get-go. But I recommend writing at least 3-5 drafts regardless.

So get outside feedback, be honest with yourself and your edits, and don’t let the grind wear you down. It can be overwhelming, but if you approach it strategically, it’s completely doable (and if you ask me, pretty fun, too).