Part 5: Editing, editing and more editing

The importance of polishing before querying a manuscript

It’s 10 o’clock at night in January 2021 and I’m sat at my ‘writing desk’ (an old IKEA dining table) with tears streaming down my face. The tears are accompanied by uncontrollable cackling.

Reading my manuscript aloud in 2021

I’d just written a scene in which my protagonist – an awkward woman approaching 40 called Mally – had drunkenly vomited in the presence of her secret teenage crush who she hadn’t seen in decades.

I’d spelled out the vomiting word phonetically, which I decided was most accurately reflected by these letters:

B R E U R G H.

It was probably the most I’d laughed in months.

And I think this sums up why my story came along at just the right time for me. Because, at that dark, locked-down moment, there really wasn’t much to laugh about. And, because of the way my brain is wired, memes taking the piss out of governmental incompetence during a global health crisis didn’t hit my humour spot in the slightest.

So I decided to create something funny. And, for me, that involved writing a rom-com that helped me reconnect with my fond memories of growing up in suburban England during the 1990s.

But, as I quickly learned during the editing process, you have to learn to let go of some of your most beloved bits. To ‘murder your darlings’. Because, in commercial fiction, if they add nothing to the story, or to the characterisation of your cast, they’ve got to get the chop.

The phonetic spelling of vomiting was just one such example. And, while I was sad to see it go (though the scene as a whole very much remains), I’m still grateful that it gave me that moment of hilarity when I needed it most.

So, how does editing work? I can only speak from my own experience, but this is how the process went for me before I submitted to literary agents:

Edit-as-you-go
As a professional copywriter, I’m used to editing as I write. So, while I very much saw my first draft as precisely that, realistically I probably revised each paragraph at least a couple of times as I went along.

The printed readthrough
Once I’d typed ‘THE END’ (I rewarded myself with a massive bowl of Coco Pops), I got the entire manuscript printed and read it aloud to my husband over a couple of weeks. Each evening, once the kids were in bed, we’d get through two or three chapters and I’d make notes as I went along. My husband also shared his thoughts with me as he ate biscuits. This was a nerve-wracking yet special time for me, as it was the first time I’d read my fiction to anyone in almost 30 years.

A professional developmental edit
I’d connected with Georgina Green, an amazing developmental editor and writing coach, over lockdown thanks to her co-writing sessions. So I knew exactly who I wanted to work with for this. A development edit involves a professional editor or story expert reading your draft and identifying technical, thematic and characterisation issues that need tweaking or changing altogether. This stage can be daunting, with big rewrites required. In my case, George was so in-tune with what I wanted the story to achieve that her suggestions made perfect sense and was able to crack on straight away. Developmental edits aren’t cheap, but – as per the testimonial I wrote for George’s website – making that investment in my creative writing was the best gift I’ve ever bought myself.

Sensitivity read
Once the novel had been ‘fixed’ from a structural and story perspective, I decided to pay for it to be reviewed by a professional sensitivity reader. I think this is a really important part of the process, especially if your story is exploring complex social themes. If you want to tell your story as sympathetically and realistically as possible (who wouldn’t, frankly), sensitivity readers help you dig into it more deeply, as well as flagging potentially problematic language. More edits followed this feedback.

Beta reading
I nervously sent my novel out to around ten trusted and seasoned readers. Some of them were my closest friends and family, but many were contacts I’d made through various online writing networks. This feedback was incredibly helpful and even made me change an element of the ending (that has since changed again…many times!).

Line edits
Once the narrative skeleton of the novel is finalised, it’s time to go through the manuscript line by line to tighten everything up, remove repeated words, make the sentences flow with delicious rhythm and fix any remaining plot or timeline holes. I did most of my line editing on my Kindle app, as I could dip into it as and when I had a moment (often on my daughter’s bedroom floor as she fell asleep). Line editing takes ages, and it’s worth going through the entire manuscript at least a couple of times as there are always things you’ve missed.

And…that’s really as far as you can take the editing process as an unrepresented and uncontracted author. If you’re planning to self-publish, there are further editing stages to go through (copyediting and final proofreading) but that wasn’t something I was considering back in 2021.

Personally speaking, I loved editing as much as the drafting of the novel itself. I love finding and fixing problems, and working with experts who know what they’re doing, learning from them and developing my own craft.

So there I was back in November 2021: I had a manuscript that I knew wasn’t terrible. I’d made it as good as I could with at least five rounds of editing. And it was time to send it out into the world of literary agents…

My debut novel, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, publishes in August 2025. It’s a love letter to cheesy Christmas movies, British suburbia and nineties nostalgia. Click the book image to pre-order!