Quick and Easy Editing Checklist!

You’ve just finished that amazing short story, that great novel, or that quick snippet. But before you share it, you need to do the dreaded thing…edit it. So where do you start? When do you start? Or should you shove it in the closest and forget it even exists? Today I’m going to share with you a quick list that you can go through to help you edit your work!

1. Take a break!

You just wrote an entire story! Step back, celebrate, take some time to refocus and explore other hobbies and other writing ideas

2. Read through your story

After your break take that story and read through the entire thing. Just reading through it and making notes when parts are confusing or something feels off.

2.5.  (extra tip) consider re-outlining your novel. Or outlining if you didn’t in the first place. Reverse outline, start from the ending and work your way back to discover plot holes in story structure and character arcs!

3. Make a list of things you need to fix

Take the notes you made and make a list of things you need to fix. Are you missing a scene? Did you forget this character's name in one part? Mark it down on the list!

4. Organize list 

Take your list and start organizing it! See what parts go together. See what things can be tackled in one bunch

5. Work on your list

Start working on your list. Take one group and take one item at a time. Start crafting those new scenes, re-working that arc, and making sure the timeline is in order.

6. Repeat steps 2-5.

See if you missed anything and see what else you can improve on.

7. Step back. Take a break.

You just did a lot of work! Give yourself another break to refocus and get ready to 

tackle the little details of your story.

8. Start on micro edits

Read through your story section by section, line by line. Look for the little grammar parts. Don’t be afraid to take it slow.

9. Share for more feedback!

Grab your friends, parents, and other writers and readers. Ask for critique, ask for beta readers. See what else you can improve on, what other people notice!

10. Apply feedback. Then repeat as necessary.

Apply the feedback you’ve been given then repeat other steps as necessary until you feel like your story is the best that you can make it.

I hope you enjoyed that quick editing check-list and feel free to repeat each step as many times as you want, or take a break between the steps. Just make sure you don’t dread editing by trying to do too much at once. Take it step by step and soon you’ll have a polished story in your hands!

With Faith, Hope, Love, and Feathers,

Inertia.