FINE-TUNING
A sense of accomplishment usually follows the completion of the first draft of a manuscript. That feeling is multiplied manifold and is accompanied by much excitement for first-time writers who just completed their very first manuscript. I remember when I completed The Bright Eyes, Book 1 of The Soulless Ones Series. I was on a ‘high’ for a whole week. However, I quickly realized that next phase, fine-tuning, required almost as much work as completing the first draft.
Fine-tuning a manuscript means adjusting a manuscript as deemed necessary to create the best possible final draft. There are two major components of fine-tuning: editing and revision, and these two can be done as many times as required.
A) EDITING:
Editing includes proof-reading, line, and copy editing. Some folks even include mechanical, substantive and developmental editing.
Proof-reading:
This is checking your manuscript for errors in text, usually spelling. Microsoft Word is pretty good with this and even Grammarly can help. However, an expert eye is always best. Example:
Before: “Welcome to the Shadow of the Sole,” Akasha grinned with sweet mischief.
After: “Welcome to the Shadow of the Soul,” Akasha grinned with sweet mischief.
P/S: The Shadow of the Soul is one of my favorite aspects of The Bright Eyes.
Line Editing:
This includes a literal dissection and analysis of every line in your manuscript. Line editors will check for things like redundancies, word, phrase and sentence overuse, unclear and/or confusing dialogues, sentences or paragraphs among others. Line editors tighten, tone and trim a manuscript by making recommendations to improve the pace, smoothness and progression of the story. This is the most expensive aspect of editing but it is totally worth the money, especially if you have a good/great editor. Example:
Before line editing:
What a rush! He was faster than the Bright Eyes were, since their last encounter.
After line editing:
Yehuda’s heart pumped with pure adrenaline infused with charged chi and his muscles throbbed with excitement and vibrancy, giving him superior edge in speed over the Bright Eyes.
Some editors break down line editing into substantive and developmental editing, which, to me, is just describing line editing in different ways.
Copyediting:
This form of editing focuses on the technical aspect of each sentence: grammar, punctuation and even fact-checking for non-fiction novels. Copyeditors will usually explain how the rules and principles of grammar apply to the specific situation. Example:
Before: Shi’mon listen to their thoughts use clairaudience
Copyedit: Shi’mon listened to their thoughts using clairaudience.
B) REVISION:
Revisions entail adding, removing, rearranging and replacing portions of your draft as you see fit. These could also stem from editor and/or alpha and beta reader recommendations. You can revise as often as you want until you are satisfied with your final draft.
Keep in mind that the main focus of revisions is to make the story better. Focusing solely on the word count of your manuscript, may not be the ideal way to proceed with fine-tuning.
I revised The Soulless Ones many times for various reasons until I settled with the final manuscripts. The first draft of The Bright Eyes, for example, was about 130K words. After the first revision, the word count dropped to about 107K. After the final revision, the word count was over 117K.
So, you have your final draft. Congratulations! What’s next? Publishing. We will discuss this in another blog post.
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