What are some good tips for editing your book?

Question

I'm a young teen writer and I'm almost finished with my books. I've been sending it chapter by chapter to some of my friends so they can tell me what I need to add or change.

So now, I'm at the editing stage because I'm self publishing my book as a gift for someone but I need to edit it first. Does anyone have any tips for editing?

Answer 1

It helps to give the book to others outside of the age group/special interest group that a book is aimed at. Someone who is not involved in the subject, may be able to view it a little more disapassionately than your friends, or someone with a more vested interest in it.

An author can only self-edit to a certain degree. When you go over and over your work it becomes so commonplace to you, that the eye and mind can skip over errors.

The type of editing needed also depends on whether you just want to clean up the text (spelling, grammar), or whether you're looking to catch errors, and perhaps cut the text back to a more manageable word count.

If you're struggling with a concept, presentation, or problem with length, ask yourself some of the following:
-Does this really contribute to the story?
-Will the reader understand this?
-Am I beating the reader over the head with too much detail/adjectives?
-Is this section/explanation/description too long?

Good luck!

Answer 2

I second the idea of reading it aloud-- it really helps me catch my mistakes. Also, I print out a hard copy and read through that because I tend to catch more mistakes on paper than on the computer screen.

Answer 3

Peer review is great. It will tell you if you left out any details that you had "inside your head" but forgot to put on the page.

Answer 4

Read it aloud to yourself. Any mistakes, any bad expressions, cliches or over-writing will really stand out that way.