Scribes & Archers

Way back in 2018, I wrote a post sharing the editing process I intended to use for the novel I was revising at the time (which was shelved shortly afterward and has yet to see the light of day). That was the last project I made editing notes on in print (at least for an early draft), so I revisited that post when I decided to work on Lightning in print. Since it’s been so long, I’ve grown so much, and I’ve seen that original process not work, I ended up making some significant changes from that process to this one.

Now that I’m further through the process and can say what actually worked and what didn’t (vs. the 2018 post which I wrote at the beginning of the process, before it was really tested), here are some of my observations from how this modified editing process worked for Lightning.

A Quick Recap

If you want to see an in-depth look at how I planned to edit The Heart of the Baenor (that unpublished 2018 novel), jumping back to that original post is your best bet. But here’s a quick overview, for those who don’t care to see the full failed version and just want an idea of how this new process compares.

In 2018, I had a color-coded system for editing notes. It was largely focused on analyzing the balance of writing elements (dialogue, action, thoughts, etc.), underlining each element in a different color. This ended up being incredibly unhelpful for me, as I don’t work best by simply collecting data and developing solutions from said data, which was essentially what this process set me up to do.

I had a secondary color coding system for a separate list that went scene-by-scene to break down goals, motivations, conflict, etc. in each scene. This was a great idea in theory, but practically speaking I found it unhelpful to have this as an entirely separate list; it’s more helpful to me to be able to see notes like this in the context of the scene itself.

Additionally, I kept a separate document that detailed my theme and how it should present itself through each character, which was one of the more helpful elements of the 2018 process (though not one I adopted for Lightning). A couple of other helpful elements:

1. My list of overarching editing notes gathered from a full read-through. In Lightning‘s case, I started this list long before this pass of edits; I’ve made a habit since Calligraphy Guild of starting this list during the drafting process, as things pop up that I know I want to be aware of when I start edits but don’t want to stop the drafting process to fix immediately. For Lightning I added to this through the drafting process, in December (during the break between drafting and editing) as I watched replays of Nadine Brandes’ self-editing classes from Realm Makers (she has a whole self-editing course that I’m interested in taking in the future!), then throughout the read-through and annotation process.

2. The fact that I put a tab at the beginning of each chapter for easy navigation and ease of comparing chapter lengths. I found sturdier tabs for Lightning than I used on The Heart of the Baenor, and I color-coded them based on POV since there are several different POVs in Lightning. I also added a separate tab that I move to keep track of where I left off, stuck to the top of the page instead of the side (you can just see it peeking out in the photo below).

The New Color Code

Simply marking what was already there was quite unhelpful with The Heart of the Baenor; marking what’s there–while it can help highlight the balance of elements (or lack thereof) and what’s missing–doesn’t really help fix anything. This time around, I used a color code focused more on actual note-taking, and one that would help divvy up changes based on the actual categories I focus on in different drafts.

I still used two “separate” color codes, but they looked very different–and both were for use on the draft itself, not merely separate notes. The first color code relates to the writing itself and mostly uses highlighters; green highlights mark lines that I like and want to keep, yellow highlights mark lines that immediately stand out as needing to be reworded, and orange highlights mark sentences that just make no sense as-written. Additionally, I use a red pen for marking typos, grammatical errors, and other technical issues in the writing.

The second color code covers all other notes. Dark blue covers plot and scene structure, light blue is for general character notes or notes on side characters, purple is for worldbuilding notes, and then I have different colors for notes relating to each of my primary characters (and villains, as a group). This way, I can make note of different characters’ goals, motivations, etc. in a given scene–serving a similar function to the scene list I made in 2018, but keeping everything in the context of the draft and leaving more room to note different details for different characters instead of lumping everything together–and also note where specific characters have voice issues, are operating inconsistently with their values, etc.

(This is the practical division between the two color codes, anyway; on my key sheet, they’re instead separated between character colors (bottom) and everything else (top).)

Outside Documents

While I prefer to have most of my editing notes on the manuscript itself, so that everything is kept in context, I do have a couple of separate pages for more overarching notes.

One is the list of big-picture edits noted before; this covers things like entire character arcs, relationship arcs, worldbuilding details that have changed, etc. Things that affect large portions of the book (not just a scene or a chapter) go on that list.

Additionally, I have a page that breaks down each character’s primary and secondary goals. These, too, affect the whole story, so it makes sense to keep them separate to be referenced throughout, to compare scene goals against, etc. This list is split into two parts, with one covering “initial goals” and the other covering “updated goals,” as most of the characters have significant goal shifts around the midpoint.

I have other lists–an overarching editing list for Thunder, an overarching editing list for the duology as a whole, a page of notes on how to increase conflict in Thunder, and a worldbuilding checklist for Esleon–but those are mostly past (the worldbuilding checklist has been completed) or future (everything Thunder-related).

The overarching editing lists will be pulled out when I get to work on the actual application of structural changes to the book.

In Practice

I have two binders for this editing process; the white binder on the left is approximately a 2-inch binder, and it contains the manuscript itself–because the blue binder on the right is only a 1-inch binder and there was no way the book was going to fit. The manuscript binder holds the manuscript (obviously), my color code key sheet, and a pen case that holds my highlighters. The blue binder holds the overarching editing lists (for Lightning, Thunder, and the duology), worldbuilding checklist, etc.; it also contains other duology-related materials like my map, synopses of both books, leftover tabs, etc.

Contents of the Blue Binder

Here’s a sneak peek at my current editing timeline for the duology; whether or not it works out according to plan remains to be seen.

Additionally, here’s an idea of what my character goal sheet looks like (color-coded by character).

These give an idea of what types of edits go on the big-picture lists. Some are deep structural changes that affect large portions of the book, while others are smaller details that nevertheless need to be updated throughout the book (such as having changed a character’s name, or having moved the setting to a different part of the state).

This is a peek at my worldbuilding checklist, as it was not the same as “the” Worldbuilding Checklist that I post about here on the blog. This list was developed based on what I needed for this story, specifically, to give the world more color and depth in ways that influence the story at hand.

The Manuscript

Here are some examples of what editing notes look like on this manuscript:

These are the goals of two of the three main characters in the first scene of chapter one. I have these simply noted in the appropriate character’s color, for easy reference to see if those goals hold true throughout the scene, and in Erika’s case I’ve added a note to strengthen her motivation as that part of her goal is unclear.

Here we have an example of goals entering conflict (which is beneficial to a compelling scene). Of course, the conflict doesn’t start in the right place/from the right character; the most likely scenario is that I’ll shift around the dialogue of the scene so that Ash is more careful/reserved with his words and Erika is the one stirring up trouble. (I didn’t like Ash’s line of dialogue here, anyway, so it works out nicely to scrap it.)

Here, a goal fails to make sense (which is less beneficial to a compelling scene, lol). Here, a simple shift in the focus of the prose in this area should remove the implication of a goal that doesn’t exist.

Sometimes, the events of a scene shift a character’s goals in a more intentional direction; that’s also important to note, to ensure that the character’s behavior shifts along with that goal.

Here’s an example of what one of my “scene/plot structure” notes might look like. I have a lot of these at chapter openings and chapter endings, whether the comment is specifically on how the chapter opens or closes (often, my chapter endings need work) or it’s a summary of my thoughts on the structure of a chapter as a whole (I have several of those, as well, especially on chapters that need lots of restructuring, need to be moved, or need to be cut entirely).

Lastly, this is just an example of a chapter that was lighter on notes vs. one that was especially heavy on notes; the volume of notes can differ a lot from chapter to chapter, as some are already stronger or weaker than others. (Chapter 20 was quite weak.) Though it may also be helpful to note that the chapters that need to be cut or moved entirely often have the fewest in-line notes; notes on those tend to be concentrated at the end, as described previously. Chapter 20 is an example of a chapter that has a good premise and serves a purpose that should be retained, but which was executed very poorly and needs a lot of work in order to fulfill its purpose effectively.

(It should be noted that while I have skimmed the above pages for spoilers and I don’t believe they contain anything major, any zooming-in is done at your own risk.)

Next Steps

With all of Lightning annotated, I’ll be moving on to working through Thunder–which will happen in two stages, because Thunder has more significant weaknesses in the structural department. The first stage for Thunder will be going through it on the computer to add scenes and chapters that need to be added, move things around, etc. After that’s done and I have a more workable foundation to work from, I’ll print it out and go through the same annotation process I used for Lightning.

After both books are annotated, I intend to go through a similar process to what I used for Calligraphy Guild. I’ll work on underlying structural changes first–adding, removing, and rearranging things–then have a separate draft focused on each primary character to flesh out their arcs, smooth out their voices, add in quirks I forgot about, etc. Worldbuilding fixes will also get a designated draft, after all of the characters have been addressed. Once all of the fundamentals have been fixed (which may require for certain stages to be repeated), I’ll go through and clean up whatever prose issues are left behind before sending it off to beta-readers.

This process–of focusing a separate draft on each of these elements–should be made easier by the fact that my notes were set up to correspond with each of those drafts, something I was able to set up intentionally as I thought about what worked with Calligraphy Guild and how to combine my past two editing processes into a single approach that would be well-suited to Lightning.

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Have you ever used an editing process similar to this one? Which part of the process most stood out to you? Do you have any questions? Comment below!

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