Not an editing hack, but a comment on the psychological effect of handwriting vs keyboarding. When I worked in advertising, where the deadline pressure was like a gun to your head, an old hand advised me to keep a legal pad on my desk and when I got stuck at the keyboard, switch to the legal pad and when I got stuck on the legal pad, switch back to the keyboard; rinse and repeat. It works wonders. The shift between writing media somehow resets your brain and gives you a fresh perspective.
Related to read aloud - I have the computer read the manuscript to me. The first time I listened to one of my books on audio, every clunker and echo jumped out at me (it didn't help this was my first book). Listening to it also helps me pick up wrong or missing words I would miss visually because my brain 'knows' what I meant to write, but audio engages a different part of my brain.
I’ve finished two manuscripts-one that went into a drawer and one I’m querying-and retyping my second draft and perhaps my third draft is a self-editing hack I swear by. Changing the font happened accidentally when I learned Times New Roman was the industry standard, but now that you mention it, Alyssa, that’s very useful as well. I’ll stick to using Verdana in the first draft of my next manuscript. It’s great to say something positive about Microsoft for once: I love Verdana. Times New Roman may force me to look past my own nose to what a reader will love.
6:22 Placeholders - I really love this tip, Alyssa! ❤ In this case, I personally prefer to use red color for the areas I want to come back to later and revise. It becomes impossible for me to ignore a whole paragraph of red text while scrolling 😅
I picked up a few things writing my current manuscript. Here are some of my biggest tips/hacks. My current manuscript has 40+ chapters, each one revolving around a different time period or event. Each chapter is saved as a different document (which are later combined). This makes the book feel a bit smaller and easier to work on. It also means not having to scroll through a document hundreds of pages long. And it breaks things up a little. Instead of editing chapters 1-2-3-40 in order every time I can mix it up and edit chapters 3, 19, 27, 29 this week, then 6, 10, 21, 35 next week, and so on. It helps to break up the monotony. And gives a break of weeks to months between some chapters to basically read it with fresh eyes. I started working on 1-2 chapters each day, then started working on 4-6 per week. Each chapter was saved as its own document, and each time I worked on it they got a new version number. It means many documents, but I can see the progress and how much work each chapter required. For example, chapter 4 v1.02 or chapter 12 v1.07. If I make any huge changes I can then change the version number to reflect that big change to more easily see later where/when those changes were (even if I don't remember or take note of what exactly that big change was), so I might change from chapter 10 v1.12 to chapter 10 v1.20 or chapter 10 v2.00. Also if you do save as different version numbers use 2 decimal places not just 1, otherwise you'll only get 9 edits before you need to change the primary number. Like your hack 2 I often open a new document when editing, but I only copy and paste 1-2 paragraphs (less than 1 page) worth. Easier to edit than 10+ pages worth, or seeing it amongst walls of text. Each chapter has its own title. This allows me to keep certain stuff (time period or event) to that chapter. I also put a bold subtitle of 1-3 words above most paragraphs to clearly show what each paragraph is about. This helps to keep stuff contained where it should be instead of multiple paragraphs mentioning similar things. Just remember to delete these for your final-final-final manuscript. Because my manuscript was split into different chapters and had extra words for paragraph subheadings, I made an excel sheet to keep track. The excel sheet had the chapters and title, word count, minus words (paragraph subheadings), and rough percentage done (I could have also added page numbers but didn't). I updated this weekly (with a new version number), though I may have gotten lazy sometimes with the minus words so it wasn't perfectly exact. This helped give me the total word count to keep track of from multiple documents. And it showed roughly the percentage complete and what chapters needed more work. I also started to colour code text so I could easily see amongst a wall of text what text I wanted to edit. I use different colours for different things. Red - delete. Blue - move. Purple - edit. Green - similar text within chapter. Gold - similar text between different chapters. I can highlight stuff to later edit, then when I go back to that chapter hours, days, or weeks later I can see straight away what text needs to be edited and how, and gives me a little time to ponder if I want or how I want to edit that text or leave as is. Just highlight within a sentence not the whole sentence. For example, the sentence "Today is hot." would highlight "oday is hot" (minus the period), because if you highlight the whole text when you later cut, delete, etc, you might leave the different font colour there without realising it. Many times I went to type and it typed in a colour I didn't mean to. Also, remember to highlight all text and default (black) colour when you're done editing to remove any left over colour changes. I made an extra document for text I cut out. This was so if I deleted something that I later actually wanted to keep I still have that text. And because each chapter was its own document, I might be working on one chapter and want to move a paragraph to another chapter but I'm not working on that chapter this week, so instead of opening and saving a chapter as a new updated version which I'm not currently working on I can copy and paste that text into the extra text document then later copy that text when I'm working on the relevant chapter. And make backups. On different drives. I have a usb thumb drive for the whole manuscript I'm currently working on. Then each week I backup whatever new files I made to other external drives, so this way if a drive crashes I don't lose everything.
These "hacks" it's pure psychology at its finest. I've been using a few of these, and they indeed work wonders, now I'll add the rest - Tnx Alyssa! Also, when reading your story aloud - you can make it extra fun by giving each character their own voice - the story then comes alive. It tends to make the whole process a lot less daunting! Happy self-editing.
I use hacks 1, 2 and 5 and it makes editing for me the best part of writing. It's like being a sculptor after getting out of the block of marble that rough shape of the sculpture. Now comes the work that will turn that marble alive, stroke by stroke. I'm sure going to add the other 2 hacks to further get the most possible benefits from editing. Thanks for those!
I'm working on my first novel and while i'm only on chapter 6 of the rough draft I've heard of reverse outlining so i'm doing that already as I go along! So helpful already!
The only one of these hacks that I don’t employ is handwriting my manuscript. Thank you for this advice. It’s reassuring to me that I have proven methods and practices of self-editing. As I always say: You can’t edit what’s not there. So keep writing.
I just went and changed the font of my current novel-in-progress as you suggested we do in this video. I saw immediately it was like reading a different book. Genius. Your videos are awesome!🤩
Great advice! I always print out my drafts, create a reverse outline, and read my work aloud. I also use placeholders when I know something needs to change, but I don’t yet know what/how to change it. I look forward to trying the “create a new blank document” option and changing the font 😊
These are really great tips, Alyssa!! I've found that reading aloud is essential, especially for dialogue. I also try to visualize the scene like it's in a movie/play, and think about 'blocking'...who is standing where and what they are doing while speaking. Errors do jump out on hard copies. This is second-hand, but I friend told me that Mark Twain used to use "Damn" as a placeholder, lol. :)
Great tips! I also use the Read Aloud feature in the latest Word. Another thing I found helpful was looking at my work in miniaturized Print View. It's like I'm looking at a sample page of a complete work on Amazon, and I find that typos and issues jump out at me from this perspective. Same concept as the different font, I guess.
I like to print what I edit. I don't print everything, but when I do, I like to change the font to Arial 14 (in bold print) to make it easier to read. I switch from double space to 2.5 space, or sometimes triple space. This gives me more room to revise. I also highlight the trouble areas in yellow; this is a big help. I've started new documents when I want to send chapters to a beta reader and when I sent my first sample pages. I've started the reverse outline, but it does take time.
Thanks for the awesome tips! Side note, as a graphic designer by trade... I think I died a bit inside when I heard the tip about switching the font to COMIC SANS!! Haha I may have to try this, but I might need a pillow to scream into after awhile.
Hmm. Changing font is powerful. Especially if you want to find the perfect font. I find myself adjusting all writing based on the font, since it then evokes different emotions and thus need different wording... So it's tricky. Maybe the next step in human evolution is to constantly change font for the perfect style at each given moment .. but... We aren't ready for that yet.
I always right the first draft by hand because I feel more life come out of me - like it comes straight from my mind and goes through the pen and onto the page 🤷♀️ Today I bought 20 new pens lol 😂
I am editing my WIP. I found it also helps to be a critique partner or beta reader of a writer friend because it helps your own writing judgment when you self edit.
Such great ideas. I've been using some in a bit of a combo. I print out the manuscript with additional extra spacing. I go through and manually correct, also putting in placement holders, which I number and place I a list of things for me to go back to. I then take that and do a document edit while reading it again as I do that and then using the reference points. What I think I'm going to add into the process is reading it out loud. I think that's a brilliant idea and would easily fit into how I am currently editing. :)
"Self editing can be hard. After all, you put those words on the page for a reason." -Yeah, half the time, I put those words on the page as placeholders until I'm ready for a revision. As a music composer and book writer, self-editing is a crucial skill to learn. I always keep the perspective of wanting the art to be the highest quality possible. Yes, this line might be sentimental, but does it elevate the art of the song/book? Sometimes it takes hours looking through a document trying to find what is out of place, and it can be a simple small change, but the outcome has the potential to be so much better. The reason I like Beethoven better than Mozart is because you can feel Beethoven self-editing. Only Mozart ever got everything right the first time and never needed to revise anything. But Beethoven used revision as an opportunity, not to search for the right note, but to find a better than right note that asked a deeper question than the right note would have asked.
Great video! I have a question about text-to-speech programs. The one that comes with Word is pretty clunky. Can you recommend another one where the diction is less "robotic" that will work with Word?
I have already decided to start acting my characters dialogue like Kate Morton does to make it in character. Trouble is that I am not an actor and has never wanted to be one. Maybe instead of a cameo in the movie version I will request to portray the main character 🤣.
Rather than reading it out loud yourself, you can use text to speech. It will have the same effect and you don't have to listen to your own voice for hours.
I don't read it to myself, but have the computer read it back to me. This allows me to focus on hearing. Are the pauses in the correct place? Does it flow and make sense? Does the dialogue sound out of character?
I use placeholders while writing and editing. First, I use all CAPS. Then I type something like: JOHN WANTED TO GET LINDA ALONE TO DISCUSS THEIR PROBLEM. All caps makes it stand out from the rest of the page and reminds me what I want to add in.
Reading aloud is common thing people teach. My brother for instance, a magical author does it constantly. Yet I don't think it's so shrimple. Unless you are a perfect voice actor, you aren't gonna nail things the way you can imagine them. Even if _someone_ could say something out loud, you as a person might never speak that way, or are non native and there's dissonance. Then you trash your script. Especially if you aren't the type to use emotion in your voice and you try to speak with a certain emotion attached... On the other hand, perfect voice acting can add to your text a nuance not seen in script at all. Re:zero, one of the worst written pieces of writing by style and skill (even if at the peak of conceptual beauty and virtuoso ideas) only becomes alive when spoken by superb voice actors. So it's really nuanced... I think if u master voice acting this is incredibly powerful. Or if you have a friend who can do that.
Definitely do most of these things, but would have never thought to change the font in order to view the doc through a different lens... through comic sans no less...😂
Another one, though a bit time consuming, is read your work aloud, record it, and play it back with your eyes closed. I think a human voice is better than using software to read it aloud because you get the benefit of reading the first time, and it doesn't sound as unnatural as computer software.
Not an editing hack, but a comment on the psychological effect of handwriting vs keyboarding. When I worked in advertising, where the deadline pressure was like a gun to your head, an old hand advised me to keep a legal pad on my desk and when I got stuck at the keyboard, switch to the legal pad and when I got stuck on the legal pad, switch back to the keyboard; rinse and repeat. It works wonders. The shift between writing media somehow resets your brain and gives you a fresh perspective.
I often do it for my own writting, it works for me too
I’m a first time novelist, and I use your videos often.
Related to read aloud - I have the computer read the manuscript to me. The first time I listened to one of my books on audio, every clunker and echo jumped out at me (it didn't help this was my first book). Listening to it also helps me pick up wrong or missing words I would miss visually because my brain 'knows' what I meant to write, but audio engages a different part of my brain.
Nice. I will have to give this a try.👍🏻
Love love love the reverse outline, using plot grid.
I’ve finished two manuscripts-one that went into a drawer and one I’m querying-and retyping my second draft and perhaps my third draft is a self-editing hack I swear by. Changing the font happened accidentally when I learned Times New Roman was the industry standard, but now that you mention it, Alyssa, that’s very useful as well. I’ll stick to using Verdana in the first draft of my next manuscript. It’s great to say something positive about Microsoft for once: I love Verdana. Times New Roman may force me to look past my own nose to what a reader will love.
6:22 Placeholders - I really love this tip, Alyssa! ❤ In this case, I personally prefer to use red color for the areas I want to come back to later and revise. It becomes impossible for me to ignore a whole paragraph of red text while scrolling 😅
I'm in a writers group and we all read our stuff aloud. Can attest to how easily it identifies a clunky sentence
I picked up a few things writing my current manuscript. Here are some of my biggest tips/hacks.
My current manuscript has 40+ chapters, each one revolving around a different time period or event. Each chapter is saved as a different document (which are later combined). This makes the book feel a bit smaller and easier to work on. It also means not having to scroll through a document hundreds of pages long. And it breaks things up a little. Instead of editing chapters 1-2-3-40 in order every time I can mix it up and edit chapters 3, 19, 27, 29 this week, then 6, 10, 21, 35 next week, and so on. It helps to break up the monotony. And gives a break of weeks to months between some chapters to basically read it with fresh eyes. I started working on 1-2 chapters each day, then started working on 4-6 per week.
Each chapter was saved as its own document, and each time I worked on it they got a new version number. It means many documents, but I can see the progress and how much work each chapter required. For example, chapter 4 v1.02 or chapter 12 v1.07. If I make any huge changes I can then change the version number to reflect that big change to more easily see later where/when those changes were (even if I don't remember or take note of what exactly that big change was), so I might change from chapter 10 v1.12 to chapter 10 v1.20 or chapter 10 v2.00. Also if you do save as different version numbers use 2 decimal places not just 1, otherwise you'll only get 9 edits before you need to change the primary number.
Like your hack 2 I often open a new document when editing, but I only copy and paste 1-2 paragraphs (less than 1 page) worth. Easier to edit than 10+ pages worth, or seeing it amongst walls of text.
Each chapter has its own title. This allows me to keep certain stuff (time period or event) to that chapter. I also put a bold subtitle of 1-3 words above most paragraphs to clearly show what each paragraph is about. This helps to keep stuff contained where it should be instead of multiple paragraphs mentioning similar things. Just remember to delete these for your final-final-final manuscript.
Because my manuscript was split into different chapters and had extra words for paragraph subheadings, I made an excel sheet to keep track. The excel sheet had the chapters and title, word count, minus words (paragraph subheadings), and rough percentage done (I could have also added page numbers but didn't). I updated this weekly (with a new version number), though I may have gotten lazy sometimes with the minus words so it wasn't perfectly exact. This helped give me the total word count to keep track of from multiple documents. And it showed roughly the percentage complete and what chapters needed more work.
I also started to colour code text so I could easily see amongst a wall of text what text I wanted to edit. I use different colours for different things. Red - delete. Blue - move. Purple - edit. Green - similar text within chapter. Gold - similar text between different chapters. I can highlight stuff to later edit, then when I go back to that chapter hours, days, or weeks later I can see straight away what text needs to be edited and how, and gives me a little time to ponder if I want or how I want to edit that text or leave as is. Just highlight within a sentence not the whole sentence. For example, the sentence "Today is hot." would highlight "oday is hot" (minus the period), because if you highlight the whole text when you later cut, delete, etc, you might leave the different font colour there without realising it. Many times I went to type and it typed in a colour I didn't mean to. Also, remember to highlight all text and default (black) colour when you're done editing to remove any left over colour changes.
I made an extra document for text I cut out. This was so if I deleted something that I later actually wanted to keep I still have that text. And because each chapter was its own document, I might be working on one chapter and want to move a paragraph to another chapter but I'm not working on that chapter this week, so instead of opening and saving a chapter as a new updated version which I'm not currently working on I can copy and paste that text into the extra text document then later copy that text when I'm working on the relevant chapter.
And make backups. On different drives. I have a usb thumb drive for the whole manuscript I'm currently working on. Then each week I backup whatever new files I made to other external drives, so this way if a drive crashes I don't lose everything.
Wow, this is exactly my process, minus the color coding. Tbh the importance of backups cannot be stressed enough, they're so important.
Thank you for your videos. I feel like I've learned so much in the last two weeks since I discovered your page.
Rwading out loud is so useful to me. Even if takes an eternity, but it has helped finding errors a lot
I do all these except changing the font. I used the reverse outline to make my synopsis. I also use the read aloud feature on word.
These "hacks" it's pure psychology at its finest. I've been using a few of these, and they indeed work wonders, now I'll add the rest - Tnx Alyssa!
Also, when reading your story aloud - you can make it extra fun by giving each character their own voice - the story then comes alive. It tends to make the whole process a lot less daunting!
Happy self-editing.
I use hacks 1, 2 and 5 and it makes editing for me the best part of writing. It's like being a sculptor after getting out of the block of marble that rough shape of the sculpture. Now comes the work that will turn that marble alive, stroke by stroke.
I'm sure going to add the other 2 hacks to further get the most possible benefits from editing. Thanks for those!
I'm working on my first novel and while i'm only on chapter 6 of the rough draft I've heard of reverse outlining so i'm doing that already as I go along! So helpful already!
The only one of these hacks that I don’t employ is handwriting my manuscript. Thank you for this advice. It’s reassuring to me that I have proven methods and practices of self-editing.
As I always say: You can’t edit what’s not there. So keep writing.
I just went and changed the font of my current novel-in-progress as you suggested we do in this video. I saw immediately it was like reading a different book. Genius. Your videos are awesome!🤩
Good advice. I've edited my manuscript after converting my Word doc to PDF. It does help to see issues you don't see in Word.
I'm thinking of finishing my current story then taking a few weeks off, then look at it again with fresher eyes. I figured that would help me better.
I use placeholders a lot as well as reading out loud. Writing by hand is a good one!
It does feel much less daunting now. Tysm for all this free knowledge!! Your presentation style is so professional and eloquent
Great advice! I always print out my drafts, create a reverse outline, and read my work aloud. I also use placeholders when I know something needs to change, but I don’t yet know what/how to change it. I look forward to trying the “create a new blank document” option and changing the font 😊
These are really great tips, Alyssa!! I've found that reading aloud is essential, especially for dialogue. I also try to visualize the scene like it's in a movie/play, and think about 'blocking'...who is standing where and what they are doing while speaking. Errors do jump out on hard copies. This is second-hand, but I friend told me that Mark Twain used to use "Damn" as a placeholder, lol. :)
Just put my whole mss into comic sans ready for editing tomorrow!
Thanks, Alyssa. Your advice comes at an opportune time in my writing. Have a great day.
Great tips! I also use the Read Aloud feature in the latest Word. Another thing I found helpful was looking at my work in miniaturized Print View. It's like I'm looking at a sample page of a complete work on Amazon, and I find that typos and issues jump out at me from this perspective. Same concept as the different font, I guess.
I like to print what I edit. I don't print everything, but when I do, I like to change the font to Arial 14 (in bold print) to make it easier to read. I switch from double space to 2.5 space, or sometimes triple space. This gives me more room to revise. I also highlight the trouble areas in yellow; this is a big help. I've started new documents when I want to send chapters to a beta reader and when I sent my first sample pages. I've started the reverse outline, but it does take time.
Thanks for the awesome tips! Side note, as a graphic designer by trade... I think I died a bit inside when I heard the tip about switching the font to COMIC SANS!! Haha I may have to try this, but I might need a pillow to scream into after awhile.
Hmm. Changing font is powerful. Especially if you want to find the perfect font. I find myself adjusting all writing based on the font, since it then evokes different emotions and thus need different wording... So it's tricky. Maybe the next step in human evolution is to constantly change font for the perfect style at each given moment .. but... We aren't ready for that yet.
Thanks!
Never thought on changing the font to get a different perspective. May give this one a try.
I always right the first draft by hand because I feel more life come out of me - like it comes straight from my mind and goes through the pen and onto the page 🤷♀️
Today I bought 20 new pens lol 😂
On point 1 what about using transcription software? On point 3, Comic Sans is also good if you are dsylexic
Text to speech won't pick out homophones (there, their, they're) so it can work for development edits but not for line edits or proofing.
I am editing my WIP. I found it also helps to be a critique partner or beta reader of a writer friend because it helps your own writing judgment when you self edit.
I’ve done the read aloud, but I swear by the reverse outline.
Such great ideas. I've been using some in a bit of a combo. I print out the manuscript with additional extra spacing. I go through and manually correct, also putting in placement holders, which I number and place I a list of things for me to go back to. I then take that and do a document edit while reading it again as I do that and then using the reference points. What I think I'm going to add into the process is reading it out loud. I think that's a brilliant idea and would easily fit into how I am currently editing. :)
"Self editing can be hard. After all, you put those words on the page for a reason." -Yeah, half the time, I put those words on the page as placeholders until I'm ready for a revision.
As a music composer and book writer, self-editing is a crucial skill to learn. I always keep the perspective of wanting the art to be the highest quality possible. Yes, this line might be sentimental, but does it elevate the art of the song/book? Sometimes it takes hours looking through a document trying to find what is out of place, and it can be a simple small change, but the outcome has the potential to be so much better. The reason I like Beethoven better than Mozart is because you can feel Beethoven self-editing. Only Mozart ever got everything right the first time and never needed to revise anything. But Beethoven used revision as an opportunity, not to search for the right note, but to find a better than right note that asked a deeper question than the right note would have asked.
Text to speech is a god send.
1. Read it aloud
2. Rewrite in a blank document
3. Change font/formatting
4. Use placeholders
5. Make a reverse outline
Great video!
I have a question about text-to-speech programs. The one that comes with Word is pretty clunky. Can you recommend another one where the diction is less "robotic" that will work with Word?
I have already decided to start acting my characters dialogue like Kate Morton does to make it in character. Trouble is that I am not an actor and has never wanted to be one. Maybe instead of a cameo in the movie version I will request to portray the main character 🤣.
Rather than reading it out loud yourself, you can use text to speech. It will have the same effect and you don't have to listen to your own voice for hours.
I don't read it to myself, but have the computer read it back to me. This allows me to focus on hearing. Are the pauses in the correct place? Does it flow and make sense? Does the dialogue sound out of character?
I use placeholders while writing and editing. First, I use all CAPS. Then I type something like: JOHN WANTED TO GET LINDA ALONE TO DISCUSS THEIR PROBLEM. All caps makes it stand out from the rest of the page and reminds me what I want to add in.
Reading aloud is common thing people teach. My brother for instance, a magical author does it constantly. Yet I don't think it's so shrimple. Unless you are a perfect voice actor, you aren't gonna nail things the way you can imagine them. Even if _someone_ could say something out loud, you as a person might never speak that way, or are non native and there's dissonance. Then you trash your script. Especially if you aren't the type to use emotion in your voice and you try to speak with a certain emotion attached...
On the other hand, perfect voice acting can add to your text a nuance not seen in script at all. Re:zero, one of the worst written pieces of writing by style and skill (even if at the peak of conceptual beauty and virtuoso ideas) only becomes alive when spoken by superb voice actors. So it's really nuanced... I think if u master voice acting this is incredibly powerful. Or if you have a friend who can do that.
5 stars for REVERSE OUTLINE 7:29
Definitely do most of these things, but would have never thought to change the font in order to view the doc through a different lens... through comic sans no less...😂
Another one, though a bit time consuming, is read your work aloud, record it, and play it back with your eyes closed. I think a human voice is better than using software to read it aloud because you get the benefit of reading the first time, and it doesn't sound as unnatural as computer software.
I HATE reading over my own work. it's like grating my eyes.
Very nice