Okay, so you’ve got your first draft. Great! But as you read through it, you find yourself slogging through each chapter What gives? It all sounded so much better in your head! Don’t panic; there’s a way out! If you want to know how to write a book, you’re going to have to know how to edit! Chapters form the basis of our books, and when you’re on your second draft, editing your chapters for content will make a huge difference.
If you haven’t read my outline-based writing method, I’ll sum it up: you should create a theoretical model of your novel in a text document that sums up each of the plot points in a simple, “therefore, but” structure. Included in this document, you should write down each of your major characters, their flaws, their goals, and their character arcs. I usually recommend that people do this prior to beginning a draft, but let’s say you don’t have one. Well, make one! Write down the basic plot points that happen in each chapter, like so:
Chapter 5: Beth wakes up in the hospital, while Todd and John make out behind a curtain.
Do this until you have a loose, but comprehensive view of all your chapters. Now, read through your chapters, taking notes on the exact plot progression. Write down a simple beginning, middle, and end statement for each one.
Chapter 5: Beth wakes up in the hospital, while Todd and John make out behind a curtain.
Beginning: Beth has a nightmare about her father and wakes up screaming. She doesn’t remember anything, so she freaks out, and looks for her phone.
Middle: Todd and John are in the same room, making out behind a medical curtain, but they don’t want Beth to find out, because everyone thinks that Todd and John hate each other, so they try to sneak out. They try to climb through the vents, but John is too big, and Todd doesn’t want to leave him behind. So, they try to sneak out one by one.
End: Beth catches Todd and John sneaking out and figures out their secret. She gets mad at them.
Okay, but hold on, you can already see a few problems here. First of all, this chapter starts with a dream sequence. Now, while there is a place for dream sequences in fiction, what does the dream add to the chapter? In this case, nothing that relates to the events at hand, so that has to go. Second, the middle feels a bit bloated. That whole bit about the vents is so cliché, it makes me want to claw my eyes out. And why would Todd not want to leave John behind? Isn’t the whole point that they don’t want people to know they’re together? That’s not a problem if one of them can just leave, right?
Furthermore, in this case, couldn’t the chapter just end on Beth finding out their secret? That creates some natural tension to lead us into the next chapter as the audience tries to guess what her reaction will be. Also, whose perspective is this written from? If we see this chapter through Beth’s eyes, we miss the context between Todd and John, and if it’s from either of their eyes, we miss the dream sequence! We could switch perspectives, but that’s difficult to pull off. Well, since we’ve already decided to axe the dream, let’s just say this is a “Todd” chapter. With that in mind, we can start to edit this chapter.
So, let’s prune this description a little!
NEW Chapter 5: Beth wakes up in the hospital, while Todd and John make out behind a curtain.
Beginning: Beth wakes up, freaks out, and calls out for help.
Middle: Todd and John are in the same room, making out behind a medical curtain, but they don’t want Beth to find out, because everyone thinks that Todd and John hate each other. So, they try to sneak out one by one.
End: Beth catches Todd and John and figures out their secret.
Do you see the process here? In essence, you have to look at your book like a nitpicky critic, finding all the little details that drag the plot along and cutting as much as you can. The essence of editing a book is in cutting material. Even if you write sparse prose, structural editing requires you to cut. From there, you can go in and rewrite your chapter with this loose scaffolding as your guide. If you go in blind, you’ll struggle. That’s why I always recommend using at least some kind of procedure; whether it’s a strongly developed outline or just a loose chapter-by-chapter guide, structure can help you prune your manuscript into shape! That way, you can edit chapters your like a pro!
