You’ve done it! Your first draft is complete, the whole story has been written down from beginning to end. After that initial sense of awestruck wonder that holy crap I’ve actually finished it, then comes the daunting sense of foreboding: What the heck comes next?
Prepping for Professional Eyes
Before you start thinking about hiring a professional, consider this: are you presenting the best you can possibly write?
The answer seems silly, because of course it’s not perfect and full of problems, that’s why you’re sending it to a developmental editor, line editor, sensitivity reader, etc.! But the question isn’t whether or not your work is perfect. The question breaks down into two parts:
Have you completed a proof-reading pass and fixed the obvious mistakes
And
Is what you’re about to send going to show that you respect the time of the professional you’ve hired?
To prepare for a professional, you need to take a break after you finish your first draft. Spend a week or two reading books and consuming stories. Then open up your draft and read it critically.
How Do I Read Critically?
I remember being taught in elementary school to read newspaper articles looking for the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and sometimes How. These are excellent places to start when you’re reading critically. You should be able to answer those questions as you’re reading your draft. You should read slowly, such as reading your own book aloud. That will help you find errors as well as improve your skills for future public readings. Your manuscript should be free of easily fixed, repeating errors (the search function is your friend).
Additionally, you need to consider that your reader doesn’t know the world you’ve created or the characters who populate it. Write yourself notes in the margins, like “Have I described what this character looks like?” or “Have I explored this scene through my senses? What can they see/smell/hear/taste/touch in this environment?” You want to give your readers an experience, so remember to write that experience. Get out of “writer head” and enter “reader head” so that you can find where the issues are (or get into “editor head”). If you want to enter down an interesting rabbit hole that may help your writing, I recommend learning about the phenomenon of aphantasia, as understanding this may help you better understand your writing style (and writing pitfalls).
One Draft, Two Draft, Red Draft, Blue Draft?
I’m not actually just playing off of Dr. Seuss for no reason: you should easily have two-to-four-plus drafts before you send anything to a professional. Your first draft will be a messy pile of words with a story somewhere in there. Your second draft should be you doing your best to sort that pile of words into something even better, more coherent and full of descriptors than before. Your third and fourth drafts should be cutting the fat, catching more mistakes, writing new scenes if you need them and killing your darlings when you have to.
Beta Readers: Before or After Editors?
Admittedly, there are many different ideas about when you should involve beta readers in the process. I have beta readers that are happy to read for free, which enters into how I evaluate when to have them look at my drafts. I let beta readers play with it before editors as I trust my beta readers to offer excellent advice about broad concepts. I’ve had beta readers help me realize the need for massive rewrites that I would certainly have fought them on if I’d already paid to have them cleaned up by an editor.
Many editors charge by the word, which means I want to be damn sure that each word I’m paying them to look at is worth it. It brings me back to the beginning of this post: if I’m paying someone to look at my work, is it the best possible work to throw their way? Beta readers ensure that yes, that will be the case for my work.
Let me know what your thoughts are and what your process is in the comments!
-L.J.
Author of The Dying Sun, Book 1 of The Gods Chronicle.
Pedantic Scribe of the ‘Scribe’s Journey Podcast’
