6 Ways to Approach Your Edits With Objectivity

nanowrimo:

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, literary agent and editor Elizabeth Kracht shares her wisdom about tackling the edits on your novel:

Objectivity is one of the most difficult things for writers to apply when it comes to editing their own work. As an agent and freelance editor—having helped develop hundreds of manuscripts, and having read many more—I’ve seen the subtlest of problems become the difference between a manuscript ready for traditional publishing and one that is not. Here are 6 tips from the agent/editor perspective to help you think about your work with objectivity as you approach your revision:

1. Structure

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I’ve been struggling with showing the passage of time and with keeping up with all of my character archs. There’s a big difference in these between a novel and short story!