The one skill that turns good writers into great ones

It may seem like the hardest part of writing a book is completing a first draft. A publisher will take care of the polishing, right? No. Your manuscript needs to stand out from thousands of others to stand any chance of being published. That requires meticulous editing.

Nobody wants to spend years crafting something only to have it dismissed by an agent or a publisher in minutes. Sadly, that’s the norm. Editors see so many manuscripts that they can instinctively tell if the writers know what they’re doing or not – often within a single page.

You can’t hold out hope that they’ll “get to the good stuff” eventually. The polish needs to be there from the jump – and that’s your responsibility. You must hone your intuition to a point where you can look at a sentence and know what needs to be cut, expanded, or revised.

A first draft by a new writer will need to lose 10-30% of the total length on average. The idea isn’t to punch holes in the story but to reduce drag and tighten the structural flow. Nothing should be considered off-limits in this process.

It’s natural to feel attached to a piece of writing, especially when you’ve spent lots of time on it. But don’t let that cloud your judgment. Ask yourself: “Is this really driving the story forward? Or am I being biased?” Sacrifices will make your writing sharper and richer.

Your first read-through should be focused on the bigger picture. Put some distance between you and the manuscript by taking at least a few days away from it first. You need to be able to read it with fresh eyes. (It helps to pretend that you’re someone else entirely.)

Flag any parts where your attention dips or stumbles. You can revisit these later. For now, ask yourself: “Is the main character worth following around? Are they facing a conflict that will sustain interest?” Create a separate story outline to see if everything flows and aligns.

Once you’re satisfied that everything works as a cohesive whole, it’s time to fine-tune. Weed out any repetition, like crutch words and phrases (e.g. “just”, “actually”). Read the text out loud to see how it feels. If something doesn’t sound right, tweak it to feel more natural.

Get feedback from peers and professionals. Beta readers can be incredibly helpful, but be careful who you ask. Are they your target audience? Are they experienced at editing in your genre? Most importantly, are they going to be impartial and constructive?

All of these steps are perfectly normal. No first draft is ever perfect and it takes practice to get better at self-editing. If it feels overwhelming, make a list of the book’s pros and cons so you can isolate problems that need fixing. Finally, remember to trust your intuition.