The 6 Commandments of Starting the Editing Process

The “Now What?” Months are here! In 2014, we’ll be bringing you advice from authors who published their NaNo-novels, editors, agents, and more to help you polish November’s first draft until it gleams. Today, author Renee Ahdieh teams up with her literary agent, Barbara Poelle, to propose six editing commandments:

(Also, Barbara is offering free query critiques! To be eligible to win, just tweet this post, and include @Bpoelle and @rahdieh!)

While thinking about how to compile the Six Commandments of Editing, I turned at once to my trusty vodka guru, er, literary agent, Barbara Poelle. Over the course of our relationship she has caused me to alternate between tragically weeping and Breakfast Club fist-pumping, all in the span of a single day. And my manuscript is always the better for it.

So, without further ado, here are our suggestions/directives/rules-to-live-by (analytical commentary included) when approaching your knock-kneed, newborn masterpiece:

The Six Commandments of Editing

Thou shalt not query right away.
Thou shalt wield a red pen … and mean it.
Thou shalt read your book aloud.
Thou shalt read in your genre.
Thou shalt recruit fellow writers.
Thou shalt keep your eyes on your own paper.

1. Thou shalt not query right away.

Renee Ahdieh: This seems pretty obvious, but, even I have suffered, on more than one occasion, from a syndrome I’ll refer to as “1st Draft Delusion.” Here’s another “D” word for ya: don’t.

Barbara Poelle: And no one here would ever send a query out for an incomplete manuscript, right? Because every time that happens Johannes Gutenberg rises up out of his grave and peers into your windows, eyes full of shame and sorrow.

2. Thou shalt wield a red pen … and mean it.

Barbara: Kill your darlings! Just like you should never pick your own Match.com profile pic, you should always make sure that you have a critique partner with a healthy lust for honesty who is telling you when your manuscript looks a little puffy.

Renee: In any manuscript, there are moments where you will need a hatchet and a scalpel. In any manuscript. Approaching your work understanding this fact is half the battle. Remember: even John Green edits.

3. Thou shalt read your book aloud.

Renee: This sounds crazy. It also looks crazy. Is it crazy? Not at all. Reading your work aloud is the best way to catch mistakes, recognize awkward turns of phrase, and determine whether or not your dialogue rings true.

Barbara: You make so much more sense to me now.

Renee: And all it took was a window into my crazy.

4. Thou shalt read in your genre.

Barbara: I will say this until it is chanted back to me wherever I go: read 2000, write 2000. That means for every 2000 words you are writing in your novel, you are reading in your genre. See what’s out there! It also helps with the woo-woo process of visualizing success to go to the bookstore and stare at the shelf space where your book will be. Then buy the novels to the right and left of that space to get you started.

Renee: Don’t write for trends, but know your market. Remember that time you had an idea for an amazing book no one has done before? Yeah. Me too. Sucks when you realize James Patterson already wrote it.

5. Thou shalt recruit fellow writers.

Renee: I cannot stress this enough. Having strong beta readers and critique partners has made a world of difference in my writing. Don’t just ask Mom or your BFF to take a look… ask people who aren’t afraid to tell you something isn’t working. Someone who understands what you’re doing because they’re fighting the same fight.

Barbara: Exactly. Although this can feel like a solo mission to the summit, you need Sherpas!

6. Thou shalt keep your eyes on your own paper.

Barbara: No one can write what you write. And no one will have the same relationship with their agent. And no one will have the same publicity plan. Work with what you have in your own arsenal as far as craft technique and detail, and don’t worry what Sally or Keith is getting, doing, or writing.

Renee: This is so important. Pulling your hair and gnashing your teeth because JimBob got a book deal for a million billion dollars with little effort and virtually no talent does absolutely nothing for you.

Instead, focus that time and energy on your work… and JimBob won’t know what hit him.

Renee Ahdieh is a writer of young adult books. Her life goals include becoming Twitter-verified and discovering what really matters. She lives in North Carolina with her long-suffering husband and their tiny overlord of a dog. Her novel The Wrath and the Dawn, a re-imagining of The Arabian Nights, will be published by Penguin/Putnam in 2015. 

Barbara Poelle is an agent with Irene Goodman Literary primarily representing thrillers, upmarket fiction, historical romance, crime, mystery and young adult, but looks for anything with a unique voice. Barbara enjoys working with her authors to explore the craft, technique, and detail of a novel in order to turn that maybe into a yes.

Top photo by Flickr user OpalMirror.