More Self-Editing Tips for Fiction Authors

If you’ve just finished the first draft of your novel, and reviewed my original list of 10 self-editing tips for fiction authors, please read on for the next 10. (There are 24 tips in total, and 24 is the best one of the lot…)

Of course hiring a freelance editorial professional is always going to elevate your manuscript to make it more readable and more marketable. But the better your manuscript is before you send it to a fiction editor for some professional attention, the better your final published book will be.

I’m a freelance editorial professional, and my job is to look at manuscripts and check for issues with punctuation, grammar, typos, word choice, pace and inconsistencies. But there are many things that you – the novelist – can do to elevate your manuscript before you look for a book professional to copyedit, line edit and proofread your book.

Below is part two of my list of self-editing tips for indie fiction authors – see here for part 1!

11 – Action Beats

Action beats are the actions that happen while people are speaking. They help to ground the dialogue – making your characters more three-dimensional and real.

When we talk to people, we rarely sit and just talk. We are also looking out of the window, sighing, picking up a biscuit, putting down a coffee cup, scratching a body part.

Action beats not only make the dialogue more natural and interesting, they can also tell us who is speaking.

Rachel scratched her nose. “Is it raining?”

The action beat (Rachel scratched her nose) is on the same line as the dialogue (“Is it raining?”) – in this context, this means that whoever did the action is the one doing the talking.

If there’s any confusion, you could also add the dialogue tag:

Rachel scratched her nose. “Is it raining?” she asked.

Now it’s 100% clear that it’s Rachel who is asking, but you haven’t had to use the name in the dialogue tag (meaning it’s a little less clunky).

Writing dialogue is tricky – and this is just another way to keep it more realistic, and to make it a little more interesting.

12 – Past Tense or Present Tense?

Present Tense

This can be more immediate, bring more intensity and make the reader feel like they are properly immersed in the story. However, it can be tricky to write.

Past Tense

Most novels produced today are written in the past tense. Partly because that’s what we are used to reading (making it easier to write), and partly because it does allow for more authorial control.

But Which is Better?

The short answer is that it doesn’t matter, as long as you remain consistent throughout your novel.

If you’ve written your novel in the past tense, make sure you haven’t accidentally slipped into the present tense.

And if you’ve written your novel in the present tense, make sure you haven’t accidentally slipped into the past (unless it’s a flashback).

13 – Contractions

Contractions are another useful way to make dialogue more realistic.

Examples of contractions:

Shouldn’t (rather than should not)

Haven’t (rather than have not)

Won’t (rather than will not)

Unless your characters are from a different era (when the contractions listed above were less prevalent), or you want your characters to seem a little pompous or formal, then contractions will help you make your dialogue more natural.

This applies to some genres more than others – for example, in YA novels, the main characters are generally teenagers, and most teenagers will speak using contractions, so I’d recommend always considering contractions in your dialogue.

The same applies to any novel set in contemporary times, unless you want your characters to speak more formally. If you listen to dialogue going on around us, it’s very (very) unusual to hear people speaking without contractions. Even King Charles uses them.

Whether you choose to use contractions in your narrative is up to you – but I’d argue that if you want your novel to feel accessible and natural then it’s a good idea to use contractions in your narrative too.

14 – Character Descriptions

How are you handling character descriptions in your novels?

There is a tendency for authors to infodump details of a character’s appearance. This is where the reader is given ALL the details – hair colour, eye colour, height, skin colour, hairstyle, length of legs, waist circumference – in one paragraph.

Although you might want your readers to see how your character looks, this is not a particularly interesting way to present the information.

Instead, my recommendation would be to drip-feed character description, and to weave it into the narrative so the reader can interpret it for themselves.

So rather than telling us that a tall, dark-haired man walked into the room, how about having him duck his head slightly as he walks through the door, and then in a later passage describe how his dark hair is damp from the rain?

This shows us how a character looks (rather than telling us) and provides more character depth.

15 – Overuse of Stage Directions

Sometimes authors write a book in the same way as they would write a screenplay – describing in great detail how a character is moving and the steps necessary to perform a task or get from A to B.

A typical example of over-use of stage direction would be:

He opened the car door and climbed into the driver’s seat, shutting the door behind him. Putting on his seatbelt, he put the key in the ignition, turned the key until the engine sprang to life, then put the car in gear, released the handbrake and pulled away.

Most of this detail isn’t needed. And – let’s face it – it’s incredibly boring. Instead, you could simply say that he got in the car and drove away.

The only time this kind of detail would be necessary is when something happens that’s out of the ordinary. Maybe the driver is interrupted by something extraordinary as he’s starting the car, or maybe the driver is in fact from a different planet and has some kind of physical difference that makes the process of starting the engine difficult.

But most of the time it’s better to leave this detail out. The reader will work it out for themselves.

16 – Tentative Language

Are you using tentative language in your novel?

Examples of tentative language:

Frank goes to switch off the light (rather than Frank switches off the light)

Rachel started to stand up (rather than Rachel stood up)

If Frank was interrupted on his way to switching off the light, or something stops him from performing his task, then the tentative language is needed:

Frank goes to switch off the light, but Rachel stops him.

If Rachel was interrupted as she moved into a standing position, then once again tentative language is needed:

Rachel started to stand up, but the pain shot through her ankle.

But if nothing unusual happens to interrupt these actions, the tentative language is just giving your writing an undertone of uncertainty and a lack of definition.

If you remove the uncertainty and remove the tentative language, it can make your readers subconsciously feel better about your book.

17 – Too Much Description

Lots of authors visualise a scene as they are writing it – and sometimes this can result in too much description that doesn’t add anything to the tone, scene-setting or plot.

It’s honestly not necessary to describe a room in all its glorious detail – unless those details are pertinent.

Do your readers really need to know the precise location of the couch in relation to the window?

Is the colour of the curtains adding anything?

Avoid using unnecessary description.

18 – Chapter Endings

It’s important to keep your readers engaged, and keep them reading.

Chapter endings can play a big part in this – a well-written, well-timed chapter ending will prevent your readers from putting your book down.

Nailing chapter endings comes down to three things: cliffhangers, foreshadowing and timing it right.

Cliffhangers

Ending your chapter with a who-fired-the-gun cliffhanger will keep your readers turning the pages. However, not every chapter needs to end in a cliffhanger. This would be a lot of work to write, and would also be exhausting to read.

Foreshadowing

Ending your chapter with a glimpse of something that’s going to happen in the future can add a touch of intrigue – not as dramatic as a cliffhanger, but still engaging.

Timing it right

Often towards the end of a chapter there will be some action or some drama … followed by a paragraph or two of less exciting closing details where the characters say goodbye to each other, leave the room, put the phone down.

These less exciting details can frequently be removed – readers will know that people leave the room/put the phone down/say goodbye.

It’s better to leave the chapter at the drama point, rather than unnecessarily tie up loose ends.

19 – Make it Look Professional

It’s conventional in novels for the first line in each paragraph to be indented EXCEPT for the first paragraph in a new chapter or section.

The first paragraph in a new chapter or section needs to remain flush left.

Try not to use tabs to indent your manuscript – this will result in inconsistent indents (and it’s a lot of extra keys to press!).

Instead, if you are using MS Word, you can use the built-in styles.

If you don’t know how to use MS Word’s styles, then just use the sliding tab that appears at the top of the page as part of the ruler.

Using indents properly will mean that when someone opens your book for the first time, it will look like it’s been properly formatted.

20 – Remove those Double Spaces!

We used to add two spaces after a full stop/period. This dates back to when we were using typewriters, to make sure there was enough space after a full stop to help the reader spot a new sentence.

We no longer need to add these two spaces after a full stop/period, as computers do a great job of adjusting the spacing for us.

A lot of us still automatically include two spaces – if this is you, then it’s a really easy thing to fix when you’ve finished your manuscript. Just search for two spaces and replace them with one.

In Conclusion

This is part two of my self-editing tips for fiction authors – please see here for part 1. And if any of the above tips are unclear, please do email me – I’d love to hear from you.