Beating Editor’s Block While Revising Your Novel

First off, you’ve written a short story or a novel. Congratulations! That’s a huge accomplishment.

Now that you’ve written that novel, what do you do with it? It’s time to edit it. But editing something you’ve written can be a daunting task. Whether you think what you’ve written is the next best seller or you found it to be horrible in the light of day, it needs to be editing.

So what do you do when you have the editor’s equivalent of writer’s block?

Here are some ways I’ve found to beat editor’s block:

Just get away from it. Just like when you are writing and have writer’s block, staring at the same words will get you nowhere. Go work on some other story or do something that’s not writing related.
Get some other eyes on it. Others will spot things that you haven’t, especially as you’ve spent so much time looking at it. It’s easy to miss things.
Read it start to finish after you’ve put some distance between your story and you. Make notes as you go. It’ll help you pick out stuff you like, stuff you hate, and what needs to be changed around. Seeing your work with the eyes of a reader will help you get some perspective.
Break it up into drafts. If you just do a reading draft and then edit by chapter or even by scene, you’ll feel like you’re accomplishing more than just staring at the same piece of the story over and over.

Are you in the middle of editing something right now? Do you have any favorite tips for beating editor’s block. Let us know by commenting below and make sure to subscribe so you can get the latest posts.

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