The 3-Phase Checklist for Revising Your Manuscript
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If you plan on transforming your manuscript from a massive file on the computer into an actual published book, the revision process is something you’ll want to get familiar with (if you’re not already).
Typing “The End” doesn’t mean your manuscript is ready for its next step in its journey toward becoming a book. Nor should it be! An unrevised manuscript will often require more time and money spent on editing versus one that’s been pored over with meticulous detail. You owe it to yourself to cross the t’s and dot the i’s before paying a trained professional to tell you that your main character’s name is spelled incorrectly on page 121 — or worse, for a reader to tell you.
Revising your manuscript effectively requires you to put a little space between yourself and your writing. Taking (at least) a two week break after you’ve finished your first draft means you’ll approach it with fresher eyes than if you immediately shifted from writing into revising mode.
To guide you further along the path of revision, we’ve developed a 3-phase, step-by-step checklists for you to follow (and download).
But before we get started, some advice:
Don’t delete anything! Make a copy of your manuscript so that you can revise as needed without fear of losing something you particularly liked. This way, if you decide that a previous version was stronger, you can copy it from the previous draft. This should free you up to be bold in your revisions. Alternatively, you may find it helpful to print a physical copy of your manuscript and complete your revisions the old fashioned way: with red pen on paper. Viewing your text on the printed page can help you see it in a new light — just make sure you eventually transfer those revisions to your digital copy before proceeding with publishing!
Phase 1: Concept, Purpose, and Execution
During Phase 1, you want to think of the big picture: your book as a product on shelves. This is where you’ll assess whether the words you’ve put on the page are achieving your goals. While you let your writing “settle,” consider the following question: did you tell the story you set out to tell? Put another way: did you keep the promises you made to your reader at the beginning of the book?
But wait, you might say, I just spent 60,000 words writing my intentions all over the page! Unfortunately, the process of writing a manuscript (for most of us mortals, anyway) is often long. When we get swept up in an ambitious project like writing a book, things can change – and that may well include key messages or fundamental aspects of your story. It’s essential to schedule a check-in with yourself and be honest about what’s on the page. If there are aspects that aren’t serving the purposes of your narrative or your goals for the book, you might want to make note of that item for later. And if your focus changed over time, that’s totally okay (and expected) too! Maybe you set out to write a self-help book, but in the writing you found that what you really wanted to tell was your memoir. Sometimes you’ll find that what needs to change is your answers to the above checklist, rather than changing the book you’ve written.
The answers you provide will help you assess what changes you may need to make to the content. Have you repeated the same story in chapter 3 and 5? Have you gone on a 3-page tirade about the history of logging in chapter 8 when you were supposed to be talking about gardening? Make sure all the pieces fit together. If something doesn’t, see if you can adjust it to fit, or make the tough decision to cut it. William Faulkner famously said, “in writing you must kill all your darlings.” But who knows, maybe that cut content will become the perfect start for a future project.
Phase 2: Organization, Formatting, and Consistency
Once your content is solidly where you want it, it’s time to clean up your writing. Run your spellcheck and grammar features in your writing software. Consider running your text through Hemingway (especially if you’re writing for plain language audiences) or Grammarly. While these programs are not a replacement for a professional editor, they can help you clean up common errors and potentially lessen the amount of editing attention your manuscript needs. Be careful though: they may make incorrect suggestions that change your meaning or introduce new errors.
By working through these revision steps, you will be able to clean up some of the most common issues in first drafts. This ensures that you have a stronger understanding of your story and your goals. That way, when you start working with your editor or market testing, you’ll have a better sense of how to use their feedback. By having cleaned up the issues you found in your own sweeps, you can focus your attention on items you might have missed, making the most of any consulting or editing time you might seek. And best of all, you’ll have a much stronger product to begin polishing for publication.
Phase 3: Finalizing Your Draft
All of your revisions so far are often the process that makes your book truly take shape. It’s where countless “I’ll deal with that later’s” are dealt with. But it’s also possible to get stuck in an endless loop of revising, rewriting, and polishing. Writing skills grow and change over time and with practice; it’s easy to keep opening up your manuscript and finding something else to fiddle with. Take that comma out … wait, put it back in. When are you truly done?
The self-awareness of when to walk away is a skill in itself, and you can develop that skill by zooming out and taking stock of all you’ve accomplished. It might not feel like it when you’re in the middle of the revisions process, but there will come a time when you’ll say, “I’ve done all I can for now.” Listen to that voice. Instead of doubling down and actively seeking more things to change, enlist the help of others. You won’t be able to catch everything on your own, and that’s okay.
Great works of literature are not the product of some mad genius bashing gold out of their keys; rather, greatness is achieved when an author has a supportive team in their corner. Whether it’s reaching out to trusted loved ones, beta readers in your target audience, or the editing team at FriesenPress, showing your work to someone for the first time can be nerve wracking. However, comfort can be found in this letting go, too: your story is now living outside of you for the first time, just as it will when it’s a published and bound book. You can take pride in having done everything in your power to send it out into the world in the best possible shape.
