Anybody else wanna give me advice? Maybe? Maybe not?
google Abbie Emmons’ channel. she’s a very good starting point and gives you a really great road map for how to structure your editing process, as well as a great rundown on the two types of editing and when to do what.
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I think @Xelyn_Craft hit the nail on the head with what I need to do.
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ok!
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Thanks again!
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you’re welcome!
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I’ve figured out at least 5 phases of editing.
Phase 1: Inconsistencies and plot holes
MC has blond hair and blue eyes here, but suddenly in Chapter 19, she has purple eyes. What happened? 
Or MC has a puppy who is so cute and in Chapter 10, she has a big dog…but only two months have gone by between Chapter 1 and Chapter 10. Uhhhhhh And plot holes like some magical thing happened and later, you completely forgot about it and never mention it again. WHY. Plot hole! Gotta fix that.
So, Phase 1 involves moving things around, shifting things, even changing whole scenes so they make sense. Deleting a whole lot, too. It’s fine if the word count goes down because it’s gonna go up again.
Phase 1 goes from the beginning to the end of the story.
Phase 2: Give depth
Once the flow of the story is pretty much there, flesh out those shorter scenes, add in descriptions where you just have “they went into a room” or “they had dinner”. Add in more character interactions or fight scenes or whatever to really give the story depth.
Phase 2 goes from the beginning to the end of the story.
Phase 3: Refine Phase 1 and 2
Also from the beginning to the end of the story.
Phase 4: Add charm
Not all of my stories need phase 4, but some do. In phase 4, I add charm. So, if the story is meant to have a little humor in it, I go through to try to break up serious scenes and add more character to the characters. If the story has a satire vibe, I go add more satire vibes. If the story is based on a historical period, I try to slip in little bits and pieces referencing the history.
Also from the beginning to the end of the story.
Phase 5: Refining, once more, Phase 1 and 2.
From the beginning to the end of the story.
The reason I do so much refining is because I won’t catch or see everything in one go. Also, I usually don’t do the phases all at once. Once I get from the beginning to the end, I’m so exhausted, I have to leave it sometimes even for a year depending on the story.
Throughout all the phases, I’m always editing sentences for grammar, too.
It’s between Phase 2 and 3 that I might get readers to read somehow, depending on how serious I am about refining the story. If I’m going to self-publish it, maybe join a book club on Wattpad (best is Wayfarers which you do have to be prepared to do your part, but I swear it’s a good time 
) or actively seek out beta readers somewhere else.
Got questions? Ask away
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