Editing vs. Proofing

Editing and proofing. Though part and parcel of readying a manuscript for publication, and often used as interchangeable terms, they are actually two different processes. 

A quick breakdown: 

Editing is the heavy lifting. An editor's job is to make sure that the book is readable, stylistically consistent, and as free from technical errors as possible. Editing is usually a multi-step, complex process; this is where revisions, and even total rewrites come into play. 

Proofing is more or less the final polish. This is the last hunt for typos, blank pages, and formatting issues. 

Found a typo in a book? That's a proofing issue, rather than an editing one. And guess what: all books have typos. It's not an indie, self-pub phenomenon. When you write a 200k word book, even with tons of eyes reading over the manuscript, some little blips will slip through the cracks.  

By the time a book gets to the proofing stage, it's more or less done; proofing is like lint-rolling the dress after you've put it on. And editing is tailoring the dress so it fits. 

This is one area where my extremely critical, self-deprecating side comes in handy. Once I finish a manuscript, I'm good at detaching myself from it and looking at it critically. I always get a second opinion, but for the most part, I know what I need to convey, and I know what I need to cut, rewrite, or change to achieve that. 

I always ask myself the following questions:

What does this scene aim to accomplish?

How do you want the characters to come across?

Does the language serve that purpose? 

I had a well-known agent, in my early days of submitting, tell me that any scene that takes place in a kitchen, car, or restaurant should be cut. "Nothing that happens in those places adds to the plot," this agent said. 

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY disagree. Partially because this is such a narrow, backward way of looking at character development that makes no allowances for individual authors' stories or styles, but also because I truly believe that any moment your characters are together is a chance to have them discuss important things.

*Also, because I prefer character- to plot-driven narratives, I'm in favor of any scene that helps me better understand a character and their relationships, regardless of setting or circumstances. And, for me at least, those kitchen table convos are the reasons characters come to certain plot-important decisions. The heat of the moment isn't when we have changes of heart; sea changes happen in the kitchen, in the car, and on long plane rides. They happen while we're talking quietly, face-to-face, to the people who love us. So those moments are the MOST important parts of my stories.

Okay, soapbox moment over. 

So my editing approach revolves around asking myself: Does this scene accomplish what I need it to? And, usually, I ask each scene to accomplish more than one thing. 

When it comes to cutting, I don't usually end up cutting whole scenes; I generally cut lines or paragraphs; anything that's repetitive, or clutters a scene so that it is less clear in a reader's mind. Anyone familiar with my work knows I love lush prose, and that I love setting a scene, but I don't ever want to see purple prose on the page. Protracted, far flung metaphors get the old snip-snip too, in that case. 


Second Opinions
Whether you're hiring an editor, or self-editing and using beta readers, I think it's important to employ the help of people who know what you're trying to accomplish. For example, my primary beta is someone very familiar with my work, who knows how I normally "sound" on paper. She's worried about helping me sound authentic and true to my vision, and is quick to point out passages that don't read smoothly, or need tweaking in order for readers to understand what's happening in the story. Her aim is to help me sound like the best version of me, rather than sound like someone else, and I think that's really important. 

I also think it's important to serve as your story's advocate. An editor's job is to help you perfect your manuscript, but you have to know when to stand up and say "this is an important story element, and I'm not changing it." For instance, there was a line in Loverboy my beta suggested I change. At one point, late in the novel, when Tango comes clean to his club brothers, I described him as "bursting into tears." My beta worried that such wording sounded less than masculine, given that it was an MC romance novel. But the word choice was very specific; I wanted that "less than masculine" wording. In fact, I take any chance I can to tone down the machismo in those books. I listened to what she said, but I kept the line the way it was originally. 

Do things knowingly, is what I mean. Be sensitive to the language you use, to the ways your characters can be interpreted. Not every reader will like your book. But the point of editing is to sharpen your vision into its most perfect version.