How do you know when you’re finished with your book? When will your m/s come out of the oven at the perfect temperature, wonderfully seasoned, beautifully plated and ready for consumption by an agent?
Never. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.
I spent a year planning this book, another three years writing it, and another year editing it. It’s been round my writing group chapter by chapter. Twice. I’ve had several beta readers comment on my “final” draft, which of course led to more editing and polishing. Just when I thought it ready for submission, I decided to run over it one last time to find those few loose ends.
Few? Who was I kidding? I committed myself to several weeks of poring over every single page, correcting dozens of issues on each. And I thought it was ready to sell! However, I’m glad that I found all those issues and not an agent.
A m/s is like a painting, in that’s there is no definition of done. We creative types will never be completely happy with our work – there’s always one last change, one last tweak. It’s just up to us to decide when to let go, when to let our babies fly the nest.
My advice is don’t sell yourself short. Do as many edits as you can stomach. Then put it aside and take a break. Bring it out and edit it some more. Agents are busy people with little time to assess your m/s, so the last thing you want is them judging your wannabe masterpiece by the number of typos or poor grammar.
Top 10 of what I look for in the final edit(s):
• Spelling mistakes (don’t rely on the spellchecker!)
• Bad grammar (read a good grammar book, or Grammar Girl is a fantastic podcast
• Awkward or clumsy sentences
• Superfluous words (especially fillers like almost, just, about)
• Passive Voice
• POV shifts
• Dialog (read it aloud! Would someone really say that? People usually speak with brevity, and rarely refer to the name of the person they are speaking to)
• Punctuation (Use those commas! Mind the exclamation points!)
• Consistent use of terms and jargon (more important in sci-fi and fantasy)
• Telling not showing
I bet you can think of dozens more things to look for, but this is a start. It assumes you have no larger issues such as plotting, pacing, tension, scene transitions etc.
Print your “final” draft on paper and mark it up away from the keyboard. You see things differently on paper than on the screen, don’t ask me why. Read your m/s aloud (my cats make a great audience), it gives a fresh perspective.
A lot of authors and agents advise enlisting the help of a professional editor. Expect to pay $500 and up for a m/s, returned marked up in Word. Find a credible editor of course, so seek personal recommendations.
Don’t be in a rush to submit to agents. Yes, it’s exciting to finally finish your novel, but don’t waste years of work for the sake of a few solid months going over it with a fine toothed comb. Several times. An agent isn’t going to invest their time on your book if it’s obvious you didn’t think it worth the time to polish it. No one wants a half-cooked, under-seasoned turkey! Good luck!