After NaNoWriMo what: how to self-edit the big-picture elements of your romance story

​November marks the month of the year when many writers sit down in front of their computers and attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

​Although this tradition started with NaNoWriMo, many writers have participated in a similar writing challenge this year. They either created their own writing challenge with writer friends or participated in a writing challenge by other writers, and found themselves a welcoming and supportive writing community.

November is over, and now you have the first draft of your novel completed or the 50,000 words of it. The next step you need to take after writing the first draft is to self-edit the big-picture elements of your story.

Take a break
Read your manuscript and take notes
Main characters
Plot and structure
Setting and worldbuilding
Follow through with your plan
Next steps

Take a break
The first step of self-editing your novel is to leave it rest for at least one month. Taking a break from your story is necessary to put distance between yourself and your story and be able to see your manuscript from a reader’s perspective during the editing process.

Read your manuscript and take notes
The second step in self-editing your story is to read through your manuscript. Schedule 2-3 days of uninterrupted time to read your manuscript from start to finish and take notes about the big-picture elements of your story.

As you are reading your story, take notes in the margins of the manuscript document or in a separate notebook and write down any ideas you have on how to improve the main characters, plot and structure, and setting and worldbuilding of your story.

Main characters
One of the most important big-picture elements of your story is your main characters. The main characters in romance stories are the love interests of the story.

​The most important things you have to establish about your main characters are their goal, motivation, and internal and external conflicts. Create a character profile about each main character (if you haven’t already), and identify the following elements:

•  Goal: a clear, tangible goal that can sustain the whole story. Note if/how the goal changes throughout the story and why.
•  Motivation: the reason the main character wants to achieve this goal, what will happen if they do achieve it, and what the consequences will be if they don’t achieve it
• Internal conflict: an internal flaw that your character falsely believes about themselves or the world around them, and prevents them from achieving their goal
• External conflict: an antagonist or villain that puts obstacles and challenges to the main characters and actively prevents them from achieving their goal

Plot and structure
Another important big-picture element of your story is your plot and structure. If you are a plotter, then you probably already have an outline of your story or even a chapter-by-chapter summary. If you haven’t updated your outline while writing your story, this is a good time to do it.

While you are reading your story, open an Excel spreadsheet and write down important information about each chapter of your story to help you see the “forest”, the overall plot of your story. The Excel spreadsheet can include the:

• word count of each chapter
•  pov character
• characters present
• location
• main story events
• notes/reactions/things to improve

You can also write down margin comments in your manuscript document about specific issues that you want to improve in a particular scene. Check if your plot follows the 3-act structure and if each chapter moves forward the plot of the story.

Setting and worldbuilding
Another important big-picture element (often neglected by writers) is the setting and worldbuilding of the story. While reading your manuscript, write down the following information about the setting of your story:

• The macro setting of your story. Note down the planet, country and the city your story takes place in.
• The micro setting of your story. Note down the particular locations your story takes place, such as a house, a cafe, an apartment, a school, or an office. Write down a clear description of each location in your notes. Note any discrepancies in descriptions in the manuscript to fix them later.
• The period your story takes place in. Does it take place in the present or a particular historical period? Do any necessary research about the language, customs, culture and habits of the people in that particular historical period.

If you are writing a paranormal romance or fantasy romance story that takes place in a fictional setting,  you might also want to pay attention to the worldbuilding of your story.  Some worldbuilding elements might greatly influence the plot and the characters of your story, so you might need to note down:

• the government, political figures, and laws that appear in your story
• the different species (humans, werewolves, vampires, fae, witches) and how they interact with  each other
• the magic system with its rules, limitations and risks
• the history of the world and any important historical events that shape the civilisation and culture of the species today
• the types of professions and the opportunities for employment that each species has based on their race, powers and social status
• the levels of education and how accessible education is for all citizens of your world

Follow through with your plan
Congratulations. You have finished reading through your manuscript, and now you have made various notes about the characters, plot and structure and setting and worldbuilding of your story. You have made notes in character profiles, Excel spreadsheets and in the manuscript document, and you have plenty of ideas on what aspects of your manuscript to improve. 

Now, it’s time to make a plan on how to implement these changes. Don’t try to fix all the big-picture elements of your story at the same time, since it will be overwhelming and you will soon feel lost trying to juggle multiple tasks at the same time.

​Instead, do multiple rounds of editing for the big-picture elements of your story:

• Decide which big-picture elements of your story you will focus on in which round. For example, you might want to make one round of editing to fix the structure of your novel.
• Write down the particular tasks you need to go through for each round of editing. For example, you might want to rewrite the meet-cute of your main characters (the first time your characters meet on the page).
• Write down the available time you have each week for editing your novel, your estimated weekly progress and the estimated deadline of each round of editing. You can go back at the end of each week and note down the actual time you sat down to edit your novel, the progress you made and if you are on track to meet your deadline. You can repeat this process for every round of editing until you finish editing the big-picture elements of your story.

Next steps
After self-editing the big-picture elements of your story, it’s time to hire a professional developmental editor. A developmental editor is the first editor writers look for after self-editing their novel. 

The developmental editor addresses the manuscript’s strengths and weaknesses and provides honest and constructive feedback about the story’s plot and structure, character development, point of view, pacing, setting, genre conventions, scene vs narrative summary (show vs tell) and dialogue. The developmental editor provides margin comments in the manuscript document and an editorial report to further guide the author.

If you are looking for a reliable and supportive developmental editor or beta reader for your romance story, then I might be a great fit for your manuscript!

​I can provide honest and constructive feedback to help you improve the big-picture elements of your story and achieve your writing goals.  Check out my editing services: developmental editing, manuscript critique, discovery draft evaluation, beta reading and contact me to discuss your story.

Additional resources
Why you need to create character profiles for your story
How to write a romance story using the 3 structure
How to write the setting and worldbuilding of your story
What are the different types of editing services
How to find the right editor for your fiction book

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About the author

​​Maria Georgiou is a reliable and supportive developmental editor and beta reader for romance authors. She specialises in editing contemporary romance, YA romance, romantic comedy, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, fantasy romance and romantasy stories. She is a member of the EFA, ClubEdFreelancers and ALLi.
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