The Final Polish Round-Up

Photo credit: atomicShed on Flickr

So you've finished your major revisions, which means your major plot, character, world building, pacing, etc. issues have been fully addressed and resolved. The heavy lifting is over, but you're not quite done yet, because next comes the detail work. 

That's right, I'm talking about line edits. 

Line edits are my favorite part of editing other people's manuscripts, but I do tend to find it a little more difficult for my own work, mostly because by the time the stage comes to work on line edits rolls around, I've already read my work a ton. Which means sometimes noticing the details can be a little challenging. 

I've done a couple posts covering things to look for when doing line edits and/or trying to cut, but as I don't yet have all of those related posts in one place, I figured now was as good a time as any to put them together. Partially because I haven't done it yet and partially because I need them all together as I start my own line edits. So. ;)

Without further ado, here are a couple posts to peruse as you prepare to do that final polish and/or line edits. Because sometimes it helps to have a list of things to look for when you've read your words so many times they all start to blur together:

• How to Polish Your WIP Before Sending
• How to Make Cuts Without Losing Anything Useful
• How to Condense Without Losing Anything Useful
• Line Editing: What to Look For

What do you look for when polishing your WIP?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Getting ready to polish your MS but not sure where to start? @Ava_Jae rounds up some posts focused on line edits. (Click to tweet)