Writers focus on writing. Editors focus on formatting and grammar, and how the text looks.
Editors make sure the text is written as intended (e.g., it’s factual, it’s clear, it’s concise, it’s not overly complex, etc.). If you read a piece of text and it’s unclear/confusing, it doesn’t need a writer; it needs an editor.
Writing a novel and editing it are completely different tasks (even though they’re often mixed).
What’s more, for many writers, this difference causes the biggest problem once the draft’s finished. The key is knowing (and understanding) why every novel needs to go through multiple revisions, and why self-editing has certain limitations.
Why Writers Don’t See Their Own Language Mistakes
While writing, you get familiar with your texts and ideas. Being unable to notice your mistakes as time passes, you may even lose consistency of text in the meantime.
This especially stands for longer texts, as cognitive load is increased, making language review harder.
Writers Read Meaning, Not Words
Knowing the exact reason why you started writing, and the point you wanted to share, when you try to read your text, your brain will naturally skip well-known parts.
For example, someone is writing a mystery novel, and all their attention goes to making the story as exciting and unpredictable as possible. When they finish it, even while trying to focus on grammar mistakes or missing words, most of them will go unnoticed.
Since they’ll still check the storyline, this is why many slip-ups survive, reading what you meant to write, not what’s actually on the paper.
Familiarity Surpasses Explanations
Another aspect, closely tied to the meaning of the novel, is familiarity. On the one hand, as you are looking for the context, on the other, your brain tends to skip familiar parts, as a pattern. This happens when well-known sentences, read a few times, become invisible to the brain.
On top of that, without taking a pause and distancing for a while, writers will start to assume that information is presented when in reality it’s not.
Which is why if someone starts to read that novel, which wasn’t checked before, they may end up confused due to abrupt plot and tone changes.
Long Sentences Feel Clearer
While you’re writing, each part seems to fall right into place. In spite of that, long sentences cause trouble later on, when you finish.
As you read it back, what once felt smooth becomes unclear and harder to follow. Having extra clauses and abstract words puts too much pressure on the reader.
Even though it’s grammatically correct, complex sentences require readers to pause, reread – that will eventually make them lose interest.
Why Novel Length Makes Self-Editing Harder
Now, knowing the reason for overlooked mistakes, the next step is recognizing how the length of a novel influences writing and makes self-editing harder.
As the novel grows longer, you start to lose track of your own language. While text develops and you stop paying attention to every single detail, it is more difficult to recognize your own pattern.
Grammar mistakes, sentence structure, and word choice form into a habit that repeats without you knowing.
The longer the novel, the more likely the pattern is to be overlooked. Even when you remember using phrases and descriptions at best once, you start to reuse them unconsciously. At the same time, tone and sentence rhythm also change.
The beginning might feel tight and controlled, while somewhere in the middle, the chapters become loose and complicated.
Looking back at your text, in the first few sentences, you will notice your mistakes, and the sentences will feel odd. But as mentioned, the brain becomes used to familiar mistakes, you start to overlook them, and while writing, you automatically come back to them.
This is when longevity may become the biggest issue while self-editing.
When Self-Editing Reaches Its Limit
Whilst editing, you can correct sentences that don’t seem right, straighten out grammar and spelling errors, until you run into resistance.
After that, and due to being completely invested in your work, you start overseeing obvious mistakes.
Not to mention, the crucial point of self-editing is when writers are not capable of distancing themselves from the text and checking it objectively. When you can no longer see the problem alone and, after a certain time, are unable to concentrate, it’s important to completely pause and leave it to someone else.
At this stage, working with someone who’s outside of the actual writing process, such as a novel editor, could massively help you see distance, objectivity, and recognize patterns that you simply can’t see since you’re too close to the book.
A fresh pair of skilled eyes will help you see things more clearly, which is what you want not only before release, but actually at multiple checkpoints throughout the project. This way, you’ll be more confident that you’re steering this ship in the right direction, since you can easily get lost in the words you’re writing.
Reading the same pages doesn’t give you the same perspective as reading them for the first couple of times.
It’s important to know that these limits aren’t a loss of writing skills, but a natural boundary in long-form writing.
Conclusion
As a writer, the most important step is to produce something meaningful, then after that comes the editing part. When you start to struggle with editing, don’t forget it is not owing to poor skills. It is a natural consequence of familiarity and consistent work.
All in all, writing and editing aren’t the same things, and it’s okay to take a step back, reach for help, or wait until you have time to cool off.
