Why Fiction Writers Can't Just Edit Their Own Work

If your image of a writer is someone sitting alone in an attic writing a masterpiece all by themselves, I’ve got news, that image is a myth. Collaboration is essential to writing a great book. Today, I’m talking about why you can’t just edit your book and five specific areas where we tend to mess up when we try to do all the editing by ourselves.

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Key Takeaways:
The image of the solitary genius writer is a myth.
Collaboration is essential for revising. That doesn’t mean you need to hire a professional editor, but it does mean you need to let other people read your work.
Our brains process information based on patterns, which can lead to errors in writing.
There are five common areas where writers can make faulty assumptions that affect the reading experience. They include:
Assuming character motivations are self-evident
Worldbuilding infodumps - we know why that information matters, but readers don’t yet
Assuming all readers would react the same way your character would to a given situation so you don’t need to put their reaction on the page
Vague visual descriptions
Typos/misspelled words
To avoid missing typos/ misspelled words you can: use text-to-speech software to hear your work out loud, change the font/text color to trick your brain, use an AI powered spell check (e.g., Grammarly or ProWritingAid) or hire a professional copyeditor/proofreader.