Last reviewed by Robert Prime — May 2026
Introduction
Editors are expensive. Self-editing is free. The work an editor would otherwise charge you to do — find passive sentences, cut filter words, tighten dialogue, fix timeline inconsistencies — you can do yourself in 2-4 weeks before sending to a paid editor.
Authors who self-edit well before paying typically save 30-50% on their total editing cost because the editor isn't billing to find obvious issues.
This is a 30-point checklist covering structure, scene, paragraph, sentence, and word level. Work through it before sending to a developmental or copy editor.
Before you start
- Finish the draft completely first. Don't self-edit while still drafting.
- Wait at least 2 weeks after finishing before starting self-edit. Distance changes what you see.
- Print or read on a different device. Format change reveals errors.
- Read aloud. Catches rhythm and voice issues you'll miss reading silently.
- Use a tool: ProWritingAid (£30/year) or Grammarly (£12/month) catches 60-70% of mechanical issues.
Structural level (do these first)
1. Can you write a one-page synopsis of your own book?
If you can't summarise the structure cleanly, it's because the structure isn't clean. Fix structure before fixing sentences.
2. Cut the first chapter.
Often the entire first chapter is throat-clearing — backstory, set-up, prologue-style scene-setting. The story usually starts in chapter 2. Test by reading the book starting at chapter 2; does anything important go missing? If not, cut chapter 1.
3. Audit the midpoint.
Around the 50% mark there should be a significant turn — a false victory, a false defeat, a major revelation. If your middle is flat, fix it; flat middles are the #1 reason readers DNF.
4. Check the ending earns the setup.
Re-read your opening. Does the climax pay off everything you set up? If chapter 1 emphasised a character's broken relationship with their mother, that thread should resolve by the end.
5. Audit subplots.
Every subplot needs resolution. Cut subplots that don't get paid off. If you can't bring yourself to cut a subplot, finish it.
6. Verify each chapter ends with a hook.
The last sentence of each chapter should pull the reader to the next. If chapters end with summaries, rewrite them.
Scene level
7. Does every scene change something?
Each scene must either: change a character's relationship, change a character's understanding, change the plot trajectory, or change the protagonist's emotional state. Scenes that change nothing are the saggy middle.
8. Cut travel and connective tissue.
"They drove to the office and discussed the case" can be one sentence. Don't write the drive unless something happens.
9. Compress time when nothing's happening.
Three weeks later, in a different city, the call came.
That sentence covers 3 weeks of nothing. Use compression freely.
10. Audit scene length.
Modern commercial fiction prefers shorter scenes (1,500-3,000 words). 6,000-word scenes are usually 3 scenes that need to be separated.
11. Vary POV scene length.
If you write multiple POVs, vary the length so the rhythm changes. All POV-1 scenes at 3,000 words and all POV-2 at 800 words feels off.
12. Read the scene's first paragraph alone.
Does the first paragraph orient the reader (POV, location, time)? If not, fix it.
Paragraph level
13. Audit dialogue tags.
The default is "said". Almost never anything else. Cut "exclaimed", "retorted", "queried", "barked", "snapped". One "whispered" per chapter is the limit. Action beats replace tags:
"I don't believe you," she said. (acceptable) "I don't believe you." Her jaw tightened. (better)
14. Cut "had" where you can.
Past perfect is overused. "She had been thinking" → "She thought" if simple past works. Use past perfect only when you really need to mark the timing.
15. Audit dialogue for naturalness.
Read dialogue aloud. If it feels stilted, it is. Real people contract ("I'm not" not "I am not"), interrupt, leave sentences incomplete. Fiction should sound like a stylised version of that.
16. Search "very" and cut every instance.
"Very tired" → "exhausted". "Very small" → "tiny". Specific words beat intensifiers.
17. Search "just" and cut most instances.
"I just wanted to..." → "I wanted to...". "It was just that..." → "It was that...".
18. Search "really" and cut most instances.
Same as above.
Sentence level
19. Search "was" + every -ing word.
"She was running" → "She ran". Continuous past tense weakens prose. Most "was X-ing" → simple past "X-ed".
20. Hunt the to-be verbs (was, were, is, are).
Not all need rewriting. But scenes with high to-be density are static. Find and replace where the action verb is clearer.
21. Cut adverbs ending in -ly.
"He walked quickly" → "He strode". "She said softly" → "She murmured" or use action beat. Not all adverbs need cutting; the worst offenders are dialogue tag modifiers.
22. Vary sentence length.
Three sentences of the same length feel monotonous. Mix short, medium, long. Read aloud to catch the rhythm.
23. Cut filter words.
"She felt the cold wind" → "The cold wind hit her face". Filter words ("felt", "saw", "heard", "noticed", "realised", "thought", "wondered") distance the reader. Removing them brings the reader closer to the experience.
Common filters to search:
- felt
- saw
- heard
- watched
- noticed
- realised
- thought
- wondered
- decided
- seemed
- looked
24. Audit sentence openings.
If 5 sentences in a row start with "She", vary. Mix subject-first, dependent clause, action.
Word level
25. Check your most-used word.
ProWritingAid + similar tools identify your single most-used non-trivial word. Sometimes it's a verbal tic ("really", "actually", a character name). Reduce by 50%.
26. Audit character names for similarity.
Two characters whose names start with the same letter confuse readers. Sarah and Sam, Andrew and Annie — change one. Especially within the same scene.
27. Check spelling consistency.
UK or US English — pick one and apply consistently. Common consistency failures: realise/realize, colour/color, theatre/theater, towards/toward.
28. Check timeline consistency.
If chapter 3 happens in winter, chapter 4 shouldn't have characters wearing summer clothes without a time-skip. Make a one-page timeline of every scene with date/season/time-of-day. Fix continuity errors.
29. Check physical consistency.
Eye colour, hair colour, height, scar locations — all consistent across the book? A character with green eyes in chapter 2 and blue eyes in chapter 17 is a reader-loses-trust moment.
30. Run a final read-aloud.
After all other passes, read the whole book aloud. You'll catch rhythm issues no tool finds.
What a self-edit pass actually saves you
For a 90,000-word novel sent to a developmental editor:
Without self-edit: editor finds structural issues + scene issues + paragraph issues + filter words + adverbs + dialogue tags. They charge for everything. Total: top end of the rate scale.
With self-edit: editor finds the deep structural issues. The surface stuff is already fixed. Editor sometimes drops their rate because the manuscript is easier to work with. Total: 30-50% less.
For a 90k book at £0.03/word developmental: £2,700 without self-edit, £1,400-£1,900 with. Direct saving: £800-£1,300.
Tools that genuinely help
- ProWritingAid (£30/year for full version) — finds passive voice, overused words, sentence-length variance, sticky sentences, transition issues. Best single self-editing tool for indies.
- Grammarly (free / £12/month) — grammar and spelling, lighter on style.
- Hemingway App (free) — flags complex sentences, passive voice, adverbs. Better for non-fiction.
- Natural Reader / Speechify — text-to-speech for the read-aloud pass. Catches rhythm issues silent reading misses.
- Print the book — yes, on paper. Errors leap out in print that hide on screen.
UK considerations
- UK English defaults to "-ise" endings (organise not organize), single quotes for dialogue (some style guides prefer double; pick one), and Oxford comma optional (most UK style guides skip it; many indies use it for clarity). Pick conventions early and apply consistently.
- British dialogue conventions — UK style usually puts punctuation outside the closing quote when the sentence ends after dialogue. US puts inside. Pick one.
- British place spellings — be precise. Glaswegian, not "Glasgow person". Mancunian, not "Manchester guy".
Common mistakes
- Self-editing while drafting. Different brains. Finish first.
- Editing right after finishing. Wait 2 weeks. You're too close.
- Trying to fix everything in one pass. Multiple passes — structural → scene → paragraph → sentence → word. Don't conflate.
- Skipping the read-aloud. Catches issues no tool finds.
- Not using ProWritingAid or similar. Manual filter-word hunting takes 20x longer than a tool.
- Sending to editor before completing self-edit. Paying an editor to find filter words is the worst ROI in publishing.
The bottom line
30-point checklist. Two weeks of work. 30-50% reduction in editing costs. A better book either way.
Most authors skip self-editing because it's tedious and the temptation is to ship the draft to the editor and let them deal with it. That decision costs roughly £1,000 per book in unnecessary editing fees.
Two weeks well spent.
Frequently asked questions
How long should self-editing take?
For a 90k novel: 2-4 weeks of focused work. 30-60 hours total.
Should I self-edit my non-fiction the same way?
Same principles, slightly different priorities — non-fiction self-editing focuses more on structure (does each chapter deliver what it promised?) and less on prose rhythm.
What if self-editing reveals the book is broken?
Better to find out before paying an editor £2,000+ to tell you the same thing. Either fix it or table the book.
Can I use ChatGPT or Claude to self-edit?
Useful for spotting patterns (filter words, repeated phrases) but not yet replacing genuine craft sense. Use as a supplement to ProWritingAid + read-aloud.
Should I show the self-edited draft to beta readers first or editor first?
Self-edit → beta readers → revise → developmental editor. Betas often catch structural issues the editor would otherwise charge to find.
