Elevating Your Non-Fiction: A Self-Editing Checklist to Help You Say What You Mean (*With Free Digital Download)
I love writing non-fiction. Over the course of my writing life, I’ve had the chance to write for a variety of platforms exploring a wide range of non-fiction formats. From personal essays, ‘how-tos’, and op-eds, to book reviews and author interviews - and pretty much everything in between.
As any writer will know, editing is a huge component of writing well, especially in non-fiction - it’s efficient editing that will help you ensure that your piece is telling the story it’s supposed to. That you’re saying what you mean to say and that you mean what you say. There are different ways to ensure non-fiction writing and editing are delivering a high-quality piece, that appropriately engages your desired readers and demonstrates your talent as a writer. Some of these components include relational personal experience mixed with the broader themes you’re exploring, references to reliable resources and quotes from reliable/professional sources, clear and concise writing that provides vivid scenes readers can connect with.
You’ll often hear editors talk about the non-fiction work you send them using a hygiene metaphor: ‘Clean Copy’.
Clean copy refers to grammatically correct, solidly written articles, blogs or essays. The ‘clean’ version of your work may have been through a few edits by yourself and a round of edits by the editor. They’ll usually request a clean copy once you’ve actioned any required edits from them.
When working with editors, you want to aim to deliver the cleanest copy of non-fiction work as you can. The fewer edits the piece requires, the more likely it is to be accepted and the quicker it will be published. Filling clean copy also ensures editors remember you as you make their job easier, and it promotes you as a positive writer to work with.
Developing an editing process is essential for all writing, but there is a nuance when editing non-fiction. Ensuring you deliver the cleanest copy possible requires a strong self-editing checklist.
I’ve found that self-editing works best when I remove the ‘writer’ lens, and instead read through my work considering different perspectives. I aim to do at least three editing sessions on a piece before I submit it and each editing session involves a different ‘lens’ - with questions and a clear focus at the heart of it.
I’m not saying this means I always publish/submit absolutely perfect pieces of work (there is nothing like a second set of eyes for editing!) but I have found this helps me to create as clean a copy of my work as I possibly can - and the positive feedback I get from the editors I work with is a testament to this.
Below is a self-editing checklist that I’ve adapted overtime, from various resources, questions editors have asked me when reviewing my work, and questions I find myself asking when I personally read through non-fiction work.
Not all of these questions will apply to every piece of non-fiction you write, and you need to consider your own voice, style and writer-tics as well, but feel free to adapt this for your own non-fiction editing purposes.
A 3-Part Non-Fiction Self-Editing Checklist
I tend to work through each of the following three sections in three separate editing sessions - this creates a clear focus around what I’m attempting to achieve through my own editing.
Part One
Whose story am I telling and did I tell it right?
Is it personal or am I telling someone else’s story?
What is the core focus? Is it clear?
If it’s someone else’s story - what impact will this have on them?
Have I checked with them/the appropriate people about writing this story?
Why this story and why now?
Who will it appeal to?
Why am I writing it?
Is the story clear and well-connected to the appropriate themes?
Is it engaging?
Have I included quotes and references?
How do they aid the story - what purpose are they serving?
Are they accurate?
How do they aid the transitions within the piece?
Does every detail and anecdote help the reader understand the story?
What needs to be cut?
Does the piece provide adequate context?
Does the last line/paragraph provide a strong summary?
What emotions is it evocating?
What message does it leave the reader with?
Is the message I want to convey?
Part Two
Are all the necessary perspectives included and is everything accurate?
Have I double-checked all names, facts, dates, spellings, and quotes?
If I can’t connect them to a reliable source, remove and/or replace them.
Are additional facts, dates, spellings, and quotes needed to substantiate the story?
Can it be stronger or will this be too distracting?
Where have I made assumptions or vague statements?
Can I back them up? If not, remove them.
Have I clearly explained uncommon terms, words and acronyms?
Whose perspective is missing from the story?
Why has this been overlooked?
How can I include that missing perspective?
What are the factual holes in the story?
How can I ‘fill’ them?
Part Three
Where can I improve the mechanics - how ‘professional’ is my writing?
Have I checked for spelling and punctuation?
Is it in line with the publication style guide?
Have I hit or exceeded the designated word count?
Do I need to add or remove parts?
Have I fallen on any of my grammar crutches?
Is the tense all correct?
What about passive voice?
Have I included defunct cliches?
What about concise wording?
How many times did I use ‘that’ unnecessarily? (A key crutch of mine!)
Have I made assumptions about the reader knowledge?
Have I used excessive/fancy wording?
Is the logic easy to follow?
How does it sound when I read it out loud?
Does it flow and make sense?
Does it pace well?
Is it engaging?
Knowing When You’re Done
For me, it often feels impossible to know when I am ‘done’ with a piece of non-fiction. The questions above can either help to put my mind at ease, or open the floodgates to what I have overlooked within the piece (which is kind of their purpose).
It’s taken me a while to accept that no story is ever perfect or ‘finished’ - there is always more to say. What I have learnt to focus on instead is trusting my self-editing process and knowing that when I do, I have done the best I can.
And that’s when it’s time to hit submit.
