Editing your Crime Novel

This is a very scary prospect and I dreaded it the first time I faced the task. I wondered if I was up to it. To my intense surprise - and in a funny way - I sort of enjoyed it. I have to add that this enjoyment has increased with each book. This is because I have also had an outside (publisher's) edit too - 3 times.  I have written before about how much I learned from this. So, now, when I edit, I have a much better idea of what I'm looking for. Reading out loud is a tremendously helpful thing to do to pick up clunky sentences and poor structure and grammar, not to mention, repetition. Your first big edit will improve your work a lot and will take you a big step towards your goal of a published crime novel.