A subject that often goes by the wayside until too late. Twenty years, several novels, a room full of edited manuscripts, and hundreds of workshops later, I'd like to share three self-editing techniques for narrative that I've effectively utilized on a spectrum from foundation to final milkshake cherry. First Multi-Part Editorial Phase After pounding out a few pages on any given day, I devote a hour or so at the end to clean up, i.e., I read over what I've written and immediately make corrections to the most obvious flubs. It's easy. I don't want to have to deal with the rudimentary stuff when I return weeks later to engage in deeper second stage editing. Three to six weeks later (recommend no less than a four week hiatus) while continuing to push forward into the story, I come back around to the pages noted above. How many at a time? It varies. Let's say I'm second staging with a full scene, three to five pages. Sufficient time has elapsed that I c