For some, writing that first draft is the most annoying part, and editing and revising is the more enjoyable part. However, for others, they'd rather not edit and revise. I'm here to tell you that it is a bad idea. If you want to improve, it's going to take some effort on your part. To a certain extent, your writing will get better with time, but significant large-scale improvement happens as a result of smaller-scale improvements in the form of editing and revising. If you don't change what you write and how you write, you're not going to improve.

Some people find it easier to focus on one thing at a time when they're editing and revising. Others do multiple things at once. It's up to you to figure out which method works best for you and make use of it.

The first thing to deal with is your good old spelling and grammar. That's straightforward. Run your spell-checker and grammar-checker, but actually read it over for typos. Sometimes a word is spelled correctly but used incorrectly or is in the wrong form, and spell-checkers rarely catch those, so you really need to pay attention.

The stuff that comes after that is often the stuff that people don't think about. Errors in grammar and spelling are usually just careless errors. They have to do with the superficial presentation of your story and constitute the minimum requirement in editing and revising. What you should really worry about is the content and structure of your writing.

The first, most basic step in becoming a good self-critic is to reread what you've written. Furthermore, you must actually pay close attention while rereading. Look for other things that are weak or flat out wrong. It's impossible for writers to locate all of their flaws. Our personal biases and habits will make us inevitably blind to certain problems in our writing. However, there are things you can do to reduce those blind spots. You can look for patterns that have become your bad habits, and you can look for things that are absent that should be there.

Reread what you have. As you do so, consider, ask yourself, and do the following.

Description

Read it as if you are the audience and know nothing about all of those ideas in your head. Can you picture the scene very well in your head based only on what is written? If not, then you should probably add more description. However, keep in mind the things I discussed in the Details section of the "How" chapter.

Look at your descriptions and consider whether the details you've included are things that people would really pay any attention to and notice. This is extremely important when you're writing from a particular character's viewpoint since their personality and interests will influence how they perceive the world. That influence and bias will be the most apparent in first-person narration. Is the character a visually-oriented person or more of a olfactory person? If the character is a big picture kind of person, he/she will probably gloss over a lot of details. If he/she's very observant, he/she will focus on the details more than the average person. The comparisons you write should probably relate to whatever topics the character is interested in. A botany-loving character will use flower metaphors, a scientifically-minded character will draw connections to biology or chemistry, etc.

Repetition

Check for repetition of words and phrases that are unintentional (i.e. parallelism doesn’t count).

There's a difference between repeating a word for emphasis or because there's really no better way to phrase things without creating incongruous or awkward sentences and repeating a word because you are too lazy or too unimaginative to substitute in something better.

You generally won't notice the repetition while you're first writing, whether because you're paying more attention to what you're writing next or if it's a habitual and stylistic thing that just comes naturally to you. Later, when you go back and read what you've put, you realize you sound like a broken record.

Words: Don't overdo it and simply toss in the words you find from the thesaurus, especially if you're not very familiar with when and how they are used. You also need to recognize when the word you used is okay and doesn’t need to be changed or shouldn’t be changed. If you can use a better word that communicates what you want it to and fits with the situation, then go for it. It’s best to consult someone who has better English and vocabulary than you do to check and see if the word you want to use works in the context.

Phrases: You need to pay attention to the rhythm of your sentences. If changing the phrase results in a wordy and weighty and awkward sentence that just sounds off, then you're better off leaving it the way it was. Try reading the sentence out loud. Do you stumble over your own speech? Does something sound unnatural or forced?

Organization

Reorganize your words, phrases, and sentences to better communicate your ideas.

• Think about chronology. Is it important that X happened, then Y, and then Z, or is the emphasis simply on the fact that X, Y, and Z all happened?
• Think about cause-effect relationships. What led to what? Are you trying to emphasize that X happened, or are you trying to emphasis why X happened?
• Think about the main point or thesis of a paragraph (or cluster of paragraphs). Is it stated directly? If so, you should put that sentence/paragraph toward the beginning or the end of the paragraph/section. If all the other sentences/paragraphs lead up to the main idea, place your thesis at the end. If they elaborate on and explain the main point, place your thesis at the beginning.

Relevance

Look to see if everything you’ve written is relevant.

• Relevant to the particular scene or explanation: If you find certain details or sentences that don’t really fit with the rest of the writing around them, either remove them or relocate them to a place where they do fit and make sense. For example, if Person A and Person B are arguing, it doesn’t make sense to talk about what Person C is doing off on the side unless it has some sort of effect on the argument (such as serving to fuel it or working to stop it) or is brought about by the argument (the argument is making Person C irritated, so Person C is tapping the table impatiently, letting A and B realize that they're being a bother).
• Relevant to the overall story: Say you have an extremely elaborate background story planned and thought out for Person D. Think about whether it’s actually important to the story in any way. Is Person D even that important to the story? If not, it’s probably pointless to talk about his/her life story since the story focuses on Person A and Person B. Does this background have a noticeable effect on the character's personality or the way the character behaves? If not, don’t bother. Even if it does have an effect, does the behavior really require an explanation, or is it sufficient to just say Person D acts that way without detailing why? Will the other characters benefit from knowing this information? Will the reader benefit from knowing this information, or is it just extra fun facts?

Realism

Look at each situation you write and be honest with yourself: does this seem logical or likely, or is it too far-fetched? Even with genres like fantasy, realism is necessary. Humans still behave like humans. Some events are more likely to occur than others. Rules and logic, even if they're different from the rules and logic of our reality, still have to apply. Strangers aren't just going to stroll up to other people and punch them in the face for no apparent reason. In fantasy, strangers aren't going to come charging onto the scene riding a unicorn and flinging spells at other people for no apparent reason. If an unusual event happens, think about why it would occur and whether your story has stated or sufficiently implied the justification for that occurence. If you can't think of any plausible reason why the event would happen, then most likely, you're forcing a situation. This doesn't mean coincidence can't play a part in your story since chance is a part of life, but too many huge coincidences are generally a sign that your plot is weakly constructed. Establishing cause and effect is very important in keeping the plot reasonable and believable.

Consistency

Check for consistency.

• Chronological consistency: Make sure your events make sense in reference to the yearly calendar, the academic calendar, the seasonal calendar, and make logical sense in relation to one another. If Person A’s mother got pregnant in February, she shouldn’t be having the baby two months later in April. It helps to make a timeline of what happens when in your story. If you don’t have events preplanned to happen at certain exact times, after you write those particular scenes, add them to the timeline so that future events won’t conflict logically with earlier ones.
• Logical consistency: Verify that the things your characters are saying and doing are reasonable within their personalities and the situations that they are in. Check to see that people didn’t randomly have a change of outfit that wasn’t supposed to happen. One time I accidentally changed my character’s outfit between two scenes that happened right after each other with neither time nor reason for her to change clothes, so I had to go back and fix that. If Person A is dirt poor, he/she should not have an iPhone.
• Character consistency. First of all, list out the adjectives and traits that are supposed to make up your character's personality, or write a little blurb describing the character. Then, examine every situation your character gets into and decide whether their reaction (or lack of a reaction) matches the personality you intended for them to have. If their reaction seems out-of-character, consider whether there is actually a legitimate reason for their reaction that escapes first glance. If there isn't a justifying reason for the deviation, then that means you are not writing the character properly. If it is justified, is it just a single exception, or is it a nudge in a new direction? If your character's personality changes with the progression of the story, there needs to be something driving that change. Bad habits are hard to break, and mindsets don't just get reshaped without some sort of external pressure. People don't just wake up one day declaring that they're going to turn over a new leaf on a whim.

Usually the important things you’ll keep consistent without having to think about them, but some of the details might slip your notice. Look out for them.

Thinking Ahead

Think about what comes later. I know a lot of people kind of just make stuff up as they go, but it’s always a good idea to have a broad overview of where the story is going in your mind as a reference, so you know when you’re veering away from the goal.

• Is what you wrote foreshadowing? If it is, make sure it’s not too obscure that no one would understand the connection between it and what happens later even if they go back and reread the story. Also don’t make it too obvious, or you will spoil the outcome for the readers, and it defeats the purpose of the story.
• Are you setting this up in preparation for something else? Make sure everything you want to happen is there, otherwise when you get further into the story the readers will find that certain things are popping up or happening without any warning or explanation, and they will be confused. Note that it's a different story if you're purposely throwing them a curveball to increase the mystery and suspense.
• If the characters are dynamic (they grow and evolve throughout the story), make sure they are making good progress. If the change they’re supposed to undergo is a very dramatic or radical one, it’s unlikely that they will change as a result of one isolated incident, in a short amount of time, unless that incident has something extreme about it that would have a huge impact on the person. Gradual change is more common and more reasonable, so Person A most likely shouldn’t still be stuck at square one if you’re halfway through the story.

Style

• Look for words that you use over and over. If it's a physical object, it's probably okay as is because physical objects tend to have fewer synonyms. There is no need to change "chair" to "place for one's rear to occupy." You'd sound like an utter fool. A chair is a chair is a chair. Good luck finding a synonym. When I speak of overused words, I'm referring mostly to verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and more abstract nouns.

There are certain words that you probably use a lot without thinking about it or deliberately use thinking that they sound nice but should really be cut down. For example, I read this one fic where I found the word "coo" and its various forms several times within a relatively short chapter, and after the second time it started grating on my nerves.

In particular, words with very particular connotations should be used sparingly. If you get into the habit of describing anything that's vaguely shiny as "resplendent," your readers will probably be knocking at your door brandishing torches and pitchforks in the near future. Sometimes, by overusing certain words, you create impressions that you didn't intend. If a character "smirks" every other paragraph, your main character should probably be plotting his untimely demise for being such an , not eating his words up in awe of his hotness. One smirk is okay, but frequent and lengthy successions of smirks usually mean that the character needs to have an anvil dropped from the top of the thermosphere onto his/her ego.

• Look at the opening paragraphs of your various scenes. Do they all sound too similar? Sometimes you might set the scene in the exact same way for all of your scenes, and that can become a drag because it makes your writing too formulaic. You can start with a bit of dialogue, an action, a reference to the time frame, a description of physical setting, a splash of imagery, etc. Do you only use one of these methods excessively?

• Look at your dialogue. Do you vary the placement of identifiers within the dialogue (introducing the quote, following the quote, interrupting the quote)? Do you repeat the same identifiers multiple times within a conversation or across chapters? Do you attach the same sort of phrases and clauses to your identifiers? Is the character's action or expression always linked to the identifier? You can put their actions and reactions in a separate sentence from the quote itself. Do you alternate between using and not using identifiers? It is not mandatory to have an identifier framing every single line of dialogue, particularly when it's just two people talking, so as long as it's clear who's talking, you can leave them out every once in a while. A good rule is that you can have three consecutive lines without any sort of identifier.

• Look at your descriptions of movement and action. Do you always use the same patterns, or are you varying your structures? For example: "She retrieved the key from under the rug and shoved it into the key hole. She turned the knob and went inside. She took off her shoes and left them by the door and threw herself on the couch." vs. "Retrieving the key from under the rug, she shoved it into the key hole. With a turn of the knob, she was inside. She threw herself on the couch, having taken off her shoes and left them by the door."

Emotional Reactions

Think about whether you are actually reacting to anything you're writing. Is a part that's supposed to be funny causing you to laugh out loud or not? Although it's considered bad form to laugh at your own jokes, if you can't entertain yourself with your writing, you can't expect anyone else to be entertained by it. If you aren't feeling anything while you are reading, you should consider rewriting that part so that it actually evokes emotional responses.

Creativity

Think about how predictable your events are. Compare them with the events of the various books and manga you've read, movies and dramas you've watched, etc. Your sequence of events should be logical, but if they follow preexisting patterns too closely, then the reader will be able to guess what happens way ahead of time, and that lessens the story's entertainment value. If your events are a bit predictable, think about ways you can present them in your own unique and creative way.