NaNoWriMo novels will necessarily need editing! How we write in November is not how we want to read! We write quickly. We write to get words on paper. More words are better because we’re getting momentum and writing 50,000 words or more.
But afterwards, it’s time to edit. There are lots of ways to edit. 1) The first and biggest job in editing is structural or development editing. What works in your story? What doesn’t work. How can the story be restructured to work better? 2) Line editing looks at the flow and beauty of your writing. Have you created the tone you want? Are you achieving the right pacing? 3) Copy editing gets to the nitty gritty aspect of editing that most people think of first (but it shouldn’t be first…push it into third place). Grammar, punctuation, word choice, accuracy, consistency are all subjects for copy editing. And 4) Proofreading, for correcting typographical mistakes, nit-pick punctuation errors, formatting inconsistencies.
So as you get ready to edit, you can work your way through from the difficult (#1) to the easy (#4). Or you can just get started anywhere. Here is an easy pruning video to simplify copy editing (#3).