How To Edit Your Work
Good writers don’t neglect editing. Occasionally I look back on some of my posts and are horrified at what I’ve written.
When talking about editing I’m thinking about everything from basic proofreading to see if the article reads well right through to rewriting the complete article. Like everything else, of course, the more important the item the more editing you will do. When I’m producing an article for my publisher then I’ll put more effort into it than when I’m posting a short message on one of my blogs.
The main reading to edit is of course to create flow and readability, to offer your reader clarity, remove unnecessary repetition and of course make adjustments. Hopefully it changes your work from a single rose to a complete rose bush
My first line editor is my sister - she’s a teacher and can pick up a spelling mistake or a bit of bad grammar a mile away and to be honest an edit is best done by someone other than the author.
Editing also takes much effort. A writer might thankfully turn over a manuscript to an editor like after labouring to plant a garden and then assigning someone else to weed and harvest it. However, many writers do not have the luxury of an available competent person who can polish work for an audience.
All writers want to be considered a good writer, and this requires editing. You may be trying to break into fiction markets with short stories and you need to submit your very best to get noticed. To do this you should approach editing as another and enjoyable part of writing. You will enjoy making your work better, sometimes much better. While editing, you will learn about how you write and you will see what you are good at and what you need to fix.
Take for example the initial draft. It’s not unusual for me to take three and sometimes four sentences to say something that I could have said in one. Usually I can salvage the good bits from each sentence and make one better sentence.
Having spent many years writing fiction, which includes editing and rewriting, I have developed a checklist that keeps me on track when editing fiction. I apply most or all of the questions on this checklist to every chapter during the editing process. Remember, the goal is for you to be your toughest critic and for all other critics to love you.
Fiction Editing Checklist
- Is it bad? Be honest. Do you like what you wrote? Can you imagine others liking it? You really must be able to say yes to this fundamental question before being satisfied.
- What is the lead like? Good, bad, indifferent? By lead, I mean how does the chapter or short story start? Is it compelling? Does it arouse interest or excitement? Don’t let an otherwise great story start like assembly instructions for an entertainment center.
- What is the action like? With this question, I analyze what is happening in the story. First of all, is anything happening? Do not let the narrative feel like being stuck in a traffic jam (unless the action is being stuck in a traffic jam). This is a very subjective question for the writer/editor. Basically, you need to decide if events are moving the story and thereby maintaining the interest of the reader.
- Are you having a good mix of dialogue, narrative, and action? A common fault is to have lines and lines of dialogue: he said, she said, he said etc., etc., etc. You should be mixing non-dialogue, scene setting and action with dialogue. Remember you are attempting to build a word-pictures for your reader.
- Are you moving the plot along or are you pleasing yourself? It’s often easy to start enjoying your character and going off on journeys with them that have little to do with the storyline. OK it’s good to know your character but don’t take it to far. Be careful that your wanderings don’t take away from your story. Keep asking is this diversion necessary?
- Do the actions of the characters make sense? Readers need to understand or at least have some clues as to why a character does or says something. If a character does something completely out of character, does the story explain why? Characters are often like chess pieces. They can only move in certain ways. Essentially, I am cautioning against making a character do something just because the writer needs that thing done. It must come down to would the character do that and, if so, under what circumstances?
- Do you think the plot twists and turns are acceptable? Do they appear contrived? You want a natural flow.
- Are you appealing to the senses? Does imagery occur often enough to build a setting? Are you doing it too much?
- Are you watching for places in the story that drag? Can you think of a way to pick it up? Does the dragging portion need to be cut? Or is a pause from the action necessary?
- Is the dialogue necessary or should it be replaced with narrative? Sometimes you don’t need to write out mundane conversation with quoted character dialogue. Sometimes it’s much better and efficient to simply writing narrative such as: Becky asked her dad when her mom would be home. He said he didn’t know.
- Does the dialogue match the character for language skills, vocabulary, intelligence, emotion and knowledge?
- Can the reader identify with the characters in any way? Does anything ring true?
After analyzing and editing your work with the above questions, you have surely improved your writing. The last thing on my checklist is to treat myself in someway - off to the cinema, a new book, a new plant for the garden. Well I deserve it, I worked hard
