Musings about Editing

Most of us make errors when we write. That’s what drafts are for. Australian author Peter Carey reportedly wrote twelve drafts of his novel The Tax Inspector. Some people do a series of edits, each focusing on a different aspect of their writing – it could be a plot thread, a location, a particular character, narrative voice, verb choice. However you do it, one thing is important in both fiction and non-fiction writing – getting rid of the words that you don’t need, that don’t fit or that are downright wrong.

Here are some tips on how to do it:

1.      Get rid of wordy phrases. You know the type of thing: “at this point in time”, “in order to”. Short and clear is what you are aiming for, especially in business writing. And it’s not just the number of words. Be thrifty with syllables. When you’re tempted to use a three or four syllable word, see if you can find one that works as well but only has one or two syllables.

2.      Use everyday words. When you see an “expedite” or “optimize” creeping into your sentence, or if an event is going to “afford an opportunity”, stop. Think. Look up dictionaries, thesauruses, anything. Find another way to write it.  

3.      Avoid clichés. They are tired. Refuse to use any phrase or expression you’ve heard often before. As Mark Tredinnick writes in The Little Red Writing Book, “they belong to someone else.” Write every sentence your way.

Once you’ve banished the useless words, there are a couple of other things to think about – your sentences and the logical flow of your writing. 

1.      Use different sentence structures. Mix up short and long sentences, simple and complex sentences. Add variety in form, always remembering the importance of clarity. Keep your writing interesting. But don’t write long sentences just for the sake of it. Write them when you need them.

2.      Work from a plan when you write. If you are editing something that you didn’t plan, read it and write out the plan. Are the ideas expressed in logically? Have you used paragraphs correctly? If you didn’t plan first, at least make the effort to plan afterwards and fix up any errors.

Many people believe that setting down the ideas is the most interesting, and therefore most important, aspect of writing. But writing is about communicating. You might be setting the ideas down, and they may be brilliant ideas, but someone else is going to be reading them. You want to be sure that they understand what you mean and, if possible, that they enjoy reading your work.