2. WHAT IS EDITING?
A substantive reworking of text with an aim to improve it
What it isn’t:
Mere copyediting (checking for typos, basic grammar errors)
4. TIME
Multiple drafts are not nice —they are necessary
Time between drafts helps you get enough distance to spot
error
Optimize your editing time by doing nothing else
Go through it all from start to finish —don’t make changes as
you go (Make notations: fix, cut, awkward)
5. READERS
Good readers are worth their weight in chocolate
Who to pick?
Someone who is a good writer
Someone other than your mother/father/partner
Someone who knows what you’re writing about
Someone who doesn’t know what you’re writing about
Be a reader
It will help you become a better editor
6. MAKING SENSE
Keep asking yourself ―Does this make sense?‖
Do the arguments or does the storyline follow naturally?
Watch out for abrupt shifts in tone, reasoning, or tense
7. TIPS
Read aloud
Keep backups of old drafts
Routine – carve out space for yourself
If you get cross-eyed, stop
8. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Familiarize yourself with the form
Keep references to hand
If you know someone who’s published where you want to, or
been through what you’re doing, ask questions of them
9. CRITICISM?
Be open to it
No need to be a sponge
Some people (editors) will interpret the same prose dif ferently
10. WHAT TO AVOID
Starting too late (often you can start three paragraphs in )
Writing tics
If you know you overuse a word, phrase, or grammar bit (en dashes)
do a ―find‖ search on your document and weed out multiples
Citations that don’t convey information
Fillers don’t do anything but add to the word count
Beautiful sentences that don ’t advance your work
Repetition
Smart sounding words
11. GO FORTH AND EDIT!
The first draft of anything is shit. ~ Ernest Hemingway