Make editing easier with 5 handy tips

Some writers love to edit. Others detest it. Yet no writer can deny how crucial editing is to the writing process. Editing separates the wheat of our writing from the chaff; it clears away the dross so that our story shines like a polished gem. Editing, no matter how we feel about it, does not have to be the laborious task that we often make it. Follow the 5 tips included in this article to make editing easier.

1) Read it out loud. The mind and eyes focus better on what we have written when we read it out loud. Speaking forces us to slow down and obliges us to catch errors and inconsistencies that we might remain unaware of if we edit only in silence.

2) Print out a hard copy to edit from, rather than editing from the computer screen. This helps the eyes focus better on your work as you have written it—not as your mind assumes it is written. Sometimes our brain fools us into believing a sentence is correct, when in fact a word is missing. Or perhaps we typed “land” when we meant to write “and.” Editing drafts from a hard copy manuscript enables us to find and correct such errors.

3) Break the editing process into steps. Editing is an overwhelming process, particularly if we try to catch different types of errors all at the same time. Writers are more apt to overlook mistakes when they edit for all types of errors at one time. As a result, some writers edit draft after draft of the manuscript for fear that they have missed other errors, and editing feels as if it will never end.

Breaking the work into separate steps (such as correcting grammar in one step, and fixing weak dialogue in another) makes editing more manageable. The writer has a greater success rate with finding and fixing errors, which limits the number of drafts he must edit.

4) Make an “Editor Beware” list and consult it as necessary. Grab a pen and write down your greatest weaknesses as a writer. If grammar is your weakness, add it to your list. Overused adverbs? Redundancies? Add those, too! Keeping a list of our greatest or most frequent weaknesses forces us to pay particular attention to them during revision, and enables us to edit in-depth and improve as writers. Tackle each item on your awareness list as a separate step, as suggested above, for increased effectiveness.

5) Use active voice as much as possible. Excessive use of passive voice generates immature and unprofessional writing. Action verbs, however, produce a more compelling and concise story. Avoid forms of “to be” as often as possible and substitute action verbs such as slammed, moped, or beamed instead.