The Editing Process

Writing can be fun, satisfying, exhilarating. Editing? Maybe not so much. But, as the poster quote tells us, it is the right thing to do. Why?

After you write the first draft, then let it simmer alone for a while, it's time to start the editing process. Start at the very beginning and read through the entire piece. Oh my! You've probably found all kinds of little things that need your attention.  

1. Go back sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph.and correct spelling errors.
2.  Replace words that have been repeated too many times. 
3. Look for overly long sentences and either shorten them or divide them into two separate ones. 
4. Make sure you stayed with the same tense throughout. 
5. Clarify where a portion seems confusing.
6. Check to make sure subjects and verbs are both singular or both plural
7. Are there too many adjectives or adverbs sprinkled throughout?
8. Is the opening one that will hook a reader?
9. Is there a satisfying conclusion? 
10. Can there be a few more sensory details added?
11. If pertinent, did you show more than tell?
12. Does emotion come through?
13. If there is dialogue, is it punctuated correctly, tags clear and not overdone?

That's a pretty long checklist, but if you make sure you're good with all of them, your story or essay or article is going to be much better. It will also have a greater chance of being published.

If you use a program like Grammarly or something similar, you'll be a step ahead on the spelling, punctuation and more. 

Just this week, an editor sent back a submission for me to edit. She had requested one of my blog posts for a new anthology she is producing. She returned it to me with some thoughts and questions, and some suggestions to make it better. I worked on it yesterday afternoon, and using both her suggestions and changes I made on my own, I feel like it is a much finer submission. 

Editing is the right thing to do and helps you be a better writer. We write because our heart tells us we must, but the ordinariness of a good editing job clears the path on our writing journey.

What Crutch Words Do You Lean On?

One Crutch Word of Many

We use crutch words in our conversations and writers often transfer those same words to their writing. We're zipping along and can't come up with a perfect word, so we grab one of our crutch words and slip it in while we think of where we're headed next. 

We can get away with it in first drafts but not in a piece of writing that is being submitted to an editor. 

The poster today highlights one word that is overused by many of us. Very! Run your eyes down that long list (I almost said "very long list"). The best part of the list is that we are shown words to use instead. Read through them and note how much better they sound than those on the left side of the poster. 

Other crutch words we all lean on: just, really, so, okay, and, well, actually, honestly You can probably add to this list with your personal favorites. 

In my early writing days, the word just popped up in my stories and essays like dandelions on a warm spring day. Or as if I'd thrown a double handful of just words into the air and let them fall across my story--anywhere and everywhere. I have to thank the woman who moderated the first writing group I belonged to online. She hammered at me about that word (and a few others). I use it frugally now.

It seems that, when we have a favorite few crutch words, we tend to use them recklessly and frequently. Consider the word so.  Start using it to connect two independent sentences and it becomes a habit. Begin a sentence with it and that also starts to creep into far too many of your sentences. 

When you and I are talking across a table at a coffee shop, we might start sentences with "Well,..." That's our everyday conversation but we don't want to transfer the same to the writing we do for publication. 

Are you aware of what your crutch words are? We don't all have the same ones. Go to your files and pull up something you wrote a few years ago. Read through it looking for words that you relied on at that point in your writing life. Were you a really writer or a very writer? Did you begin myriad sentences with So or Well?  

If you overuse these crutch words, your readers are going to get turned off in a hurry. Readers skim along reading well-written prose without thinking about it. If they are finding too many of those nasty crutch words, their eyes are going to gravitate to them and they will begin to get annoyed. We all hope that readers don't give up. I's doubtful that a piece of writing with multiple errors would get published but things do occasionally slip past an editor. He/she might overlook a few things if the actual content is worthy of publication. I'd like to think that an editor would ask for the writer to correct the errors or do it for them (doubtful!). It's not a perfect world so it doesn't always happen.

Are the words I've pointed out as crutch words ones that we should eliminate completely as we write? Of course not. They are alright to use as long as we don't lean on them and overuse. It's the repetitious use that gets us in trouble.