EDITING YOUR OWN WORK
This is the basic method I’ve been practising for years and the outline I’ve used for helping new writers. It’s not the ultimate in Editing but it works for me and is easy to follow if you’re a beginner.
Word Count
Start by reducing your word count. In this way, you’ll have room to manoeuvre should you need to add more narrative or dialogue. Even if you’re in a writing group and editing your homework, if your first draft is below the required count, try to reduce it.
Look for superfluous words. How many ‘ands’ and ‘buts’ are there? Can you join phrases using a comma or semi-colon instead? Can you remove ‘which’ or ‘that’? I bet (that) you can. Look for ‘very’ or ‘really’ and amend, eg. don’t say ‘very’ loud, try ‘cacophanous’. Are you using appropriate contractions – ‘isn’t’ instead of ‘is not’? Would you be able to remove dialogue identifiers: he/she said?
Examine your phrasing. Can you alter the word order to remove unnecessary conjunctions? Does a phrase help the story along or could you remove/alter it without adverse effect?
Can you find irrelevant words or phrases? Have you used tautology (repeated the same idea in different words)? Be ruthless!
Mood
See if your sentence lengths match the mood you’re trying to create. Short, staccato for pace or panic. Long, flowing sentences for a slower tempo. Notice the rhythms.
Do your descriptive passages of dialogue or narrative achieve the atmosphere you want (without being overlong)? Check for clichés. Try to create new metaphors and similes. Look at your portrayals of characters and places: the words you’ve chosen.
Inspect your verbs, adverbs and adjectives to ensure they aren’t ‘tired’ from over-use.
Descriptions
Be certain you haven’t waffled on. Sometimes the words simply flow onto the page as you’re creating. Equally, when you re-read them, they need to be lifted off and put into the bin (or saved for another piece)!
Are they relevant to the development of the story? Have you written detail which will never be needed again?
Have parts of your prose or dialogue become long-winded? Often your descriptions are wonderful but could they be shorter?
Conversely, are there enough? See the comments above in 2. Mood.
Can you find a ‘favourite’ word or phrase repeated, ‘echoed’, a few times? Replace it.
Dialogue
Be sure it serves the primary purposes of dialogue, is necessary, realistic and moves the story along. Read it aloud.
Is it clear who’s speaking and in what manner? Have you avoided the ‘ping-pong’ effect?
Have you used qualifying phrases to show what’s going on whilst characters are speaking? See 2. Mood.
Spelling and Grammar
Finally, use the Editor function in Word, or whatever you use, to correct spelling and grammatical errors.
Editing your work isn’t something to shy away from; it isn’t a chore to be avoided. Editing leads to rewriting which helps you to improve your writing which leads to happier readers. And we all want that, don’t we!
If you want to comment or ask a question on one of my Blog posts, click CONTACT on the main menu tabs.
Commentaires