Being Able to Publish Without Editing Doesn’t Mean You Should

 

“The first draft of anything is shit.” — Ernest Hemingway

Since I joined Medium a few weeks ago, the sheer volume of incredible writing on the site has left me floored. Unfortunately, I’ve also encountered my fair share of great articles bogged down by the most rudimentary writing infractions, ranging from repeating the same word twice to failing to include ending punctuation.

As I’m sure you can guess, I’ve sent many a private note discussing these grammatical hiccups. I don’t send them to show that I’m a grammar snob and that they should be ashamed of their mistake — that’s not what any of us should be here to do. I simply do it to demonstrate to even well-known writers that they, too, would benefit from reading over their work before publishing.

These minor issues don’t eliminate the article’s intrinsic value — I’ve seen articles with these issues written by Medium-famous authors with well over 10,000 claps and hundreds of comments — but they certainly call the authority of the author into question. After all, if you’re publishing a piece about your writing process but confuse they’re, their and there, are you really someone whose words they should take seriously?

In a writing economy where we are desperate to capture the eyes of dizzyingly inattentive readers, minor grammatical errors can, at best, throw off a reader’s flow, but at worst demonstrate to the reader your piece isn’t worth their time.

This isn’t to say that everyone needs to achieve perfection the first time; after all, a litany of articles on this site explain that unchecked perfectionism is an obstacle to creativity. Everyone deserves to have a moment to simply unload their thoughts on the page without the pressure of checking or editing.

But to make that first draft your final draft is like serving soup right after putting all its ingredients in a pot together. Sure, it’s edible, and certainly won’t get anyone sick, but it lacks the complexity of a dish that’s simmered for hours, one that’s had the time to let all the individual flavors meld together and intensify.

What’s more frustrating is that a thorough read over the work or an advanced writing aid like Grammarly would catch most, if not all, of these issues. The ubiquity of these typos makes it clear, though, that writers aren’t taking time to proofread their own work before hitting that precious publish button. Deliberately choosing not to utilize either of these last defenses does a disservice to your reader, your writing, and yourself as a writer.

I know why people do it — the publish button’s temptation is palpable. Sometimes, the idea of sharing work can be so anxiety-inducing that blindly hitting publish is one of the only ways you send your piece out into the world. Other times, you think about what you just wrote and you’re certain that the piece you just wrote is perfect, that your prose rivals the literary greats, your topic is amazing, and you know it’ll get tons of claps, comments, and maybe even make you some cash.

Regardless of how your work makes you feel when you put that metaphorical pen down, a closer look can always improve it.

Editing helps you to be more certain of what you’re saying and how you’re saying it, stymieing the stress of sharing your art in the process. Even if you’re certain you’ve laid out your thoughts as eloquently as you can muster, editing gives you an opportunity to ensure that your memory matches your reality. Whether it’s taking time to consider a different word choice to realizing a hole in your argument or research, editing your piece can improve your confidence in your work and your readers’ ability to comprehend it.

We all want to be better writers — that’s why we’re here, isn’t it? We all dream of the day when we show up to our word processor and write the next great novel or the most moving personal essay, as if the words were always at the tips of our fingers and all we had to do was sit down at our desks and bring it to life in one go.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works, even for some of the greatest writers in history. But we can be a bit more like them and edit, edit, edit, for it’s in the revisions that we find the best ways to say what we’ve always wanted to say.

 

Credit: Writing Cooperative

 

  

Ten Simple Steps to Make Editing a Novel Easier and More Fun

Writing the first draft of a novel or any book is, you might say, the easy part. But it’s at the novel editing stage that we craft our work into something special. We aim to transform our material into work that will compel a reader.

If you’ve recently finished a draft of a novel – or indeed, if you are mid-draft but aware that you need to edit before you continue – the methods that I share here break down the process and make it much more manageable.

When I edit my own novels, I always work through several stages so I thought it might be useful to share a checklist of the things I’m looking for when I edit my own work. This article focuses on fiction primarily, but a parallel process can be used for non-fiction.

Take Time Out:

Once you have completed your manuscript, take time away from the work prior to editing. Have a break for a couple of weeks and consider getting feedback on the work from a trusted writing colleague. Think carefully before sharing your work, however, and choose somebody who you know will be constructive. Opinions can be subjective and if you are not getting professional feedback, it is worth choosing a number of readers, so you can get a balanced opinion on the work. You might like to prepare a list of specific questions for your reader. Alternatively, if you prefer to keep your work private, just taking time out alone will be enough. You need to gain distance from what you have written before you can edit it. Do something fun whilst you’re waiting!

Consider the feedback carefully:

The best part about receiving feedback is that you are free to use it or discard it. Nobody will give you some ‘ultimate truth’ on your novel. Some feedback will be valuable.  Some you can discard. Go with your gut feeling. It might take a few days for the feedback to sink in and for you to sift what is useful. Sometimes we experience a sense of disappointment that the work is not perfect already. It’s a natural response. But learning to accept feedback and use it well is a vital part of our work. The fun part here is the freedom you have to accept what you’ve been told – if it is insightful – and use it well. Take your reader’s notes to an inspirational place and journal on the areas of your work that you now sense need work.

Go for the full read-through:

Take a deep breath and don’t put it off any longer. Just take time out, pick up the entire work-to-date and a pen to scribble with, get comfortable in an armchair (or on a cliff-top, wherever you feel at ease…) and read.  Read it as if you had never read it before – as if you were an outsider, a professional editor. Read the whole document – if necessary over several longish sessions – and annotate your text with any comments that occur to you in relation to changes you want to make, including small line-edits. Just get everything down on that manuscript as this will be your working document. Whatever comes into your head as you read – get that on the page.

Look at the big picture:

As you read, have a separate notebook where you make notes on what I call ‘the big picture’. This is where you can scribble more lengthy thoughts on the over-arching shape of the work.  Is the structure effective? If not, why not? What would you like to change? How might you adjust it? Are there any missing pieces of the puzzle? Get it all down in your journal as you read. You’ll use these notes later.

Use a simple check-list:

As you read your manuscript, look out for the following in particular. Make notes in the margins and your notebook. Keep scribbling freely and don’t let any thought go:

• Structural issues – where does it not hold together? Are there plot holes? Does it go off at a tangent? Is the plot too clichéd? In non-fiction, does the ordering of the material work?
• Voice issues – is the tone right? Is it consistent? Is it written from the right perspective? Do I need to make changes to the narrative voice?
• Character issues. Are the characters believable? Do they take actions that seem real? Do I believe that they are flesh and blood? Is their dialogue naturalistic? Can the reader empathise? Do the characters develop and change in the course of the book? What do they learn?
• Dialogue – Is it a good, condensed version of natural dialogue? Is it too focused on telling a story via dialogue and not realistic enough? Would the characters SAY this? Is the dialogue there for a purpose – to deepen characterisation or to advance the story?
• Telling not showing – Am I telling the reader too much, when I should be revealing the truth through action? Remember, dialogue doesn’t equal “showing”. Good “showing” is when a scene is dramatised and we are immersed in what is happening, unaware of the narrator’s presence. We don’t say ‘he is sad’, his sadness is revealed to us.
• Pace – is the action always moving forwards? Am I certain that each scene is propelling the character towards their goal, even if they are frustrated in that process? Am I wasting time, waffling? Every scene must be there for a purpose and advance the plot in some way.
• Scene structure – Is there movement in the scene? Do the characters shift? Does perspective change? Is there drama and conflict and change and development?
• Sentence construction. Is this working on a line by line basis? Am I overusing adjectives? Am I using adverbs? (They rarely work!) Do I repeat myself? Are there phrases I overuse? Does it flow? How’s my grammar?

Condense your actions down to a short list:

Once you’ve completed the read-through, take a separate session to look through your annotated notes. Then, choose a notebook – or a document if you prefer to work electronically – that relates specifically to your editing process and begin by making a list of all the major ‘big picture’ changes you want to make. Then ask yourself –  can you condense this list to five key areas? Examples of such areas could be:

• The character of Isabelle is too passive; I need to change her actions and responses to make her more feisty and thus engage the reader.
• The pace in the first third of the book is too slow – cut down on extraneous scene-setting and cut to the chase. Keep the scenes more focused on action.
• Work on my tendency to over-describe and lay-on the adjectives. Remember that less is more
• Get clearer on Simon’s motivation in the novel. That needs to be built at an earlier stage if the book is to have drive.
• Find a different resolution to the love affair. At present, it is too clichéd and the end of the book doesn’t have an impact as a result.

Don’t forget the line edits:

These are simply examples of the kind of points you might make, but there’s something very powerful in having key focus areas. It means that as we go through the book, we know where our main attention should lie. In addition to these larger points, you will also have a list of smaller points. However, you can work directly from the manuscript in relation to the smaller points rather than noting them separately.

Keep excellent records – be organised:

When you are editing, work on your main document but draw from all of your sources. Have the annotated manuscript(s) at your side and your list of key points. Editing can be an organic process, as when you make changes to a book, other aspects of that book can shift and change. Keep your editing notebook open as an ongoing document. From time to time, print up your newly edited work and read it through. It’s so satisfying to read a new draft and to feel how much smoother and more believable it is becoming. When working with clients, I’m often amazed at how swiftly work can improve with good editing. It is always a pleasure to see how work can be transformed in this way.  Don’t let your filing get disorganised at this time. You need to know where everything is so that you can draw everything together with ease.  Generally, I save a copy of the old full manuscript, then take a fresh copy of it and ‘over-write’ the new version on the word processor. You can start a whole new document if you prefer, but I generally find over-writing works best.

Be a perfectionist:

Once you’ve edited the document – if you are preparing for submission – you need to read the final manuscript through at least twice more. This might seem like the least fun part but if you approach it in the right way, you can gain a lot from this stage. No literary agent or publisher wants to receive a manuscript full of typos and often-repeated words (we all do it!)  When I was finishing my last book, I did the final read-through on a Kindle. (You can forward the ms to your freekindle.com address). There’s something empowering about this, as it enables you to see the manuscript as if it were a finished book. But also – when you read it like that, all the little errors leap out at you. The final read-through is the most fun of all because (if you’ve done your job!) you can really enjoy the pleasure of reading your work in a fully polished form and you can take huge pride in this.

Remain true to your own vision:

Finally, remember that if we don’t edit, we don’t learn. Even when we think a book is finished, it will then go to an agent or a publisher who will notice aspects of the work that will improve with further editing. As a result, the book generally gets stronger and stronger. At the same time, remember that it is important to hold tight to your own vision of the book. Stand your ground if you need to. We do learn so much in this process and it strengthens our abilities as a writer.

Essentially, aim above all for the best possible work you can do and for a vision that is uniquely yours. Then your own pleasure in the work and your skill will shine through to the reader, agent or editor. Don’t forget – you don’t have to do all of this at once. Just make that commitment to the read-through, pick up the manuscript and a pencil to scribble with and before you know it, you’re engaged in the process.

Why not try beginning today and let me know how it goes? You can break the process down into simple thirty-minute chunks if you’re busy.

Culled from: The Writing Coach 

Editing Tips to Improve Your Business Writing

 

Editing is an essential step in developing effective business documents. Besides correcting grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors, editing can make your writing easier to understand and more persuasive. Here are a few simple editing tips that can help you make your business writing clearer and more effective.

Replace complicated and long words and phrases with simple ones:

Simple words often convey the same meaning as complicated ones, but require less space and are easier to read. For example, you can change ‘facilitate’ to ‘help’; "operate" to "use"; and "substantiate" to "prove". Replacing wordy phrases with single words will make your writing more readable and efficient. For instance, replace "on a regular basis" with "regularly" and "at this point in time" with "now".

Edit your business writing to replace passive voice with active voice:

For example, change "Innovative products and services are offered by our company" to "Our company offers innovative products and services". Using active voice requires fewer words and is more direct.

Break up long sentences into shorter ones:

Research has shown that comprehension goes down when sentences are too long, so aim for an average sentence length of 20 words or fewer. You should break sentences over 35 words into two sentences, if possible, when editing.

Create a conversational tone by using the personal pronouns "you" and "we":

This is important when you want to connect with your customers and be perceived as approachable. For example, change "Advice can be obtained from our customer service department" to "You can get advice from our customer service department".

When editing business writing that is meant to persuade your readers, change "our clients" to "you". For example, "We offer you a comprehensive range of programs and services" sounds conversational, while "We offer our clients a comprehensive range of programs and services" does not.

Another way to make your writing more conversational and friendly is by writing "we" instead of repeating your company name throughout the document.

Remove clichés:

These overused phrases have lost their meaning and merely waste space. Examples of common clichés include phrases such as "at the end of the day", "for all intents and purposes" and "as safe as houses".

Avoid using business and technical jargon:

Like clichés, many of these terms are overused and have vague meanings. Corporate jargon includes words such as actionable, best practice, buy-in, drive (as in "drive sales"), incentivise, operationalise, repurpose and value proposition. When editing, think about your readers and replace words they won’t understand with common terms.

Read the first draft out loud to judge how it sounds:

Is it complicated, wordy or pompous? Rewrite it to make it more human and less robotic.

Editing is an important step in business writing. By applying the editing tips outlined here, you can improve your business writing and communicate more effectively.

 

 

Credit: Wordnerds

4 Ways to Successfully Self-Edit Your Manuscript

 

You’ve finished the first draft of your nonfiction book or an article for publication. It’s time to hand your manuscript over to an editor, right?

Wrong.

Recently, I met a prospective author who was working on her first book. “So,” she asked, “an editor like you can help me fix up my first draft, right?”

On the one hand, she’s right: a part of my job is, indeed, working with authors to help improve their books. On the other hand, this author’s question reveals a common misconception about the editor-author relationship—that the writer finishes their writing and then hands the work over to an editor to make it into something publishable.

Editors provide sound advice and love to work with authors but can help more if the writers take some necessary steps to revise their work before approaching an editor. Simply said, you must self-edit your work first.

In between the end of your writing process and an editor’s intervention, there are steps you can take to help self-edit your work and bring it one step closer to something that’s ready to go out to readers. Let’s review a few strategies for self-editing that can be useful to you as you get ready to move from writing to editing and, then, publishing.

How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript - Before You Hand it Over to an Editor

1 Take some time away.

Even though you might have edited your work as you worked on the manuscript, when finished, you need to consider it as a whole. After you complete the first draft, take at least twenty-four hours (for a shorter piece) to a week (for a longer piece) entirely away from that work. This allows you to clear from your mind the original thought process you used when you were writing. Then you can just focus on the work itself as a less-familiar piece of writing.

Many writers are afraid to do this because they worry that the writing will seem terrible to them upon re-reading. That’s why you self-edit! Plus, it’s equally as common that you’ll be pleasantly surprised upon a later re-reading and think, “Did I really write this? It’s so good!”

2 Read out loud.

This is a time-worn staple of self-editing advice and for a good reason. Nothing helps to give you a new perception of your own writing like actually hearing it read out loud. If you stumble over a sentence, lose track of the story, or find yourself being bored by a paragraph—you’ll know to flag that for revision.

3 Put your feelings away.

Writing is an emotional process; it’s easy to feel like each individual piece is a stand-in for your overall intelligence, skill, or creativity. Admitting that a sentence isn’t clear or that a section of the piece is off-topic or boring can be painful and feel like you’re admitting to having less ability as a writer than you think or claim to have. It can be equally hard to accept that a turn of phrase you thought was poetic or brilliant before now seems silly or over-the-top.

However, it’s important to remember that the revision process is another opportunity to show your chops as a writer. When you hesitate to make a change or explain away a negative feeling you get from some part of your writing, ask yourself if this is a writerly response or an emotional one. Learn to recognize your emotions as a writer and navigate around them as you self-edit your work.

4 Imagine you’re your own worst critic.

This self-editing strategy works well for those who have learned to separate their writerly instincts from their emotional ones. Read your piece and think of what a very critical reviewer or reader would think. Will they find the tone too sentimental? Will they find the progression of events in the narrative implausible? Make a note of these pitfalls and then look back at the piece of writing to see if these issues could be addressed.

Often, it’s entirely possible to challenge yourself to revise in a way that will satisfy the most skeptical. And the result will make your work better, even though the process of pointing out these flaws to yourself might be painful.

At a minimum, I want to see a second draft—not a first draft—from prospective authors. I want to feel like the writing has been read through and worked on before it got to me. This shows a willingness to develop the writing and an ability to separate their attachment to the work from the needs of the reader.

After all, the reader is the most important part of the equation, and both self-editing and professional editing should work together to get a piece of writing ready for that reader’s comprehension and enjoyment. With these self-editing strategies, you’ll be prepared to do your part in that process.

Once through, you can submit your work to a professional editor. Contact The Ready Writers for professional editing tailored to your manuscript's specific needs.

Culled from Write Non Fiction

Rejecting a Manuscript: An Editor’s Perspective

Editing, specifically book editing, is simply the conception, planning and specifying of the contents of a book, in cooperation with the author, for the purpose of transmitting the author’s message to the reader in the best, most satisfying and most profitable way possible (Festus Adesanoye).

The editor’s main role is that of an experienced intermediary who ensures the successful delivery of the author’s ideas for the information, education, instruction or amusement of the reader.

The editor sees to the development of the manuscript; the selection, preparation and styling of the manuscript; and the organisation of the entire editorial process.

When selecting or rejecting a manuscript he/she puts a lot of factors into consideration:

a)   Does the manuscript fit into the list of his publishing house?

b)  Does the manuscript conflict in any way with the books already accepted by his publishing house?

c)   Are the lists of manuscripts in his publishing house already crowded with similar texts?

d)  Is the subject matter of the book one which has proved unsuccessful for the particular publishing house in the past; and

e)   Most importantly, is there a ready market for the book if eventually published?

It is not until all these factors have been carefully considered – the literary sophistication of the author has very little to do with the publishability or not of his manuscript – that the editor decides, regretfully, to decline.

Unlike the popular picture painted in the mind of an author, of a hard-to-please editor, gloating over all the manuscripts he rejected; is the more real imagery of an experienced professional, seeking to make objective book decisions, acceptable for public consumption and for profitability.

The editor, indeed, tries to make the process of rejection as painless as possible to the author, and he achieves this by writing as gracious a note as is possible in the circumstances.

Here is a sample of a letter of rejection fashioned by the editor of a Chinese journal:

We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of a lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that, in the next thousand years, we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity (Cited in Festus Adesanoye, The Book in Nigeria).

It is true that the standard rejection note is not as ebullient in tone as this one, but the real goal of the exercise is to say ‘thanks, but no’ in the most pleasant way possible.

Modified from: Festus Adesanoye, The Book in Nigeria: Some Current Issues, Ibadan University Press, 1995.