RSSTips to Editing Your Own Writing
Dec 23
A Writer's Blog editing, Writing Comments Off
The toughest part of writing is being an objective editor. The standard trick is to give yourself (at least) 24 hours to let the article sit before you publish it. You write the draft and then set the entire project aside. When you come back to it, the next day or a week later, you get a fresh perspective. It helps the editing process because it removes your expectation of what is supposed to be written on the page and helps you see what is actually there.
But we do not always have the luxury of sitting on an article for another day. Whether it is a term paper for class, an article you are submitting for publication, or a self-imposed deadline, sometimes the piece is just due now. In those cases, here are some tips for digging into your own writing and editing it into a better work.
Stick to the Topic
Regardless of whether you are writing a news brief, a term paper or a myspace blog post, you need to keep every paragraph focused on your overall point. Diversions from the main topic should be purposeful. Before you begin to edit your piece, write down the overarching topic for the entire document. Then as you read each paragraph ask yourself, “Does this paragraph have anything to do with my topic?” If the answer is ‘no’ then you better have a good reason for keeping it there.
Write For Your Industry
It is important to remember what type of publication you are writing for. It determines style, tone, and the use of abbreviations and shorthand. Blogs, in general, are written the way you talk, but most professional writing is absolutely not. Term papers follow the MLA Formatting and Style Guide and occasionally, classes use the APA Formatting and Style Guide.
News writing has its own style, and news writing for websites has even more strict editorial standards. Not only do you need to be familiar with the editorial guidelines for your industry before you write, you have to make sure you are consistent throughout the piece.
Use Your References
The dictionary and thesaurus are still invaluable tools. So are Britannica or Wikipedia, depending on your preference for encyclopedia. If you doubt spelling, grammar, word choice or facts, you need to do the research. Don’t be afraid to pick a different word or phrase to say the same thing. The beauty of language is that there are myriad of ways to say something without losing the effectiveness of your writing. Trust your instincts on this one and apply the use of references books judiciously.
Check for Tense Changes
For the most part, you should keep an entire piece in one tense or the other. When you write in present tense, you switch to past tense only for events that happen in the past. But in most other circumstances, tense changes are a red flag.
Use Spell Checker
Use spell checker on your document. There is just no excuse. It is one thing to make a conscious decision to use a non-standard word, or modify the spelling of a word. It is quite another to not realize you made the mistake to begin with.
Eliminate Contractions
I am not suggesting you remove contractions from your piece completely, but it can be useful to undo them for the purposes of editing. If you get confused by their, they’re and there, its and it’s, by eliminating the contraction and making it ‘they are’ and ‘it is,’ you are giving yourself a much better chance of using the correct spelling. That holds true for any of the contractions, not just the possessives.
Take out the contraction and see if the sentence still makes sense. If you need to, you can always put the contraction back in after you know it is the right usage. After you know it’s the right usage.
Read it Out Loud
When it doubt, read the sentence or paragraph out loud, and then make a judgment call on whether it needs fixing. Make sure you read the words on the page, and not the words that are supposed to be there. If you have written two when it should be too, you might just visually see the correct spelling if you skim. Reading it out loud and focusing on each word in the sentence will highlight the worst offenses.
This list of editing tips is a good starting point for self-editing your work. There are a ton of grammar and spelling rules that just take practice to recognize. But when you are under a deadline and do not have the luxury of waiting for fresh eyes, check down through this list of editing tips and you will have a better piece in no time.
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