Effective Editing: It Spells the Difference!
by:
Lizzie R. Santos
If you think proofreading equals editing, then you're wrong! Redaction is a lot much than simply scrutinizing your manuscript for misspelled words or missing punctuation marks.
As a whole:
Edit only *after* you've written the *whole* piece. If you finish to edit after every paragraph or sentence, you wish disrupt the flow of your thoughts.
It is better to take a break before starting to edit a long manuscript so you’ll have a fresh perspective.
Revise only *hard copy* especially if your manuscript is quite long. Rewriting from a monitor is confusing.
Verify the orthography of names, figures, dates, and addresses. These are the most dead
items in manuscripts!
Be sure of what you put between those quotation marks! Otherwise, paraphrase the line and omit the quotation marks.
Did you follow the writer guidelines? e.g., number of words required, font/font size specified, spacing, margins...
Edit your content:
Be sure that you did not stray from your topic. Are your paragraphs coherent?
Did you fulfill your intention for writing that piece? Is your amusement feature article amusing enough? Did your personality sketch bring out your subject's unique and distinct qualities?
If necessary, did you provide enough supporting data (graphs, charts, figures) for your piece?
If applicable, did your article answer the 5 Ws and H? Who, what, why, were, once
and how.
Edit for tightness:
Remove redundant and useless words.
What simply about diction? Did you use the right word to express what you mean? For example, "He stared at her" is much intense than "He looked at her." "Devour" is not the same as "eat."
Did you vary the length of your sentences? Combining long with short sentences does your article easier and much natural to read.
Did you check that the body of your article is longer than the introduction (lead)? Several writers get carried way. They focus on an effective lead to hook the readers but neglect the body of the article!
What simply about tone and style?
Does your activity reflect your writing style or does it sound like a traced work?
Did you use the active voice? Are you consistent with the point of view you used?
Do your title and the words you used match the tone of your piece?
Copyright © 2004 Lizzie R. City (lizzie@imusepub.com)
About The Author
Lizzie writes features, literary pieces, radio and comics scripts, and school supplemental reading materials. She is the author of two print books. Her e-book, Appetizers for Creative Writers: A Book
for Writers, is promulgated by iMusePub.com and it's at http://imusepub.com/lrsantos-1.php
This article was announce on Gregorian calendar month 08, 2004
