5 Hot Tips for Editing your Writing
Based on what I learned working on my book, I’m offering you 5 hot tips for editing your writing.
Maybe you've just completed my 14-Day Creative Quarantine Challenge and you want to begin shaping your raw material? Maybe you’ve been part of my Solo Show Creation Lab and/or you’re about to start a second pass on a script or a story?
Or maybe you’ve got to write a funding application? Or you’re refreshing all the copy on your website?
These tips can be applied to creative or professional writing.
5 Hot Tips for Editing your Writing
Read it OUT LOUD
We are master consumers of content and stories. By reading out loud you’ll immediately have a felt sense of how to re-write for rhythm and pace. Let your instincts help you.
Lose the Redundancies
Look for places where you’ve written the same idea several ways. I’m a huge culprit of this, often because I’ve been hunting for the best way to express something. Be stern with yourself. Choose ONE; lose the rest.
Show Don’t Tell
Replace named emotions with a description of what was SAID or DONE. Rather than, “I felt so disappointed” how about, “I picked at the fraying cuff of my jean jacket as she left.”
Be Specific
Wherever you can, be SPECIFIC. For example, don’t tell us that “It was beautiful”, describe HOW or WHY it was beautiful. Remember: The devil’s in the details.
Weed Out the Adverbs
I got this one from Stephen King’s book “On Writing”. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs -- they usually end in “ly” (i.e. slowly, sneakily, lovingly, giddily etc). Read his take here.
Bonus: Keep a Cutting Room Floor Doc ✂️
Create a word doc to house all the stuff you cut that you might miss, even a little. If you’re resistant to making cuts, this is hugely helpful psychologically. Or, if you’re like me, and overdo it on the first round of cuts, having all the cut bits to sift through afterwards can be really useful when you want to add a couple back in.
Hope these tips make your editing process easier, now or down the road.
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