Creativity and Common Sense make and Editor
Writersworld newsletter, January 25, 2002

Many writers find it difficult to edit their own copy but by following a few simple rules you can polish your material sufficiently to prove to a commissioning editor that you are a proficient writer and not a chancer who is wasting his time

EVERY writer can improve a first draft. Even the simplest article benefits from re-writing. It is fair to say that the best stories are not written but are rewritten and rewritten time and again. Hemingway was once asked why he had rewritten the ending of one of his books fifty-seven times:

"To get it right," he replied.

You need two elusive qualities to be a great editor: creativity and common sense. You also need to have an inquiring and suspicious mind. Let us take a few simple steps to editing, whether your own material or something written by somebody else.

1. With only a soft pencil in hand read the story or article from beginning to end making minor odd typographical or grammatical corrections in the margin.
2. Ask yourself what is the author trying to achieve or what were you trying to achieve and has this been successful.
3. Go through the article or chapter again with your pencil and a pack of 'postits'. Flag those areas which need special attention.

For fiction ask yourself a few basic questions:-

1. Does the title intrigue or excite the reader?
2. Does the opening invite you to read along and is it sufficiently dramatic? Remember that 75% of editing concerns beginning and endings.
3. Do the characters ring true or are they merely one-dimensional stock types? A simple test. Imagine you are casting actors to film the story - do three names of actors or actresses immediately leap to mind for the main characters?
4. Were you entertained or informed by the writer or did you feel let down and that you had wasted your time? Remember that every writer makes an unspoken contract: the readers' time and money in exchange for being entertained or informed.
5. Check the dialogue. Read it aloud and record it if necessary. He said. . . she replied... they responded. . . Jim explained. . . Mary riposted, are all redundant when writing good dialogue. Ideally it should be clear who is speaking without attributions
6. A tough question and one where you must be entirely objective concerns theme or plot. In a work of fiction is it sufficiently worthwhile to merit the reader's attention? In non-fiction is the reader going to be better informed?
7. Please don't rely on your computer's spellchecker and grammar. You will end up with horde (hoard), hare (hair), two (to, too) and many others.
8. Pace. Does the writing move along logically and briskly or do you have to keep returning to previous paragraphs to pick up the thread. Most good writers can do this effortlessly, but others struggle for control, particularly when handling flash-backs.
9. Language. Remember that an editor is the guardian of the English language and protector of an author's reputation. The editor must be concerned with grammar, tautology, accuracy and taste.
10. Endings. Has the author arrived naturally at the end? Remember, in fiction it is allowable to leave matters open providing there is sufficient information to leave the reader satisfied with the narrative.

When it comes to improving your manuscript, ask yourself some more simple questions. Have you given answers to the following questions:- Who? What? Where? Why? How? And when? As far as the senses go have you filled in the background on sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing and that author's favourite - the sixth sense? It will probably not be necessary to answer all these points but they are worth considering in your checklist.

If the raw material that you are handling seems lacking authority try taking out all adverbs and adjectives and replacing only those that are essential. Check all verbs. Are they strong enough? Verbs are the engines of good writing. Could the story be improved by being written from a different point of view?

Try recording a chapter or article and play the tape back to yourself. Trust your ear. Is it easy to read and do the words flow naturally? Finally, get a friend to read your copy - a friend whose judgement you trust and who is not afraid to tell you the truth. Finally, there is a point at which you can overcook good writing, losing freshness and spontaneity. That judgement comes with practice, which is the only way to learn. After the first, second or third drafts, it is worth leaving the manuscript aside for a week or two before coming back to it.

You will find it surprising how much more editing can be done at this stage.

Remember that lawyers' mistakes go to jail and doctors bury their mistakes, but authors publish theirs. If you have a character travelling by train from Interlaken to Zurich and looks out of the window on the left-hand side to look at the Jungfrau, somebody is bound to realise if you are wrong, knowing that the Jungfrau can only be seen from the right-hand window.

If you have an SAS man with a Browning automatic firing 10 millimetre rounds your readers will be aware that you know little about guns. If you talk about lake Windermere, Sahara desert or Mount Kilimanjaro, they will likewise consider you unprofessional. If you cannot check a fact and you are not sure, write around it.

Self Publishing article by John Jenkins.

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