November 2nd, 2007 in Communication, Featured

Improve Your Writing with these Editing Tips

Teachers, business people, and just about everyone else it seems complain often and loudly that people today (usually “kids today”) don’t know how to write. I’m convinced, though, that a big part of the problem (perhaps the biggest part of the problem) is that people don’t know how to edit. We labor under the notion that good writing flows easily from the pen or typing fingers, and that editing too much will “kill” our work.

The best writers know differently, of course — their memoirs and biographies and writing manuals are filled with stories of books that needed to be cut in half to be readable, sentences that took weeks or months to get just right, and lifetimes spent tinkering with a single work that never strikes them as “just right”. To paraphrase a common saying among writers, there is no good writing, only good re-writing.

But if writing isn’t taught well enough or often enough these days, editing is hardly taught at all. This is too bad, since editing is where the real work of writing is at. More than just proofreading, good editing improves the clarity and forcefulness of a piece. Here’s some tips and tricks to help you make your writing more effective:

Read out loud: Reading a piece out loud helps you to identify clunky, awkward passages that seem to make sense to the eye, especially to the author’s eye.
Read in reverse: You may have heard about reading backwards, word by word, to help proofread. This works because you bypass your brain’s tendency to fill in what it expects to see, allowing you to catch spelling errors you might otherwise gloss over. This is useless, though, when it comes to content, where meaning comes from phrases and word order. Instead, read from back to front, sentence by sentence (or maybe paragraph by paragraph, or both) to make sure that each sentence and each paragraph is internally coherent — that it makes sense on its own.
Sleep on it: Wait at least a night, and preferably longer, before starting your editing. Ideally, you want to forget what you wrote, so that — again — your brain doesn’t see what it expects to see but only sees what’s really there. A lot of times we make logical errors that make sense at the time, because our minds are filled with ideas, examples, and arguments related to our topic; when we approach our writing with a clear mind, though, those mental connections are gone, and only what we’ve actually written counts.
Cut, don’t add: We are almost always too wordy. While you may need to add a word or two while editing, for the most part you should be removing words. Concise writing is more powerful and easier to read than lengthy prose.
Justify yourself: Every point, statement, question, joke, even every word should have a reason to be in your piece; if it doesn’t, strike it. Be harsh — if a word or phrase does not add value to your writing, get rid of it.
Establish cognizance of pretentious language usages and eliminate such material: That is, watch for fancy words and cut them. Inexperienced writers often ape the language of academia, or rather the language they imagine academia uses. Even if you’re in academia, don’t use academic writing as a model. While there is a time and place for jargon, for the most part jargon exists to exclude readers, not include them. For most readers, the language of journalists is a much more appropriate model — and that means aiming for at best a smart eighth-grader’s reading level.
Throw out and get rid of unnecessary redundancies you don’t need: This applies in both sentences and the work as a whole. In high school, you might have learned to “say it, say it again, and then say what you said”; for most readers, this is a waste of their time and an insult to their intelligence; in the end, they’ll just tune you out. Say it clearly the first time, then move on.
Kill unsightly adverbs: Some adverbs are fine, but usually they serve only to pad out a statement that doesn’t need padding. For example: “He ran quickly”. It is in the nature of running to be quick. If there’s something unusual about his running (perhaps he ran slowly), then mention it; if not, just say “he ran” and trust your readers to know what running means.
Passive sentences are to be avoided: Beware of the use of “to be” and its conjugations (is, was, were, are, am). These often indicate a passive sentence, where the subject is acted upon instead of acting. Passivity makes for weak, unconvincing writing. Passivity is often the hallmark of someone trying to weasel out of something: “Mistakes were made” assigns no blame, while “I made a mistake” tells the world you’re taking responsibility. It does not convey the action, it only suggests the effect. So avoid passive sentences.

Good editing, like good writing (or, better, as part of good writing), is an art. It takes time and practice to develop a real talent for editing, but the end result is worth it — your writing will be more alive, more effective, and ultimately more likely to be read. And that is, after all, what’s important: that your audience reads and, just as crucially, understands your work.

WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY

Dustin Wax

Dustin M. Wax is a contributing editor and project manager at lifehack.org. He is also the creator of The Writer's Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and women's studies in Las Vegas, NV. His personal site can be found at dwax.org.

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Martin Hughes says on November 2nd, 2007 at 11:03 am

One word for you - ‘awesome’.

A great post and so true.
Bart says on November 2nd, 2007 at 12:11 pm

Nice tips. Having your writing in the active voice is extra important (vs the passive structure in the last bullet point). Active voicing can dramatically improve a piece of writing quickly.

Another little tip: In school, expect to spend one hour of writing time for every page required (research not included). Anything less generally yield poor quality writing.
Damian says on November 2nd, 2007 at 1:10 pm

I enjoyed the point:-
“Throw out and get rid of unnecessary redundancies you don’t need:”

It put a smile on my face.

I wonder how many people got it though?
I must admit that this is something I am guilt of and have been known to do in my writing from time to time occasionally.
Daylle Deanna Schwartz says on November 2nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm

These tips are fabulous! I’ll send potential writers to read it. I learned many of these before getting published and following them has helped earn the respect of my editors. I’m a serious yakkety yakker. Very wordy in real life. But my favorite part of writing is what I call playing word police. My first draft just flows out with everything I’m thinking. Then I re-read it like a cop looking for criminals to take out any words that aren’t completely necessary. Learning to leave my ego behind was hard. I often write something I find very clever but ask, does this add to my point or just make me feel clever? Usually it gets cut. Writing tight gives me a great feeling of control.

It’s also helpful as you said to sleep on it. I actually find blogging more challenging because when I write a book or article, I have a long lead time and come back a last time right before it’s due. Blogging about timely news topics often doesn’t allow me to sleep on a post. But I’m learning to work on something else to dull my familiarity with what I write and then come back to it before I post it.

If people followed the tips in this article I’d earn a bit less from doing book and article doctoring!
James Thompson says on November 2nd, 2007 at 4:12 pm

I’m with you except on your point regarding “Establish cognizance of pretentious language usages and eliminate such material.” I write mostly in an academic setting for school and jargon is part of that realm of writing. But I also regularly write and speak outside of the academic context. I prefer to bring my reader along when I know they may not be up on the jargon rather than leaving it out entirely. Especially since most of my writing is of a theological nature there is precision present in adopting the proper terms for things that would be lost. Instead of leaving jargon out I simply define it as used when I know my setting requires such. My goal is to bring my reader’s to my level not condescend.

A good example is when dealing with the idea of imputation, election and justification in theology. I am not going to abandon terms such as alien faith, necessary/sufficient causes, effectual/cooperative/prevenient grace. Or even when some topics beg the use of precise latin or greek terminology. My subject matter is distinct from “general writing” but I often wish even journalists would assume my reading level is a bit beyond 8th grade. Writing should help educate, not just maintain the reader where they are.
Dustin Wax says on November 2nd, 2007 at 5:11 pm

James,

I semi-agree. I was going to include another tip, “know your audience”, except I’d already written about that elsewhere on lh and didn’t want to repeat myself. But it’s true, if you know who will be reading your work and what kind of vocabulary they are capable of, you can push the envelope somewhat. This is a little different from using big words simply to present the *appearance* of erudition, to make your work seem “heavy” or “professional”. There is a tie and place for workers to get down to brass tacks and talk in a workerly language about their work; that’s what jargon is for. When others are present — that is, for any wider audience — use the words you have to use, and define them appropriately, so that indeed the work becomes a way to increase the knowledge of readers and not a way to winnow them out.
Dustin Wax says on November 2nd, 2007 at 5:13 pm

“…a *time* and place for…” that should have read.
Zac Davis says on November 2nd, 2007 at 5:50 pm

Great post, I will definitely keep these tips in mind while writing my Ebook.
Mark Dykeman says on November 2nd, 2007 at 7:40 pm

Wonderful article! I’m happy to see another voice added to the chorus of writers who recognize the importance of review and revision.
Basil White says on November 2nd, 2007 at 8:44 pm

I live by E-Prime. It removes 99% of passive voice and “passive nouns” as well.
Eloy Ramirez says on November 3rd, 2007 at 1:11 am

“Read out Loud”…I am glad you put that number one! (i know, an exaggerated use of the exclamation mark) If there is one that makes the most difference it has to be this one. It changed my outlook. My High School journalism advisor taught me that, and it has been an invaluable tool. One that you might add (not necassarily a new one…but attached to “Read out Loud” would be “Read out loud…to someone else” If they don’t get it, it “don’t” make sense.
Tsu Do Nimh says on November 3rd, 2007 at 2:01 am

“If you can’t explain it to an 8-year-old … get someone else to explain it to her for you; because you obviously don’t understand it yourself.”
Deanna Wrubleski says on November 3rd, 2007 at 2:52 pm

I just wanted to say that I’m morally opposed to this idea: “There is no good writing, only good re-writing.”

Everything is so much more real and beautiful before you suck all the life out with editing.
soufulow says on November 3rd, 2007 at 5:01 pm

Wonderful piece of article.

It especially strikes on the chord when you mentioned about being concise. Writing short is hard.
Jason Evans says on November 3rd, 2007 at 8:44 pm

The redundant words in the “redundancy” paragraph was hilarious, but you did it again when you wrote about avoiding passive language and pretentious wording. That took some effort. I appreciated that. Great post!
Jason Evans says on November 3rd, 2007 at 8:45 pm

The redundant words in the “redundancy” paragraph were hilarious, but you did it again when you wrote about avoiding passive language and pretentious wording. That took some effort. I appreciated that. Great post!
Scott D. Strader says on November 3rd, 2007 at 10:48 pm

“Justify yourself” v. “Throw out and get rid of unnecessary redundancies you don’t need”. So, should we extrapolate on the thesis statements in our writing (as you do by providing bolded topics followed by several sentences of explanation), or do we assume the reader understands a summary of our intent without any glosses (such as these parenthetical glosses that help illustrate my sarcastic point)?

“Passive sentences are to be avoided”? Oh, please. Even before Language Log went on a campaign against passive (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003414.html or http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl.....04456.html), mindless barring of passive voice was justifiably on the outs.

To end on a positive: reading out loud is definitely good advice. Garden paths and knotty syntax are avoided when you vocally review your work (broken rules intended).
Dustin Wax says on November 4th, 2007 at 1:23 am

Scott,

I mean “justify yourself” to yourself — ask yourself if a word, phrase, statement, paragraph, section is needed and if it does what you want it to do. No writing should ever provide less information than is needed to make its point — but it shouldn’t provide more, either. That’s a tricky place to get to, but getting yourself in the habit of asking whether a word, etc. is justified is a good way to start learning it.

It;s impossible to avoid the passive voice entirely — I couldn’t even do it in my section on avoiding the passive voice. But, like justifying yourself, learning to recognize it and asking whether there’s a more active way to phrase something makes for better writing, even if you decide the passive voice works best sometimes.

The weakest point up there is reading out loud, actually. The rules of written language and speech aren’t really the same (or we’d all speak in verse more often) And yet, once more, reading out loud helps to make us aware of which set of rules we’re using, and forces us to consider whether, in this case, something that sounds awkward might read just fine.

Editing isn’t a set of rules, really — it’s a set of artistic practices. You can break all the rules of grammar and still have something worth reading (again, some poetry comes to mind) but it should be something the writer controls, not a chance accident — because accidents are pretty hard to rely on. That’s why I disagree that editing “sucks the life” out of “real and beautifulRI” writing — I’d have to venture that Deanna never read 120 students’ papers in a week before.

And I just have to point out how wonderful it is that Jason posted his comment on redundancy twice.
Dustin Wax says on November 4th, 2007 at 1:25 am

On second thought, maybe Deanna can provide some examples? I mean, even Kerouac edited himself — where is some unedited real and beautiful writing we could look at?
William Profet :: OneJobTwoSalaries.com says on November 4th, 2007 at 5:00 am

For better writing I would suggest to use simple sentences with a lot of action, metaphors and visual words.

You must touch the reader’s soul and his/her curiosity. After that they’re all yours.
Delores says on November 5th, 2007 at 12:00 pm

I love your article, but I do have to add my ten cents into your introductory paragraph:

“Teachers, business people, and just about everyone else it seems complain often and loudly that people today (usually “kids today”) don’t know how to write. I’m convinced, though, that a big part of the problem (perhaps the biggest part of the problem) is that people don’t know how to edit. ”

Kids today can’t even get to the editing part because they don’t know how to read, let alone right. Abstract thought it so foreign to them, that using figurative language and elaboration is a struggle. They have the ideas in them, as you can hear them tell their stories of their life dramas, but they don’t know how to get them onto the paper, or their MySpace page.
Yes, editing is an essential tool for everyone in order to produce quality work. But for kids, they have to get to the first draft before going back and fixing that they don’t even see as incorrect.
jcorn says on November 5th, 2007 at 11:55 pm

So how do you feel about E Prime which essentially gets rid of all forms of “to be”. Take out passive verbs and some sentences are longer but clearer.
Jon4t2 says on November 9th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Duke Ellington once said about music: “If it sounds good, it is good.” I have found that the same is true of writing. I can’t diagram a sentence to save my life, but I can write “by ear.”

Reading my words out loud slows my mind down and forces me to think about what I’ve written. I can spot my excesses and see where I have strayed from the point I’m trying to make.

For further guidance, I recommend any edition of “The Elements of Style” by Strunk & White.
Nick Sanders says on November 16th, 2007 at 8:39 pm

Hey, Great post - good to see another person’s view on editing work by students
Firmalar says on November 25th, 2007 at 7:38 am

I just wanted to say that I’m morally opposed to this idea: “There is no good writing, only good re-writing.”

Everything is so much more real and beautiful before you suck all the life out with editing.
mott says on November 28th, 2007 at 4:53 am

I don’t know why the most common advice on writing is (1) cut and reduce your wording and (2) use action words and adjective and metaphors.
The first advice suggests that the writer hasn’t thought through s/he wanted to write before writing and just wrote down anything that came to mind, and the second that either all writing is fiction or that it’s all intended for very low reading levels.
Both rather depressing, I think.
Dustin Wax says on November 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am

Mott: Most writers *haven’t* thougt through what they wanted to write before they wrote it. I would say that experienced writers have to cut less precisely because they’ve already learned the lesson of writing concisely. On b) I’d say that avoiding passive voice and going for action are important to business writing, feature writing, and just about any wide-audience kind of writing that’s intended to attract attention, not just fiction. And yes, f you’re writing for a wide audience, it is a pretty low reading level; most sources suggest you write to the 6-8th grade level. 7th is the target of the NYTimes, I think 9th is the target of the Wall Street Journal. Most Americans, at least, do not read complex writing unless forced to; some 60% of USAnians will never read a book after they graduate high school.

And yeah, that is depressing…
Richie Barker says on December 1st, 2007 at 2:45 am

Man, you got a hard time for what was a good post. Reading some of the responses had me thinking of glasshouses.
--Deb says on December 4th, 2007 at 11:27 am

Fabulous list. At the very least, I know that I’m always too wordy when I write. “Pithy” and I just don’t get along!
Lillie Ammann says on December 4th, 2007 at 7:21 pm

Excellent advice filled with great examples of what not to do. Many writers think they have to tell their readers everything they learned in research or all the backstory in fiction. I often recommend authors cut several early chapters of their novels to start the story at the beginning. At first, they can’t imagine how readers can understand the story without knowing the life history of the main character, but they usually come to realize that the details readers need to know can be woven into a story that begins in the right place.
Nathan says on December 18th, 2007 at 3:47 pm

Awesome post! I’m just getting started with serious writing, and a friend recommended the book “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser. Your post summarized many of the best points made in Zinnser’s book. I’m going to print this out and keep it handy as I write.
Patrick says on January 13th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

Right on. So beautifully written. A true treatise on good writing/editing.
kÄ±z oyunlarÄ± says on May 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 am

Man, you got a hard time for what was a good post. Reading some of the responses had me thinking of glasshouses.
firmalar says on May 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm

On second thought maybe Deanna can provide some examples?? I mean, even Kerouac edited himself — where is some unedited real and beautiful writing we could look at??
oyun says on May 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Nice tips. Having your writing in the active voice is extra important (vs the passive structure in the last bullet point). Active voicing can dramatically improve a piece of writing quickly.
firmalar says on May 3rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm

Wonderful piece of article.
Firmalar says on May 21st, 2008 at 5:53 am

Thank you for useful article.