| After 60 years of observing and writing about | | | | wonder around when the body is as well. |
| my fellow inhabitants of Planet Earth, I can't recall | | | | Editing: the Heart of Good Writing |
| ever thinking that anyone did not have a story. | | | | Shoddy editing is rampant nowadays. Beyond |
| Whether it is the true account of your life's | | | | poor spelling and grammar, haphazardly organized, |
| journey, your perspectives on the world or a | | | | redundant and one-dimensional prose passes as |
| fictional tale, everyone has something unique that | | | | well-written. In our instant-gratification-oriented |
| could be captured through the written word. | | | | culture, people expect excellent writing to |
| Why then, do so few write? There are many | | | | instantaneously flow from their fingertips. When it |
| reasons; from the profoundly sad belief that they | | | | doesn't, which is typical even for the best writers, |
| have nothing to offer to the absurdly arrogant | | | | frustration paralyzes them. |
| notion that their story is so special that someone | | | | Editing is not merely going over a piece three or |
| else should be writing it, excuses abound. Two | | | | four times. The process, for most of us, is |
| things, however, stand out as a plague impacting | | | | painstaking and ubiquitous. It surprises me what I |
| most would-be writers: they don't recognize the | | | | will discover in a piece even after I have reread it |
| importance of deliberate and protracted | | | | dozens of times. Embrace this reality and join the |
| empathetic thought, and they haven't | | | | club. Passing this job off to an editor in the early |
| incorporated the respect for and the process of | | | | stages of writing is giving control of your story to |
| editing. | | | | someone who doesn't have the benefit of your |
| Time Away From the Computer: The Benefits of | | | | best effort. It can lead to expense and heartache. |
| Thinking | | | | Tips for Becoming a Better Editor |
| When J.K Rowling came up with the idea for the | | | | The type of editing which captures the best of |
| Harry Potter series, she was on a train without | | | | your writing and incorporates the most of your |
| pen and paper. She has often said that this was a | | | | thinking is precision editing. There is a magic that |
| blessing, because she spent the time thinking | | | | happens when pen hits paper or fingers dance on |
| through the story. | | | | the keyboard, but it is the pre thinking and the |
| Thought is a far more efficient method of testing | | | | security of knowing that you will deliberately and |
| plot lines and character attributes than writing | | | | repeatedly pick through a piece for a standard list |
| them down. Making snap decisions about a | | | | of issues that makes the magic possible. |
| character's background, without walking in that | | | | The process starts with double-checking spelling |
| character's shoes along the paths which led to the | | | | and grammar. Relying on Spell Check is not |
| story at hand, leaves the writer with less | | | | sufficient and will lead to glaring errors. Here are |
| information about the story. | | | | five other things to keep in mind: |
| While the fingers are poised above the keyboard | | | | |
| or curled around a pen, questions that arise about | | | | 1. Vary the structure of your sentences. |
| the things necessary to carry out a given plot are | | | | 2. Use sentence structure to build or dissipate |
| often brushed to the back of the mind. However, | | | | tension. |
| they can be explored in the imagination to their | | | | 3. Develop a personal sense of the balance |
| logical conclusion. In nonfiction, thinking about a | | | | between dialog (quotes in nonfiction) and narrative. |
| story can uncover underlying assumptions that | | | | 4. Reread to verify the sequence in which |
| need clarification and other issues which will | | | | information is presented. |
| ultimately lead to a more interesting, more | | | | 5. Double-check for the accuracy of your |
| informative piece. | | | | information in fiction as well as nonfiction. |
| So, take a walk. The imagination is freer to | | | | |