The Eighth Deadly Sin: Concerning Editing

So, we all know the Seven Deadly Sins, right? Greed, gluttony, lust, wrath, et cetera. But what's the far less recognized (yet equally lethal) Eighth Deadly Sin? Not editing your writing. Now, quit rolling your eyes for a minute and hear me out. 

I used to be the ultimate sinner when it comes to editing. In fact, in high school, there were times where I lived life so dangerously that I submitted papers without even reading them over, let alone editing them. (I know, I know. You're clutching your pearls in horror.) I always hated having those peer editing sessions in English class, too. Why? Because, in my naive little brain, editing was pointless. You said what you needed to say, and there was no need to change it, right? 

Wrong. 

You see, my ever-so-studious friends, that's not the point of editing at all. Editing actually enhances what you need to say. You're not changing it or making it any less important; you're just tweaking what needs to be tweaked in order to get the most bang for your buck out of your words. 

How To Do the Thing

By "the thing," I mean editing. As you can see by this handy, terribly-rendered flow chart I made on Google Docs (I'm a writer, not a graphic designer), there are only four real steps to editing. Clearly, the easiest and most important is reading your writing. Unless you're some kind of awesome creature from the future— and if you are, I'm so honored you chose my blog to observe— you can't just absorb your words by touching them and know exactly what you wrote without reading it. Sure, you may have the gist of it in your brain, but you need to know, word for word, what you put on that page in order to edit it. 

Step two kind of goes hand-in-hand with step one. Consider the message you're conveying. Does what you wrote accurately say what you want it to? Make sure you're getting your point across, and then you can move on to step three.

Grammar and typos are perhaps the most tedious part of editing. As anyone who knows me will attest, I am an unashamed Grammar Nazi (not to be confused with an actual Nazi, which I promise I have no desire to be associated with). When I was a freelancer, I actually had an awesome contract where I edited romance novels; and that's where I fine-tuned my Grammar Nazi skills. To hone your own (heh, that rhymed) make sure you're using active voice instead of passive voice, double-check to make sure your verb tenses are all the same, and don't change point of view in the middle of your piece. To remain family friendly, be sure your fingers haven't accidentally pressed the wrong key and turned something like "shirt" into a naughty, four-letter word— and believe me, I've made mistakes like that more than once. That's no fun. There are obviously many other errors you can make in terms of grammar and typing, but those are the most common to check for.

And finally, reword and reorder. This one is the hardest step, and isn't always essential in every piece of writing. Certain words have certain connotations that might mean something different than you were going for. If you find that you're using a couple of hot button words over and over, consider cracking open a Thesaurus to find a replacement. You might realize your writing flows better if you move a particular sentence to a different place in the paragraph; or, heck, even move a different paragraph to another point in your writing altogether. 

Then, start over. Read your writing again. If you notice anything that you don't like, move onto step two again. It isn't always necessary to go through the entire process again, but it doesn't hurt to ensure that you didn't make any mistakes while editing. 

Trust me when I say that even the best writers need to edit. That's actually how they get so great. A very well-known and often implemented sentiment in the writing world is that it's better to have a terrible first draft than none at all. Once you get it all out on the page, you can polish it and turn it into something truly phenomenal. 

And don't we all want to be phenomenal? So, the next time you write, go through the editing process. I promise it gets faster as you do it more and more. 

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now, but remember this quote by C.J. Cherryh to inspire you: "It is perfectly okay to write garbage— as long as you edit brilliantly." You can turn even the most mediocre writing into the next Harry Potter if you know how to edit. Now, go forth and edit things!

#editing #writing #writingblog #literaryblog #editingprocess