Writing Tips, Part 4: Editing

How do you handle the dreaded editing process? You may do it yourself or pay someone for this service. Here are some of the types of editing. Some go hand in hand. Remember no book, absolutely no book out there is free of typos, grammatical errors or punctuation issues. I have plenty, and so does Stephen King and Dan Brown. Studies have shown that only 85-95% of errors are caught by editors. That makes me feel a little better about my books.

Development:

Before any editing happens, the first aspect of writing a story is development. A concept or idea. With that in mind, there are two types of writers: plotter or pantser. A plotter has a clear path, a beginning, middle, and end. On the other hand, a pantser is a rogue writer and is often ignited by one idea or moment of inspiration. Maybe they have an epic ending: saving the Earth from shrinking or a serial killer that only kills people whose birthdays fall on certain months. However, they may not have a clear path to get to or from that idea.

Once there is some kind of developed idea or story, pen can be put to paper. One author said, writing the first draft is like adding sand to the sandbox so you can build castles later. So get your story down and complete, no matter how messy it is. The editing comes later.

• Content editing. This will target the flow and voice of your story. Sometimes, even swapping chapters around in order to make your story makes sense. This can be complicated when exploring time travel or flashbacks.

• Line editing. This is where you really dig down deep line by line and look for run-on sentences or broken, jumbled sentences or phrases. Oftentimes we can get wordy. Line editing will tighten up our sentences and even dialogue.

• Copy editing. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

• Proofreading. This is very similar to copy editing, but is on Red Bull. I like to refer to this as the final net, catching anything slipped through all the other editing processes. If you are going to pay for some of these services, I would pay for this one above all others.

Some tips I use for editing if you're a poor writer like me. And don't get me wrong, there are still errors missed in my own works. Can't catch them all. Alternatively, you can seek editing services, but they can be costly. It's up to you if it's worth it. I have used editors in the past and if you can find the cheap ones I think it's worth it.

1. Use tools like Grammarly, LanguageTool, and Microsoft Word to catch spelling mistakes and punctuation errors. (Word of advice, I paid for the subscription for LanguageTool but found that it could not process more than 5k words at a time, although it says it can process way more. It cannot. So I use the free version and input sections of 2K. It takes longer but catches more mistakes.)

2. Have friends or a spouse read your work. I cringe when my wife hands back my book or manuscript full of her notes. But I'm glad she catches them. That's the process.

3. For flow and structure, something many writers do is to put the story aside for a few weeks or months. You will be amazed when you return and read it, how awful it can be reading it again with fresh eyes.

4. Microsoft Word has a great feature where it will read your story back to you. This is a great way to find many errors. It can also be very revealing hearing it read to you. You will be surprised what you notice. A couple of tips: (1) Make a copy of your story and open it on another device, and (2) have one device read it aloud while you edit the other copy on the other device. This way, you aren't editing the same copy that is being read; it gets messy and confusing.

We hope you enjoyed reading Writing Tips, Part 4: Editing by Robbie Sheerin.

Robbie Sheerin is a Scottish-born author currently based in the United States. He has written five books, along with numerous short stories, published across a range of print and digital platforms. His books are available on Amazon, and more about his work can be found at www.robbiesheerinwriter.com.