JPROF - JEM 200 - Editing and rewriting

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Editing and rewriting

Editing and rewriting are two of the hardest jobs facing a writer -- particularly for our own copy. Most of us don’t do it very well.

First, some general principles:

Editing is central to the process of writing for the mass media.
Good writers consciously train themselves to edit their own copy.
Editing takes maturity -- that is, a developed sense of what is good writing and how it sounds to the reader.
It is often easier to edit someone else’s copy than to edit our own.
Editors should put themselves, as much as possible, in the place of the reader and ask, “What will the reader expect from this piece of writing?”

The discipline of editing

Editing is more than just rereading copy so that you can fix the technical errors. That is the first step, certainly, but good editing goes far beyond that. The goal of editing is to make the copy better at several different levels. That’s why the process of editing is the same as the process of writing. An editor must solve a complex, intricate problem that happens to be with words instead of numbers -- and there is no book of answers.

Technical errors

Most of us have some ability to find technical errors in our copy -- grammar, spelling, punctuation and style. You should do everything you can to correct those errors because doing so marks you as a professional.

You should use a spell checker if it is available to you on your computer. (But, of course . . . don’t depend on a spell checker.)

You should read your copy carefully, word for word, sentence by sentence. Sometimes it helps to read copy backwards, sentence by sentence. The reasoning for this is that it breaks the flow, so that you pay more attention to the words rather than the ideas.

Sometimes it helps to put some physical distance between you and your copy. If you have time, get up and leave the room. Put yourself in another environment and try not to think about your copy for a few minutes.

If appropriate, ask someone else to read your copy -- someone who will give you an honest opinion about it. That person will often spot technical errors that you can’t see. And, if you are lucky, that person will tell you when something doesn’t make sense.

Usage: the next level of editing

What you write can be technically perfect. It can still be bad.

It can be bad because of the following factors:

usage -- Do you use words for exactly what they mean? Do you use them correctly in the context you are writing?

A student of mine once used the phrase, “ . . . for all intensive purposes.” What she meant to say was “ . . for all intents and purposes.”

So . . .

Don’t be reticent to speak when you are reluctant.
Don’t go firing off a canon.
And, above all, don’t stand on your principals.

clichés -- Clichés are overused words and phrases that may be easily understood but are a sign of tired writing or limited abilities on the part of the writer.

redundancies -- Using unnecessary words to express a thought or fact is a redundancy. See Love the Language in Week 2 of this course.

repetitions -- This one is tricky. You want your writing to be fresh, so you use a variety of words. But sometimes you cannot avoid using the same words in an article. And sometimes, you want to repeat yourself for emphasis.

Thoroughly confused?

Okay. Here’s a simple rule. In writing news stories, try to avoid repeating a verb, except for common ones such as “said” and linking verbs. You should particularly try to avoid using the same verb in two successive sentences. The repetition again become obvious and irritating.

So, at the next level of editing, you should be concerned with how you use the language.

Wordiness: the curse of any age

Good writers make sure that every word they use contributes something to what they are writing.

When you are editing, you should try to read through your copy at least once with the sole purpose of cutting down on the number of words you use. That’s not to say you should cut out information. You should simply try to cut down on the number of words that you use. You might find phrases like the following:

She donated $25,000 of her own money to the cause.

The company makes labels for a wide variety of products found in retail stores and outlets.

Revenue reductions for the state will amount to $500 million if the programs are eliminated.

People in Asian countries have been eating jellyfish as a delicacy for hundreds of years.

Careful editing could make these into:

She gave $25,000 to the cause.
(Original: She donated $25,000 of her own money to the cause.)
The company makes labels for retail products.
(Original: The company makes labels for a wide variety of products found in retail stores and outlets.)
The state could lose $500 million if the programs are shut down.
(Original: Revenue reductions for the state will amount to $500 million if the programs are eliminated.)
Asians have long considered jellyfish a delicacy.
(Original: People in Asian countries have been eating jellyfish as a delicacy for hundreds of years.)

Here were are not just talking about finding redundancies and repetitions. We are examining the way that we express our information and ideas. In some instances, we were able to substitute shorter words for longer ones (“gave” for “donated,” for instance). Sometimes we can find the bureaucratic phrases -- “revenue reductions” -- that often cloud modern writing.

You might want to check out the article on JPROF, Attacking wordiness, for more information on this topic.

Verbs

If there is one thing that is the key to good writing -- and the key to good editing -- it is verbs.

The use of English rests on the use of verbs. Verbs are words that show action or state of being. Well used, they are descriptive and can drive a piece of writing straight into the head of the reader. Badly used, they can turn writing into something as interesting as a set of Indiana cornfields.

Verbs can be divided into two general groups: linking and non-linking. Linking verbs are the "to be" family: is, was, were, etc. These verbs are useful and necessary. The good writer knows how to deploy them properly.

But good writing is built on non-linking verbs. These verbs are active and descriptive. They show action; they describe the scene; they tell us about the subject or the characters in a story.

So, you should use linking verbs when you have to. But try to use active, descriptive, non-linking verbs every chance you get.

And here's something else that, as a good writer, you should understand: the difference between active and passive voice. There's a good explanation of active and passive voice on pages 27 and 28 of Writing for the Mass Media.

Passive voice verbs are always good targets for this kind of editing, Every time you run across a passive voice, see if you can turn it around and make it active -- and see if that doesn’t sound better. Sometimes it won’t; often, it will.

Being a better editor

The key to being a good self-editor is developing the ability to separate yourself from what you have written -- to look at your writing with a fresh and objective eye, to weigh the words for what they mean and for the impression they will leave for the read, and to be willing to change or rewrite what you have written.

None of this is easy. If it were, lots of people would be doing it.