Quick Five Step Guide to Revising and Editing

Revising and editing takes time, but the end result is well worth the investment. Your writing will be more effective and alive, and ultimately better understood. I’ll be writing future posts on the writing process (ideas, planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing), getting organized, cutting clutter in your writing and finding your voice.

Today, I want to give you an abbreviated strategy that you can apply to your next document, whether it is an email, a memo or a report. Use this Quick Guide when you are short on time, but need to be sure that your communication is clear and compelling.

Editing is where the real work of writing lives. To paraphrase a common saying among writers, there is no good writing, only good re-writing. Good writing does not simply flow from the pens of good writers. They know that more than just proofreading, good editing improves the clarity and forcefulness of a piece.

 

Step One: Print

Print your document. This is very important, especially if you are an inexperienced editor. I usually make my first pass through a document on paper with a red pencil. Maybe it’s the ex-teacher in me, but I go to town with that red pencil. Then, I usually make the second pass on the computer after I’ve input the changes. It can be helpful when revising on the computer to highlight a few sentences at a time to avoid reading too fast and filling in what you think is there. I always find more changes in this second pass. The third, and hopefully final, pass (in this abbreviated process) is again on paper with the emphasis on proofreading.

Printing the document removes the temptation to rely on SpellCheck. If you are a poor speller, by all means SpellCheck the document, but realize that there are many errors that this tool will not identify. For instance, SpellCheck does not know if you use the wrong form of to, too, or two. Use SpellCheck assistance as you are drafting, but then turn it off or print your document to examine every letter of every word.

When you’ve been studying a document or piece of writing on the computer it’s very easy to miss mistakes, or to scan-read and not really see what’s on the page. It can help you see the work anew to print it. If you don’t want to do this and are using Word, turn on the track revisions feature. I maintain that it’s better to make the first and last passes with paper and pencil.

 

Step Two: Checking Sentence Structure

Make sure every sentence has a subject and a verb. If it helps you, underline every other sentence in alternating colors. READ IT OUT LOUD. You never want a run-on sentence, so look for long sentences and consider whether they would be clearer if broken up into shorter statements. Do long sentences simply need to be rewritten to be clearer? Sometimes sentence fragments are acceptable when used for effect, but be extremely judicious with using this style.

This is also a good time to check the beginning of every sentence to see if you are repeating yourself. Are you starting too many sentences with “I” or “The”?

Do you vary the structure of your sentences so that your writing does not have a monotonous rhythm? If your rhythm and pace seem plodding (something you can better hear if you read out loud), try switching the beginning and the ending of a few sentences.

Draft: Wind hasn’t always played a helpful role at the Olympic Games.
Revision: At the Olympic Games, wind hasn’t always played a helpful role.

This is another technique to use sparingly. If you employ it too often, your writing will sound unnatural. Another way to vary sentence structure is to combine short, choppy sentences with a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet) or a semi-colon. If you combine sentences with a semi-colon, be certain that there is an independent clause (subject and a verb) on each side of the semi-colon.

Check verb tenses and be sure that you are consistent. 

Draft: The umpire was calling strikes on every pitch and ignores the catcher’s complaints.
Revision: The umpire calls strike on every pitch, ignoring the catcher’s complaints.

 

Step Three: Clearing the Clutter

“Clutter is the disease of American writing,” says William Zinsser in his classic text, On Writing Well. “We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.” Put simply: don’t waste words. Aim to cut out any language that is vague, repetitious, or pretentious. In other words, clear out the deadwood, be concise—and, for goodness’ sake, get to the point! (Richard Norquist, Grammar & Composition Guide)

Mark Twain wrote, “I always liked the scissors better than the pen.” Snip. Snip. Snip. Less is almost always more. If you’ve used five words to say something, will two suffice? One? Strategic surgery clarifies meaning and engages your reader. Be alert for:

•  Long phrases

Try to reduce long clauses to shorter phrases.

Draft: The clown who was in the center ring was riding a tricycle.
Revision: The clown in the center ring was riding a tricycle.

Likewise, try to reduce phrases to single words.

Draft: The clown at the end of the line tried to sweep up the spotlight.
Revision: The last clown tried to sweep up the spotlight.
(Source: Richard Norquist, Grammar & Composition Guide)

•  Empty openers

Avoid There is, There are, and There were as sentence openers when There adds nothing to the meaning of a sentence:

Draft: There are two security guards at the gate.
Revision: Two security guards stand at the gate.
(Source: Richard Norquist, Grammar & Composition Guide)

• Imprecise words

Remove any use of very, really, so (She was so happy.), and a lot (alot is not a word). Change other imprecise or vague words to more clear, concrete, and exact words. Imprecise language adds nothing and saps strength from your writing.

Draft: It is very important that the report be in San Francisco by May 12th.
Revision: It is critical that the report be in San Francisco by May 12th.

•  Adjectives and adverbs

Mark Twain also said, “When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart.” This is particularly true for business writing, and the same may be said for adverbs. Take them out (or most of them) and see if your point isn’t clearer and stronger.

• Jargon and buzz words

I read this in Business Week Magazine online:

Mzinga, Inc. provides online business social media and workforce solutions that enable businesses to harness collective intelligence of employees, customers, partners, and shareholders. The company offers hosted and software-as-a-service solutions for informal communication, knowledge sharing, employee training and development, and community members interaction. Its business social media and learning solutions enable marketing and customer service professionals to engage and interact with prospects and customers; and workforce communities and learning solutions empower human resources and corporate learning professionals to enhance enterprise-wide communication and collaboration.

There is probably an intern at Business Week (please tell me this was not written by a paid staff writer) that is very proud of that paragraph. It just sounds so darn serious and “business-like.” Unfortunately, it is so packed with jargon and buzz words that it is completely unreadable. I’m planning an entire post to address what is wrong with that paragraph. For now, just try to read it. I’ll bet you can’t. Technically, it is grammatically correct. Practically, it’s useless. If your writing sounds like the above, burn it. Start over. If you are tempted to use the words “enable,” “engage,” or “enhance,” resist. Look for a post in the near future where I’ll show you how to rewrite this to be clear and engaging. For the purposes of this Quick Guide, simply steer clear of jargon and if you spot a buzz word, stomp on it.

 

Step Four: To Be or Not To Be

To write compellingly and convincingly, avoid passive sentences. Beware of the use of “to be” and its conjunctions (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. You may wish to circle all “to be” verbs on your draft and try to eliminate at least half.

Draft: The television that was located in the conference room was tuned to CNBC all day.
Revision: The conference room television was always tuned to CNBC.

 

Step Five: Proofreading

Finally, you’ve made revisions and edits that have clarified and enlivened your writing. You’ve cleared out the clutter, checked your “to be” verbs and now it is time to proofread. All your hard work to this point will be for naught if you let typos, misspelled words, misplaced commas and other mistakes slip through. This is not the time to rush. It’s the time to SLOW DOWN. For a final pass through, I will often read the final draft backwards. What? That’s crazy! No, it forces me to look at every single letter, comma, space and word.

Yesterday, I was reading on another writing blog and the author of a good post misused your in place of you’re. It killed the whole piece and kept nagging at me like an itchy mosquito bite. Maybe I’m a bit more sensitive to mistakes like that than the average reader, but it was a dumb mistake. He had obviously worked hard on his piece, but he let that slip by. Here is another one of those mistakes that SpellCheck won’t catch and it hurt his credibility as an expert on writing.

If you have time, ask someone else to proofread for you after you have proofread. Often a new set of eyes will see something that you have been looking right past. Check carefully for commonly confused words like their, there, and they’re.

Other commonly confused words are:

to, too, two
here, hear
affect, effect
where, were, we’re
weather, whether
set, sit
it’s, its
your, you’re

There is an exhaustive list of commonly confused words here. If you don’t want your readers to cringe, don’t misuse these words. Check out the list and bookmark it or print it out. Proofreading is not scanning. It is slow and deliberate. Don’t cut corners here and waste the effort you’ve made to write something clear, powerful and concise.

If you’ve applied the steps I’ve outlined, you have written something you can be proud of. The next time it will be easier and you’ll find that you will catch yourself being wordy, imprecise or passive. Pat yourself on the back. You’ve taken a big step toward being a better writer.

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