10 Helpful Editing Tips
If you’re the token writer at your office, among your friends, or in your family, then you are probably asked on a regular basis to edit, review, or proofread written documents. Academic essays, business letters, and resumes will land on your desk with the word “HELP!” scrawled across the top.
Or, maybe you’re like me, a professional who offers editing services to writers and business people who want their text to be squeaky clean and irresistible to readers.
Most of us are happy to help. After all, it feels good to help people, especially when it involves doing something you love, like writing or editing. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. So, I thought I’d compile some of the most useful editing tips — the ones I use every day — and share them with you.
Editing Tips
1. Edit On-Screen and Track Changes
Many writers and editors swear by the printed page. But that’s a messy and inefficient way to edit. If you start editing on-screen, you’ll adjust to the new format and soon find it’s much easier than marking up print. Use Microsoft Word’s feature, Track Changes, which does just what you’d expect — it tracks all the changes you make as you edit. Then, you (or the writer for whom you’re editing) can go through and review every edit and accept or reject those changes individually or collectively.
2. If You’re Not Sure, Look it Up (and Know What You Don’t Know)
Your greatest wisdom as an editor is knowing what you don’t know. Having resources in your arsenal is one thing. Using them is something else entirely. Don’t be lazy! Remember that every time you look something up, you learn something new and expand your own writing skill set. Plus, the more you look things up, the less you’ll need to look them up in the future. Eventually, they become natural for you and part of your own writing process.
3. Keep a Grammar Manual and Style Guide Handy
When you’re not sure about grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, or context, you need to use your reference books, so make sure you have the right resources handy. Be vigilant, be correct, and use good judgment, keeping in mind that sometimes it’s best to bend the rules (but only if you know what the rules are and why you’re breaking them).
4. Run Spell Check and Grammar Check First
Before you do anything, run spell check and use your word processing software’s grammar checking tool (if it has one). Automated checkers don’t catch everything, but they can catch a lot and that means you’ll have more time and brain energy for manual editing. Also, use the find-and-replace feature (in Microsoft Word, this is found under Edit –> Find), which allows you to quickly find or replace a single error multiple times. For example, many people are still in the habit of using a double space after a period. I always do a find-and-replace to replace all those double spaces with the modern standard — single spaces after every period or terminal punctuation mark.
5. Read Slowly, Backwards, and Out Loud
The most crucial aspect of editing and proofreading is reviewing every single word and examining the written work at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels. Plus, you should be able to assess every document or manuscript in its entirety to check for readability, organization, and flow. This means you’ll have to go over each piece numerous times. To separate yourself from the content so you can better evaluate the writing, read slowly and read out loud. To check spelling, read backwards. You’ll catch a lot of minor mistakes and typos this way.
Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to check titles and subtitles!
6. Listen for Wording and Rhythm
Editing involves more than checking for grammar, spelling, and punctuation (that’s proofreading, folks). When you read the piece out loud, pay attention to the rhythm. Does it flow smoothly? Do the sentences alternate in length or are there a series of really short (or really long) sentences? Break up some of those longer sentences and join some of the smaller sentences together to give the writing better rhythm and more musicality.
7. Note Consistent, Repeated Errors
Do the writer a favor and make notes as you edit; specifically, note mistakes that are repeated consistently throughout the writing. Repeated mistakes are often a signal that the writer doesn’t know better and it’s likely whomever you’re editing for will appreciate it if you correct them.
8. Readability Comes First, Writer’s Voice is Second
The whole point of editing is to make a piece of writing more readable. That’s why it’s essential you review the piece to make sure it’s easy reading. Additionally, it’s your job as editor to retain the integrity of the writer’s voice (which is a writer’s own unique style). It can be tempting to start rewriting. Avoid that! If you shift from editing into rewriting, the writer’s voice could get lost and replaced with your own or some weird hybrid voice.
9. Pay Attention to Formatting
Formatting is actually separate from editing. This involves things like font size, face, and other formatting options, such as bold or italics. I sometimes offer formatting as an additional service for clients who need editing, but whether I’m on the clock for formatting or not, I always pay attention, so at the very least I can nudge the writer with a little feedback like “Check your formatting.” Chapter titles and subheadings, for example, should have the same font. Citations should be formatted the same (and preferably, adhering to a style guide). Just keep an eye out for inconsistencies in this area.
10. Review to Perfection
I like to follow a five-step process for editing:
- Read the entire text
- After running spell/grammar check, edit and proofread for blatant mistakes and awkward wording.
- Second review focusing on wording and readability.
- Third review focusing on proofreading (check for grammar, spelling, punctuation) — this is where I read out loud, slowly.
- Final review and polishing.
I repeat step five until I can’t find anything to improve.
That’s in an ideal world, of course. It would be difficult to review an entire novel countless times (not to mention really, really expensive), and let’s face it, no matter how many times you review a piece of writing, you’re always going to find something that you could make better. Use good judgment and keep going over the piece until you feel it’s as close to perfect as possible.
Good Luck with Your Editing!
If you have any editing tips of your own, please share by leaving a comment.
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I chuckled at the phrase “token writer”.
What? One space instead of two spaces after the period is the cool thing to do now? I am so yesterday. In fact, I am still doing that while typing out this comment.
.-= Kelvin Kao´s last blog ..Puppetry Classes =-.
It took me a couple of months to get used to typing one space instead of two spaces after each period. But it makes sense. I mean, you don’t need to set off sentences with a period, a capital letter, AND an extra space. Anyway, it takes some getting used to… but it can be done! Overcome the habit!
Ditto the “token writer” phrase.
This is really useful. I’ll be printing out and adding it to my notebook. Yes, I do like a few things in hard copy.
@Kevin – When I was switching from typewriter to word processing the explanation I was given about why only one space instead of two was not a trend thing but had to do with word processing having scalable fonts whereas on a typewriter that metal slug is what it is. But it still took almost 2 years to retrain my thumbs not to hit the spacebar twice.
.-= Deb´s last blog ..NaNoWriMo Week 3 Update =-.
Hi Deb! Hope NaNo’s going well. From the sound of your Facebook updates, you’re on track
I didn’t know the switch to one space had to do with scalable fonts, but that totally makes sense. Thanks for explaining.
This is very helpful in many ways. I think I’ve heard or read all these tips at one time or another, but I’ve never seen them all in one place, so succinctly.
This is one to keep and savor.
.-= Meredith´s last blog ..Must Read Post: Writing Advice From U2 =-.
I kind of mess up when it comes to editing. I don’t know the proper approach. Thanks for providing me with directions here.
My pleasure! There are a variety of editing strategies that you can apply. These are the ones that have worked for me or that I’ve heard work well for other writers and editors. Good luck editing!
Great point on reading backwards to catch typos.
I also like your point on wording and rhythm and optimizing for readability over writer voice. At the end of the day, if you have to work to hard to read a piece of prose, something is off.
.-= J.D. Meier´s last blog ..What 16 Movies Can Teach Us About Life and Leadership =-.
I’m a huge music lover, so for me, rhythm is one of the most important aspects of good writing. Musicality is the flow and fluidity of literature, and it can make a piece of writing positively magical.
Melissa – You mentioned the one space thing ages ago and I still haven’t managed to get into the way of doing it. But I have a 24 year habit to break.
I’m hopeless at editing my blog. If I type it in Word first, I get all those horrid characters in the html. Wish there was a way to spell check directly on your blog post.
Yep, it’s a tricky habit to adopt after typing two spaces for so many years. Don’t you use WordPress? Mine doesn’t have spell check exactly, but it puts a red underline beneath words that are spelled incorrectly. Still, I find the best way to edit and proof is to simply read over each post a couple of times before publishing. Sometimes I even go back and proofread posts that I’ve already published, and I do occasionally find typos that need fixing on posts that are already live!
Great post. However, I do think it’s important for writers who are looking to get published professionally hire an editor and/or proofreader to catch any mistakes or wordy passages.
I agree for the most part, but it depends on the writer and the publication they’re targeting. Some writers have outstanding grammar skills, and any mistakes will be caught by the publisher before it goes to print. I wouldn’t recommend a writer with excellent technical skill hire a proofreader before submitting a short story to a lit mag, for example. Usually lit mag editors will clean up any typos. But lots of writers are not focused on grammar so they never gain strength in that area, and that’s fine, but they should definitely think about hiring some help. Also, young and new writers can benefit immensely from working with an editor/proofreader and studying to improve their grammar skills.
Dear Melissa,
I know you’re only human.
Next time you are editing you may want to check paragraph two, third line down, at the top of this page.
Suzanne
Thank you Suzanne.
“As close to perfect as possible” is probably the best way to say it.
When one is satisfactorily content, then it is time to hit “publish”.
I’ve heard so many writers and artists say “It’s never really done…” I think many rely on intuition to “just know” when it’s time to share the work.