Archived Editorial for 01/01/06

What is Editing?
by Rebecca Brown

This list came over the transom, & tickled my funny bone so much that I suddenly remembered a ditty I'd learnt by heart, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper:

A centipede was happy quite
until a toad in fun
said “Pray which leg goes after which?”
Which worked his mind to such a pitch
he lay distracted in a ditch
considering how to run.

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects. To be or not be grammatical is the bane of all writers.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. As Sir Winston Churchill riposted “[this] ...is nonsense up with which I will not put.” & is, by the way, NOT a rule, just a literary myth.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. But... but... why ever not? Ditto #2
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive. The English-speaking world is filled with folks who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague -- They're old hat. A pox upon you smart alec, who I don't know from Adam, for giving me a hard time.
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration. Petty people pose puny problems.
7. Be more or less specific. Many writers often make reference to several things in their various scenes.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary. Aside from that (if such an aside is needed) they are usually beside the point.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies. Absolutely, positively right!
10. No sentence fragments. Say what?
11. Contractions aren't necessary & shouldn't be used. Don't you just love it when regular folks talk like Victorian professors?
12. Foreign words & phrases are not apropos. Deja-vu all over again & cafes, kiosks, divans, etc.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous. Wouldn't dream of it, consider it for a moment nor bother.
14. One should NEVER generalize. Doesn't everyone?
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches. & cliches are as bad aphorisms.
16. Don't use no double negatives. Seems I don't know nothing about this stuff.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. & what prof. said that?
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate. Brevity, thy name is Editor.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake. Now that's a curious image!
20. The passive voice is to be ignored. As is the over-emoting active one.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas. ZZZZZ... come into my coma!
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice. Great isn't nearly as exciting as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! However, $10 words are likely to have your Readers rolling hysterically in their armchairs.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!! Gosh darn. Holy Moly.
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them. Whether or not you apprehend the importation or not.
25.Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas. A Category 5 hurricane wreaks no havoc?
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed. Possessions not normally something thats got any action.
27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.” I've got nothing to say about this.
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly. & no one believes a braggart anyway.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers. Arguing with a child is pun enough.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms. Or I'll shake a stick at you!
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. What a train of thought!
32. Who needs rhetorical questions? Anyone who doesn't want feedback.
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. & understatement is twice as sad as having no imagination at all?
Author Unknown

After you've typed The End:
In the process of writing a book–length manuscript (ms) conscientious writers will go through a number of rewrites until they've proofread their “final draft.” At this time you might think all your hard work is over, wrong! There's still much more to do.

There's continuity to catch.
Punctuation to change.
Repetitions to delete.
Grammar to correct.
Emphasis to rearrange.
Wrong words to discover.
Names to check.
Transitions to bridge.
Extra words to prune.
Momentum to master.

What is editing?
Writing & editing are two distinctly different writing processes using different parts of the brain. Editing is the bridge a text must cross before it can graduate into a ready for prime time document, & entails a far more extensive process than most writers realize. In book publishing, to improve the content & tone of mss, four major editors are involved for:
acquisition - whether the story is worth developing
content - working the story line
production - how the ms gets published &
line by line copy - polishing the text to perfection.
Authors going the POD route will do well to engage the services of content &/or copy editors. In the freelance world, these two aspects are often rolled into one person. Remember, spellcheckers don't know the difference in context between “their” & “there.”

Content Editor
Also called developmental editing. This editor works extensively with the author to ensure clear development & expression of the whole. This editor is the only person authors work closely with to substantively improve their work, & is their creative collaborator & partner, working to write, develop, & prepare the ms before handing it off to the production & copy editors, or their POD.

No one, even a seasoned author, should publish without getting edited. At a minimum, have a professional copy editor go through your ms (not your draft). This is imperative if you are self–publishing.

Proofreading is NOT copy editing, & seldom brings the best out of your words.

Copy Editing
When your DRAFT has been re–written (at least twice) it is now called a MANUSCRIPT (ms), & is ready for a copy editor who goes through it line by line to check for:
1. proper word usage, consistent style & tone.
2. correct grammar, spelling, punctuation & cross–references.
3. repetitions.
4. paring long descriptions.
5. where the passive voice needs to be changed to active.
6. where sentence & paragraph transitions need to be smoothed out to improve readability.

A copy editor is your last line of defense against unkempt, ineffective & verbose (in other words = sloppy) writing.

What's your forte? = gift, talent, specialty, strength, bent, métier.
If descriptive narrative is your strong suit & dialogue your downfall, I always recommend writers take a course, at a community college or online, to learn:
1. how to make the most of your descriptive passages or narration.
2. how to write dialogue & what its purpose really is.
Plus join a writers' group to see how your writing affects others.

When in doubt about anything you've written ask: how does this move the story along?

An acme in self-editing
Once upon a time several well-known contemporaneous authors were challenged to write a story in six (6) words:
Norman Mailer: “Satan – Jehovah – fifteen rounds. A draw.”
John Updike: “Forgive me!’ ‘What for?’ ‘Never mind.”
Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”

“If I weren't a novelist, the thing I would most like to do is build dioramas. I was one of those kids who built little worlds in shoeboxes. That's basically what novel writing is. You get to build every tree, every person, put them all in place, & decide when the sun comes up & goes down. That I can make a living at that is astonishing.” Ann Patchett, Author of Bel Canto & Truth & Beauty: A Friendship, & more.

Rebecca