IT CAN BE MURDER
by Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz
Someone once asked Lillian Hellman what was hardest about writing: “Killing your little darlings,” she said.
For a playwright, "the little darling" can be a favorite character or a hard-fought scene or bit of sparkling dialog–anything that doesn't contribute to the dominant theme. A similar challenge faces every writer, whether we work in the realm of reportage, marketing or employee communication. The need is constant to sharpen our own copy … make sure every part of it supports our point…and eliminate the wordy and extraneous that pushes our material past the word count or audience tolerance.
But how can we actually go about this improvement process? We covered some of the basics of self-editing in our last column, and this time we'd like to provide some more essentials and also give you some practical self-editing ideas we gleaned from writers with different specializations.
So first, a few more basics:
Word Choice
Do your words sing? Do they sit there on the page and snooze? Do they inspire? Are they precise? Do they correctly convey your meaning? Use a fine-tooth comb (as well as a dictionary, thesaurus, style guide and usage manual) when revising your work. That means looking at every significant word and asking yourself, “Is this the best word for the job here?” It also means looking at your connecting words, such as “with,” “along,” “however,” “but,” “that” and others and asking yourself, “Do they convey the exact meaning that I want to get across? What if I change “along” to “with”? How would that change the meaning of this sentence?
Use of Quotations/Interviews
If possible, check with the speaker when you’re editing to be sure you’ve quoted him or her correctly. And that brings up the question of whether you should clean up the source’s grammar, if it’s not exactly the King’s English. The jury is out on that one, and it's actually a very sensitive area in journalism these days. Safe to say: If the speaker is using colloquial language and you’re using the quote in an informal context, such as an employee newsletter, it will probably add “color” if you leave it as the speaker said it. On the other hand, for more formal writing, an annual report, say, or an investor newsletter, clean it up; the speaker will thank you!
Fact-checking
Don't depend on an assignment editor, if you have one, to check your facts. You are considered responsible. Are names correctly spelled, and consistent throughout the piece? Are people's s titles correct? If someone is identified as working in Sao Paolo, Brazil, is the city spelled correctly? Is the city actually in that country? Are you sure of your statistics and their source–are more recent ones available? Be especially careful of statistics gleaned from Internet sites; they may well be out of date, and there may be no date shown on the page. If calculations have been made, are they correct? Are attributions clear and accurate? If you need to do research or follow-up calls to find out … do it.
Grammatical Consistency
Whether or not your work will go through an editor for the copy-editing process, you’ll have to check it for correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. If you’re uncertain, consult a usage manual for grammar and one of the popular style guides for punctuation. It goes without saying that your company should require everyone working there to use the same dictionary and style manual. If you’re an independent, check with your clients as to which style guide and dictionary they want you to use. If your clients don’t have a preference, suggest a style guide and create a style sheet with any specific terms those clients use.
How can the grammatically challenged, which means most of us at some points, try to self-improve? A tip from Daria Steigman: Get the AP Guide to Newswriting, quite separate from the better-known AP Guide to Style. It's written for journalists and is helpful to all writers who want grounding in how to say things better.
Get a Steady
One final thought that reinforces our advice in the previous column about getting a writing buddy: Just about everyone we asked about their self-editing strategy said they have a "steady" personal editor, or even a small group, they regularly call on for general reaction and editing advice.
Some are lucky enough to have a companion born to it, like a fellow writer. Others of us find that partners can be trained. And yet others develop mutual help societies with fellow professionals. So choose your style of aid-seeking, but don't try to always go it alone. You might kill the wrong little darlings
More Ways of Looking at Self-Editing
When we asked colleagues how they edit their own work, "Let it sit" was just about everyone's first recommendation: a few hours, a few days, depending on your deadlines.
Then look at it with fresh eyes — for what?
In addition to identifying all the "sloppy language and construction," Business Writer Leila Zogby says she pays particular attention to adjectives. Referencing Mark Twain's dictum — "If you catch an adjective, kill it" — Zogby says: "If they do not elucidate or serve a specific purpose, I eliminate them. Not all clients appreciate this approach, having been brought up to think that if a product isn't state of the art or synergistic it won't sell. But, we can only try."
Adina Genn, a journalist who specializes in writing for business publications, says, "I try to reread each sentence to make sure that each word succinctly supports the next. And I move phrases around so that they don't interfere with the action in a sentence. Get rid of all phrases like “needs to be,” “decided to try,” etc. — unless you need to beef up the word count.
"And try to think like an editor so that you eliminate the chance that he or she will call you with a question. "
Loretta Schorr of Schorr Services reviews her marketing communication projects to be sure she’s used strong action verbs, avoided repetitious words and phrases, varied the sentence length and found typos that the computer has missed (e.g., "you" and "your"). "I also read copy out loud. If it flows smoothly, is easy to pronounce and has a good rhythm, I know it will read well and be inviting." Schorr also uses the editing process to make sure the content is right: "that I've spotlighted benefits and included a strong call to action."
And Daria Steigman, of Steigman Communications, advises "Most important, print it out! Too many people have a tendency to read on screen and you can't do it — it looks different."
She finds clients are actually excited at the lack of bureaucratic jargon in her material, so "look for jargon, ask if it makes sense or needs to be put into English." In general, distance yourself from the material and make sure it will make sense to someone else.
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