EDITING - What do you look for?

In the past I've written articles on CRITUQUE GROUPS, SHOWING vs TELLING, ACTIVE & PASSIVE VOICE.

Where some of the writers involved with this competition are nearing the end of their first chapters, I though it only fitting to do an article on editing, and what a writer should be looking for.

Editing serves as a cure for a multitude of sins, as far as a writer is concerned. When a writer does a edit, he is looking to smooth out all the rough edges.  What do I mean?

1) Getting rid of excessive adverbs.

           This was a big one for me when I first started writing.  I wrote the way I talked and, back then, I talked using adverbs, the (LY) words that kill or mortally wound any writing endeavor.

2) Getting rid of (INFO DUMPS).

           So now you're wondering what an info dump is.  It's when you're narrating the story and telling too much to get your poiunt across.  Information dumps (info dumps) bore readers to death. You need to tell only what's necessary to move the story forward.

3) Looking for all the places you can safely make contractions.

          What's a contraction?  Was not (wasn't) - Has not (hasn't) - Has been (was) are a few examples.

         Take a look at these two almost identical statements below:

Without Contractions        

 If it had not been for the tornado heading directly for them, he would not have taken his family into the shelter where they would be safe. 

With Contractions

If it hadn't been for the tornado heading directly for them, he wouldn't have taken his family into the shelter where they'd be safe.

         Both sentences say the same thing.  Using contractions says it smoother.

4) Checking all quotation marks.

         Quotation marks are specifically used for dialogue.  He said, "quote, unquote".  Any other usage of quotation marks is improper and will hurt in any writing piece.  This is a competition, so you want your work as good as it can possibly be. You want to also be sure every bit of dialogue has quotation marks before and after the quote.

5) Checking for comma usage.

         This is my nemesis.  I always have, or seem to have, them in the wrong places.  Read your work over aloud.  If there's a break in a sentence, chances are a comma is needed.  If you've got a comma where it doesn't belong, the sentence will sound funky.  If you have a comma missing it will sound like a run-on sentence.

6) Check for missing periods.

         About now you're sitting there, reading this, and you might be saying "Yeah right!" You'd be surprised how many people miss a simple thing like a period at the end of some sentences.  I just went back over this article and yes I found one place where I forgot.  Don't look for it, I fixed it.  A simple period at the end of a sentence, how trivial.  Look at it from an editor's standpoint.  This author submitted work to be published and he/she can't even make sure every sentence has a period.  Now you multiply that against the number of manuscripts he/she looks at in a day, and you can imagine why editors get so frustrated.

7) Smooth flow of the story.

          This is a hard one to describe, but it's necessary.  Every story is different, but the context is simple.  Your story starts at point A and ends at point E.  It's not like a story has a roadmap you can follow, so the only roadmap your reader has is what you portray.  If you're going from Boston, Massachusetts to California, and you want the shortest most direct route to get there, then you don't go by way of Florida.  That may be a bit exaggerated, but it's true.  Read your story over again.  Does it flow smoothly?  If the answer is no, then you need to make changes.

         I'm sure there are others, but the ones I've stated are the ones that are needed for success.  Make sure you have someone else read it, or review it, before submitting it and make sure that person is unbiased.  There's nothing worse, for writers, than to hear, "Hey that was a great read" and you find out it's loaded with errors.  Friends and relatives will almost always give you a good report of your efforts, but if they aren't telling you the truth than it's all in vain.

         I hope I've given you an insight into what it takes to edit your work.  No it's not easy; it never is, but it's necessary if you want your hard work published in a market that's inundated with new and fresh talent on a daily basis.