Editing Hacks Every Writer Should Know
In essence, editing is all about refining and improving your probably scary first draft into a more perfected art. You might already know this as well as some editing tricks but here are some hidden gems that will take your writing from good to exceptional.
The 3-Second Rule: Today, readers are inundated with information and distractions, this rule forces you to capture their attention 3 seconds into each paragraph. Work on trimming introductory sentences that aren't hooking the reader immediately, this keeps your writing crisp, and irresistible.
Synonym Substitution: Challenge yourself to replace every instance of commonly used words and even pronouns with a synonym. Doing this doesn't just expand your vocabulary and enrich your writing, but it also allows you to choose the word that best fits the tone or context of your writing.
Sentence Rearrangement: Experimenting with rearranging the positions of important information and making sure that each one is receiving its deserved attention helps prevent monotony and enhance flow and clarity. Sometimes, a simple change in sequence can dramatically improve the impact of your writing.
Voice-to-Text Editing: It is widely advised to read your work aloud, but hearing your words spoken by another voice can be quite useful for revealing subtle errors that may have gone unnoticed during silent reading.
The Rule of Thirteen: The rule here is to keep each sentence to thirteen words or fewer. This guideline encourages writers to be concise and to the point.
Voice Consistency Check: One way to be sure of consistent character voice throughout the story is by reviewing each character's lines independently. You could organise each character’s dialogue into separate documents for a more targeted approach. Pay attention to their vocabulary choices, and dialect, and ensure that each character's voice stays authentic and unique to them.
The Five W's and One H: Take note of the W's (who, what, when, where and why) and one H (how) in each paragraph. Confirm that every paragraph of your work answers these fundamental questions, it works for providing readers with necessary information and context.
Although we've uncovered a plethora of editing hacks, each to its own advantage, we can't overlook the tried techniques like proofreading, cutting the fluff, reading aloud, and experimenting with sentence structure, each hack plays its role in the editing process. Most importantly, Sleep on your work and revisit it with a clear mind later.