Tips From the Edit Gods
It’s 8:52 pm. I want to read, relax, and have a glass of wine. But I’m here editing a document for submission to a federal department.
The document isn’t awful. It was written by a well-educated consultant, a young woman who recently published a second book in her area of expertise. But this thing is just – leaden. It’s like slogging waist deep through a swamp of tepid porridge. Run on sentences. Turgid phrases recurring again and again and again. Commas proliferating like locusts.
It occurs to me in this, my hour of darkness, that the Bunker has an extremely literate readership.
So I am going to anoint you. You are all Edit Gods.
If we were compiling a list of simple tips for the thousands upon thousand lackluster writers churning out these mountains of workmanlike documentation every day, what SINGLE, EASY-TO-FOLLOW TIP would you given them to improve their writing? I realize that this is tantamount to professional suicide, since at this point they need people like me. But in a burst of generosity, let us share our wisdom.
Okay? Price of Admission to the thread: ONE great editorial tip. After that you may reminisce and chatter to your heart’s content – but sign in with ONE great tip.
I’ll start.
Simplify your piece by cutting until you can’t remove another word without changing the meaning.
Over to you…
Similar. Pull a word count, then try to reduce it by 30%. Your report will be much tighter, clearer, and more readable.
Finish writing the document. Put it away. Have a drink. Watch some tv. Go to sleep. Wake up. Have breakfast, pour some coffee. Read the document again. Don’t pass it on to your editor until you’ve gone through the entire thing at least twice without wincing.
kill your babies (hi suzanne!), which means that no matter how brillant the turn of phrase, no matter how stinging the line, it is of no use if it does not serve the story you are telling. it is amazing how often a writer will strangle an entire story to save a safe space for the favourite image, line or bit. this advice goes hand in hand with sarah’s editing is a ruthless game, the less ruths the better.
also, go without apostrophes sometimes. people find it most disconcerting.
See if the introduction and the conclusion say the same thing as the entire document. If they deliver the same message without the main body of the document (discussion) then write an executive summary as an attachment.
Write in plain language. Big words piss people off and lend themselves to misinterpretation.
Always use capital letters at the beginning of sentences.
Crank up your spellchecker to the highest level of sensitivity, and make your final act with any dcoument a last spellcheck.
Bah ! Form over substance? Spell checkers? Comma’s? Run on sentences? Bah says I, just plain Bah !
Say what ya gotta say, as best as ya can, in plain simple language.
– and if they start picking on yer grammer, or yer punctuation, or yer spelling, or the number of comma’s in yer sentences, or the number of sentences in yer paragraphs, mock them for nit-pickers .
Short, clear sentences employing Quiller-Couch’s dictum: use Anglo-Saxon-derived words in preference to Latinate ones wherever possible.
No words that end with an “ing” and no sentence longer than 15 words.
What Dr. Dawg said. Concrete over abstract, active over passive. Take the time to find precisely the right verb. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly, especially in professional writing where they are often used to generate artificial hype and end up just contributing to the snore factor. If you think we need a new comprehensive national land and resource management policy, say so, but please don’t tell us we need one “urgently”.
Peter, we could start a whole thread on fashionable “intensifiers” that add nothing to a sentence but length – parasitic adjectives that have appended themselves to nouns, sucking the life from a sentence.
“Key”, as in “key issue”, “key informant”. Shudder.
balb, you are absolutely right.
My dear fellow, the phrase “Balb, you are absolutely right” is simply axiomatic. No need to actually articulate a universally acknowledged truth.
I worked for a corporation for 31 years and every so often, on average every 3 to 4 years, they had a new management fad they foisted upon us poor slobs in the trenches. We came to dread the new ‘flavour of the month’ episodes and we expecially mocked whatever corporate catch phrase that was being bandied about by the latest consultants.
So avoid catch phrases. You can do a whole seperate thread on these catch phrases.
ie:
1. We must all get on the same page
2. The customer is always right. (yeah, right, my ass)
Canuckguy, it’s important to think outside the box – we all need to do more with less to achieve the kind of synergies that can only be realized through holistic, outcome based, vision-driven strategic networking.
[giggle]
Write like you talk.
Write like you talk
Dang! That ain’t been gettin’ me the sorta respect I been hopin’ fer.
JB
You hit it right on the nose,Balbul.
You must be experienced in management theories.
I do a global search for words I tend to abuse, my version of saying “um”.
I think I’ve finally stopped writing “wandered” and “glanced”. Thank god. Of course, those types of abuses will mainly happen in fiction.
For non-fiction, “Seems”, “Over time”, “kind of / sort of”, “There is/ There are/ There were”, “not very often”, seem to drag prose down. Most negatives (does not, is not, has not), can be re-jigged to be more active. I do global searches and pull them all out at once.
Getting a total count of my current “waffling dependency” is a bit like getting the weather; how is my mood about the subject matter? It’s also easier for me to edit all in one go, when I’m focused on the syntax, than edit one instance at a time, when I get wrapped up in the semantics.
Why, yes, I did learn everything I (believe I) know from Strunk and White!
Oh, oh! Here’s the S&W bit I like to have on hand.
the question as to whether — becomes —- whether (the question whether)
there is no doubt but that — becomes —- no doubt (doubtless)
used for fuel purposes — becomes —- used for fuel
he is a man who — becomes —- he
in a hasty manner — becomes —- hastily
this is a subject which — becomes —- this subject
His story is a strange one. — becomes —- His story is strange.
I’ll globally search for waffling “as to”, “but that”, “manner”, “which”, “one”, and find similar issues. I also make note of my own linguistic patterns as I’m editing — subject matter usually makes me more prone to one or the other sort.
Not that I ever edit anything I post to Teh Internet. So don’t hold me to it HERE.
balb, you have clearly identified the parameters of the challenge, but don’t forget that those synergies can only be fully actualized when the conflicting interests of competing stakeholders are addressed and reconciled through interest-based negotiations built on full and meaningful consultations supported by an adequate resource base.
In the normal course of events I’d agree, Peter, but a meta-analysis of life experiences within a representative sampling of the target respondents suggests, at least on a tentative basis, that a more linear, quantitative approach might yield positive outcomes, both expected and un-expected. But there’s a fundamental need to lock in a meaningful, consensual response to the basic issue – whose paradigm is driving this process?
LOL. I surrender, Sir.
“A myriad of…”
I don’t know when “myriad” showed up in the common media but it seemed, suddenly, to be everywhere and misused about 98% of the time. There’s nothing wrong with “many”.
Amazing double talk.
Dear God, what have I wrought?
BTW, kudos on the ‘click to edit’ function. Of the two dozen or so other sites I visit, only the Cowboy Junkies message board has it.
Damn, Stageleft, he’s penetrated our secret identities. Quick, pack up, everybody back to Holy Trinity!
And I always thought you lot were the ‘Axis of Evil’
Axes of Evil is what we PLAY. Mine is a Strat.
There are pundits and then there are punsters.