To Err Is Human; To Edit, Divine

How to edit your story to become a better writer

What I write is amazing and doesn’t need any editing. Editing kills my authenticity.

I used to think that editing kills the authenticity of any writing. So, for many years I did exactly this — I finish an article, read a few times, and being so overwhelmed with my write-up, I hit the publish button.

But after a few days, or a couple of months when I looked back to that article, surprisingly, I used to tell myself, ‘Why did I publish this crap? This is terrible’.

This realization comes to every writer at some points in his writing life. And it’s a groundbreaking realization. Mark my words, when you start to question your writing, you take the first step towards being a better writer.

You become open to sharpening your skills, believing that your writings need to be mature.

Remember, there is no nobility to publish anything without a proper edit. The better writers never rush. They take time to polish up what they write.

On Editing

I have taken a few editing courses since my editing-epiphany happened during my university-days. I was then a grad student of English Language & Literature. But I left my overconfidence aside and started to criticize my works.

No doubt, it is hard to put knives on your own words. But in my case, it has been working so well as I am improving day by day. I believe editing can help you too. It can be the ultimate tool in your pocket to better your writings.

Very recently, I took a course on editing on LinkedIn Learning titled ‘Editing Mastery: How to Edit Writing to Perfection.’

The instructor, Shani Raja, is a former Senior Editor of the Wall Street Journal, who teaches top journalists how to improve their writings. He worked for organizations like The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Financial Times, and Bloomberg News.

I found this 4h 41m-course extremely interesting and practical. Shani selected an unpolished, rough text and showed how to turn it into a polished, brilliant piece of writing step by step.

I highly recommend this course to you. But if you don’t have much time, you can just read the following to understand what to do with your first shitty-draft and become a better writer.

Here I am describing everything I learned from that course. If you follow this, you can make the best out of what you write.

The Content Edit

It’s the first step to take — edit your content. First, choose your purpose. Ask yourself why you’ve written this piece? What will your content try to do?

Is it to inform your reader? Is it to exhibit your stance or share your thoughts? Is it entertaining or persuasive?

Defining your purpose is the most crucial step because all the following edits will depend on this. Your purpose will define your editing. It will help you keep focused.

Now, break up the article into sentences and see whether every sentence is relevant or not. Make sure that every sentence is making sense, and it is worthwhile and unique.

If found otherwise, delete without hesitation. Get rid of all repetitions and rambling sentences. Then check all the facts in your article.

After verifying the facts, add any missing information that can make the article more unique.

Workflow

choose your purpose — check individual points — make sure it’s relevant, worthwhile, unique, and makes sense — delete irrelevant points, repetitions, and rambling — verify the facts — add missing links.

The Structure Edit

In this phase, Shani suggests you find out your angle. It’s your main focusing point. Think from the reader’s perspective and try to understand what they will get from your article.

What exactly are you offering? What are you focusing on?

For example, consider this article you are reading. Can you identify the angle? Yes, you’re right — it is how to improve your writings through editing.

If I chose a different angle, for example — informing readers about various editing techniques — the article would become a different one.

So, this is the first thing after the content edit. Find out your angle. After that, identify the key-sections of your article and categorize them. Categorizing means putting the most relevant information together. It organizes your article.

Organize your key-points in a way that flows well and makes proper sense. It will set a good narrative structure for your article.

For example, in this article, you can see the categories; introduction, personal experience with editing, the content edit, the structure edit, the style edit, the presentation edit, and finally, the conclusion.

See, I am putting relevant information in proper order in each section without any mix-up.

Workflow

choose an angle —identify the key sections — create categories — build a narrative—order your points precisely.

The Style Edit

When you are done with the content and the structure edit, you are ready to take your article to the next level.

Read aloud what you have written. Does it read well?

In this phase, you should be careful about the words, sentence structure, tone, etc. If you find any intricate, boring sentences, delete it or replace it with a simpler and smoother one.

Make sure that all your paragraphs are in good shape. Arrange them systematically so that it flows well. Tidy up the references, quotes, or else you used in the article.

Think about your starting paragraph one more time. Try to make it more engaging and evocative.

Finally, read it all over again. Make sure everything is well organized.

Workflow

read aloud — remove clutter — tidy up paragraphs and references—make your introduction evocative.

The Presentation Edit

In this phase, you give the final touch to make your writing look better. Polish up your article like an experienced carpenter.

Check your spelling, grammatical issues, punctuations, and other basics. Take care of your title/headline and sub-headings. Make them more precise and captivating.

Read it aloud again and see if there is any inconsistency. This is the final step before you hit the publish button.

Workflow

check the basics(spelling, grammar, etc.) — trim your title, sub-headings — fix inconsistency — read aloud.

Final Thoughts

Never think that one day — out of magic or miracle — you would become a better writer, and everybody would appreciate your works. It doesn’t happen.

Write and then edit your writings over and over again. Put the readers’ shoes on and make your article better than ever.

Trust me, you will become a better writer with every edit. Just do it.

Thank you for reading.

If you want to make your story more captivating and interesting with almost no effort, read the AIDA formula described in the following post.