Editing

Purpose

Make writing shorter and stronger without making it yours. Most editing is cutting; most weak prose is not badly constructed but merely padded.

When to Use

• Editing your own draft.
• Editing someone else's writing.
• Prose that is technically correct and somehow limp.
• Cutting a piece to a length.

Capabilities

• Structural editing: order, emphasis, what to cut entirely.
• Line editing: sentence-level force and clarity.
• Identifying the specific constructions that weaken prose.
• Preserving another author's voice.