Writers rarely spit out their best copy on the first draft. (If you meet a writer who claims to have the secret for doing so, please let the rest of us know.) First drafts — and second drafts and sometimes thirds — exist to hash your ideas out on paper. After you’ve revised your book, story, blog post or article until you can revise no more, you just hand it off to your editor to clean up, right?
Well, that’d be ideal. But most of us don’t have the luxury of hiring an expensive editor to review our personal blog post. And since procrastination is the writer’s best friend, you probably don’t have time to even ask a fellow writer pal take a quick peek for errors.
And so, it falls to you to be your own editor. Is it really possible edit your own work when all the words you just finished writing are so precious? Yes! It can be done — and for the sake of making your writing stand out, it must be done. Grab your red pen, pull up your most recently saved draft, and get to work with these 25 tips to tighten your own copy.
I’m not talking about run-on sentences. Many long sentences are grammatically correct. But long sentences often contain several ideas, so they can easily lose the reader’s focus because they don’t provide a break, leading readers to get stuck or lose interest, and perhaps the reader might get bored and go watch TV instead.
Adverbs weaken your copy because these excess words are not truly descriptive. Rather than saying the girl runs quickly, say she sprints. Instead of describing the cat as walking slowly, say he creeps or tiptoes. The screen door didn’t shut noisily, it banged shut.
And if you must switch, start with one and finish with the other. Don’t move back and forth between the two. Your readers will get lost.
A powerful hyphen here and a thought-provoking semicolon there can be effective. But a piece of writing littered with all sorts of punctuation — parentheses, colons, ellipses, etc. — doesn’t flow well.
Oftentimes, you can eliminate these extra pieces of punctuation with commas or by ending a sentence and starting a new one — and that makes your writing that much stronger.
Instead of saying what something isn’t, say what it is. “You don’t want to make these mistakes in your writing” could be better stated as “You want to avoid these mistakes in your writing.” It’s more straightforward.
If you find negative statements in your writing that contain don’t, shouldn’t, can’t or another such word, find a way to rewrite them without the “not.” That will probably mean you need to find a more powerful verb.
Some people think jargon makes their writing sound smart, but you know better. Good writing does not confuse readers. If they need to grab a dictionary to finish a sentence, your writing has room for improvement.
To get your point across, use words people are familiar with. The English language has thousands of words. You can certainly find a shorter or more common word in your thesaurus than a jargony one.
You don’t need to say the exact same thing with two words. Did you catch the redundant words in that sentence? Here’s a better version: you don’t need to say the same thing with two words.
Brand new, advance planning, basic necessities… the list of these common phrases is longer than this blog post. Check out About.com’s 200 Common Redundancies and then start snipping!
Sometimes sneaky redundancies are separated by an “and.” If you say your sentences are straightforward and to-the-point, they are neither. You don’t need both words. Your sentences are straightforward. Or, your sentences are to-the-point.
Though prepositions (of, in, to, for, etc.) are helpful little words, they make sentences more lengthy because they cannot stand alone. Prepositions need lots of friends. By cutting the preposition and the words that follow, you can cut three, four or even five words. Sometimes a prepositional phrase can be replaced with just one more direct word, or cut completely.
You never need it. If you’re going to the kitchen in order to make a sandwich… Your sentence could be tighter. Because you’re really going to the kitchen to make a sandwich.
That “in order to” makes it take a millisecond longer to arrive at the meaty part of the sentence, which means your story is dragging more than it needs to.
Rather than making “start” the active verb, use the verb that’s actually more active — like walking or rolling — to tell your story.
Usually when we write “thing” or “things,” it’s because we were too lazy to think of a better word. In every day life, we may ask for “that thing over there,” but in your writing, calling anything a “thing” does not help your reader. Try to replace all “thing” or “things” with a more descriptive word.
This is a very difficult one to remember. I almost never get it right, until I go back through my copy, and the word jumps out at me, and then I change the sentence to “This is a difficult one to remember.” Because really, how much is that “very” helping you get your point across?
As this UNC handout explains, using the passive voice isn’t really wrong. But whenever you have the chances to make your writing clearer, you should — and avoiding the passive voice is one of those instances.
John is the guy who always forgets his shoes, not the guy that always forgets his shoes. It’s easy to make this mistake because that has become acceptable in everyday conversations. But it’s more noticeable when it’s written down.
For example, replace the sentence above with “Start your sentences in a more interesting way.” If your copy includes a lot of phrases that begin with “there is” or “there are,” put some time into rewriting most of them.
Too often, writers mix and match mistakes with what you should do or make transition to shoulds halfway through the post — which only confuses the reader.
Which sounds more personable: I am heading to the market that is close to my house, or I’m heading to the market that’s close to my house? Contractions make your writing sound friendlier, like you’re (not you are) a real person. And that makes it easier to connect with readers.
Contractions can also make your post easier to read and comprehend. So go out of your way to include them in your posts! Your editor will thank you.
“We were starting to …” or “She was skiing toward …” Whenever you see an ing in your copy, think twice about whether you need it — because you probably don’t.
Instead, get rid of were or was, then eliminate that ing and replace it with past tense: “We started to …” or “She skied toward …” Pruning excessive “ings” makes your writing clearer and easier to read.
When used as a descriptor, the word “which” takes a comma. But the word “that” doesn’t. For example: “We went to the house that collapsed yesterday” or “We went to the house, which collapsed yesterday.” Confused about when to use “that” vs. “which?” Grammar Girl offers a great explanation.
Over 200 people did not like your Facebook page — more than 200 people did. Of course, everyone will know what you mean if you use “over.” But using “more than” is one of those little details that will help your writing shine.
But you don’t need one if you’re working full time. Got it? The exception: No need to hyphenate modifiers that end in “ly.” Those are OK on their own. So your newly hired employee doesn’t need that hyphen.
No matter how good of a writer you are, when you sit down to write a first draft, you have a tendency to spit out sentences in a certain way or use certain words. The more familiar you become with editing your own copy, the more quickly you should be able to pick up on your tells. And, the more ruthless you can be to eliminate them from your writing.
Some of these tips originally ran on Copyblogger and AlexisGrant.com.
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These are great tips & reminders. I teach a writing class at the local college and will share these with my students.
Useful reminders. I started off reading the list feeling quite smug (I know that etc) then gradually became more and more downhearted as I realised how many ways there are slip up … And I’ve even used started off in this brief comment!
This post is bookmark-worthy! Thanks for the great tips, TWL!
Great advice!!! Not only will I use it, I will pass it on to my students.
Thank you for this informative post! It is an excellent tutorial to improve my writing by making it more concise and readable. You’ve offered great tips I will refer back to and study.
Thanks, Colleen! I’m glad we could help.
What a great post! I’m on the second draft of my book, and read heaps of books and articles on self-editing. This article had a few points I haven’t seen before. Thanks a billion.
1. Don’t use as well as when and will do. Or perhaps “simplify” would be a better tip.
2. Don’t be afraid to end your sentences in prepositions. The original “rule” is for Latin, not English. And the “[preposition] which” construction is wrong at least half the time, if not more.
3. Use indefinite adjectives with caution. Words like some or any can generally be dropped.
4. Read out loud. Our brain processes language differently when we read out loud, and this is an excellent way to spot mistakes we might otherwise miss.
Redundancies are often the sign of an insecure, unsure, or verbose writer; it’s an over-compensation. If you have a phrase that makes you say, “Well, duh,” you’ve got redundancy. e.g. “I thought in my head.” Where else are your thoughts?
The UNC passive voice link leads to a 404 page. As a passive voice champion (it’s overused, yes, but more because we don’t understand it, not because it’s wrong), I recommend this passive voice infographic for a quick and easy look at what it is and does.
So I can end my sentences in prepositions? I fell I have been set free! Oh my! I had no idea.
I’ve never read an article on editing I found useful. My writing’s quite bad and I publish every blog post at first draft. This article and the resource URLs has increased my confidence level. I’m certain to improve my writing skills. Thanks for sharing these valuable tips with your readers.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Eddie!
This is really interesting. I enjoy learning new grammar rules and learning more concrete ways to engage in writing in order to make it better and stronger. And I’ve heard of the “don’t use too many adverbs” rule in the past. They’re everywhere!! haha.
Thanks for these tips! I have been revising and editing my book for a few days now, and reading this post has given me a better way to target my editing efforts. It’s easy for me to edit other people’s work, but I have always struggled with editing my own (mainly because I procrastinated and didn’t leave time to edit while in school). My struggles are with “really,” “the fact of the matter is,” “so,” using “that” when it’s not necessary, and changing voice. I will be returning to this post again before I’m ready to publish!
I’m glad it helped, Erica! I agree, it’s always harder to edit your own work. Good luck with your revisions!
Bookmark-worthy!!! I hardly thought this topic could make me laugh, but you managed it! Nice work!
I’m glad we could make you laugh, and that we’ve made your bookmarks list!
Sometimes a prepositional phrases can be replaced with just one more direct word, or cut completely.
Otherwise, this was a good post-well written and practical. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for catching that, Alice!
Superb! I’ve bookmarked this page. You can be sure I’ll read it 25 times every day.
I’m glad you like the article and that it has made your bookmarks! Thanks, Diya!