Editing Basics - Line Editing
When it comes to editing your book, there are many different terms out there: developmental editing, line editing, copy editing and proofreading. Deciphering each of these can be confusing.
In our last post we went over Developmental Editing. In this post we will break down the basics of what is known as Line Editing.
So, your manuscript has been developmentally edited and maybe even parts of it rewritten and rewritten again. This then leads us to line editing, or stylistic editing, which is more art than science. Line editing examines the building blocks of your story – sentence structure, paragraphs, pages and scenes – to make sure they work together. This makes your manuscript stronger.
The line editor basically works “line-by-line”. Individual words and sentences will be looked at to ensure they’re adding to your overall story. Paragraphs will be examined to ensure sentences flow together and to make sure they work together to build your scene. Everything that slows the story’s pacing, or is confusing or redundant, or doesn’t fit the story voice, may be cut.
Here are a few common line editing fixes.
• Improving flow and clarity by cutting unnecessary words, sentences and even paragraphs.
• Eliminating weak verbs
Weak: The girl ran quickly through the house.
Strong Fix: The girl raced through the house.
Use strong verbs when possible to strengthen writing and make it more concise.
• Removing redundancies to improve story flow.
Readers don’t need the same information several times and it risks slowing the reader down or taking them out of the story.
• Improving clarity and flow by restructuring sentences or paragraphs.
• Checking dialogue flow
If the dialogue starts rehashing information that the reader already knows, it might need to be cut or reworked.
You as a writer can improve your writing skills (and save your editor time and you a little money!) by doing a routine line editing on your work in progress. It will provide you with insights into your writing strengths and yes, weaknesses, and shows you the aspects of your writing you can improve.
