3.9 Editing Summary

Nothing too much to say here. I just find the list from the course notes very useful and want to keep a note of it. 

After you have written a first draft, interrogate your writing using this editing checklist. Remember that the aim in editing is in many ways the aim in writing: clarity of expression.

• Is it what you meant to say, really?
• Have you found the best way to convey it?
• Would a particular event really have happened that way?
• Would a particular character definitely use that expression or turn of phrase?
• Does an idea or scene really belong where you’ve put it, or would the piece be better if that element was cut? Could it be used elsewhere, or on another occasion?
• What’s missing from your story? Details or background information?
• Is there enough to engage your reader?
• Do events occur in the best order and are significant events given enough weight, or are they lost beneath less important things? If so, is that what you intended?
• Does it read too slow, or too fast?
• Overall, does the writing convey the right tone – does it create the mood you hoped for?

Coming up we have some more serious reviews to give to other people on the course - I think this will be useful there too.

Happy Writing :-)