After I finished the first draft of The City Forsaken, I made two major editing passes prior to handing the text over to my beta readers. The first was a developmental edit to fix all the plot holes and inconsistencies (Asa has a knife on the first page and now it's a shotgun!). After that was sorted, I did a line editing pass - adjusting grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and voice.
I'll be straightforward - line editing is tedious. It can feel like a complete mental shift. You've spent months (or years) with your creative hat on, imagining and planning and molding your lump of clay into a beautiful piece of art. Then, just as you finish, a deranged hobo named Mr. Reality steals your creative hat and runs away cackling. Desperate, you root through your closet for another creative hat to cover the growing bald spot atop your head - but alas - the only hat left is your editor hat. Time to (wo)man up.
I've amassed a universal line editing checklist to try and ease the experience for myself. There are likely things I've omitted which are important to your personal editing process, and also things I've included which are not relevant to you at all. Think of this as more of a skeleton structure, from which you can craft your own personal list. I've made this simple, guys - even my Pomeranian managed her way through these with her peanut-sized brain. If only I had a keyboard her little paws could operate, I wouldn't need to edit my own work anymore!
Dog-Simple Line Edit Rules
Reduce usage of "look" and "turn" Time to start with an easy one. You may not have thought much about "look" and "turn" - two seemingly inert words - but their use should be restricted as much as possible.Not-So-Good:
Fox turned to look at her. "I don't know what we can do."Good:
"I don't know what we can do."Just because you can describe each and every movement of the characters doesn't mean you should. In most cases, "look" and "turn" serve no purpose except to increase word count. Does the above excerpt need either word? Your reader assumes the characters are looking at one another if they're talking in the first place. You should only be describing reactions and movements if they're anything beyond what a reader would already be expecting.
Reduce usage of "that" This is one that I struggle with regularly. Dammit! I did it again. Truth of the matter is, "that" tends to be used a lot more than is necessary. It falls under the "reduce" category, however, because there are times when it is unavoidable. If you can remove it from a sentence and it still makes sense, do it! We want to keep our sentences as lean and mean as possible.
Reduce usage of adverbs Adverbs (words that end in -ly) should also be used in a sparse manner. Some will argue they should be avoided altogether, but I would contest that they're fine in moderation. My rule of thumb is this - if you can find a better non-adverb to use in a given situation, then do so.
Not-So-Good:
He walked angrily across the street to the ice cream truck.Good:
He stormed across the street to the ice cream truck.Reduce usage of "to-be" verbs I want you to try a little exercise. Make sure you're sitting down and have a box of tissues handy, because this may startle you. Open your latest story or chapter and do a good old ctrl+F. Search for "was" and "were". Yeah. I treat "to-be" verbs the same way as I treat "that". If you can re-orient the sentence to retain the same meaning without them, then by all means, do so.
Not-So-Good:
Her laughter was loud, and her neighbors were stirred awake.Good:
Her loud laughter stirred her neighbors awake.Remove "sudden" and "suddenly" Just no. Please don't use either of these. Any sentence you read in a story is "sudden" at the time you read it, rendering both of these words useless.
Remove uncertain modifiers The one exception to this is in dialogue; colloquially, most people speak using a lot of modifiers. Outside of dialogue, they should be all but vanished. Look out for maybe, almost, nearly, would, could, etc. All they do is make you sound ambiguous and unsure of yourself.
Check for tense consistency Is your story in the present tense? Past tense? Future tense? Whatever it is, make sure it stays that way! It's absolutely acceptable to have different scenes or chapters in different verb tenses (i.e. flashbacks), but from sentence to sentence, it should stay consistent.
Not-So-Good:
He climbs the ladder and crosses the catwalk. He gazed out over the factory.Good:
He climbed the ladder and crossed the catwalk. He gazed out over the factory.Check for repetition Picking up on word repetition is easy if you read your work aloud. I'd also recommend revisiting our old friend ctrl+F to root out any problem words you tend to gravitate toward. Repetition is a good thing when used properly. It can emphasize certain passages and create a poetic rhythm. It should only be brought out for special occasions though, like those leather pants you used to wear in college and you still keep in the back of the closet twenty years later. Just wait until your old buddies fly back into town for the reunion. They'll understand.
Fix passive voice Repeat after me: the object should always perform the action. Simple. Easy to fix. Not-So-Good:
Howard was startled by the giant tentacle-faced monster.Good:
The giant tentacle-faced monster startled Howard.What's prompting the startling? The monster. Who's receiving the action? Howard. I told you it was easy. Notice the switcheroo also aided us to remove a "was"? Bonus point!
Avoid clichés Identifying clichés is a skill that comes with experience and a lot of reading. Simply put - if a phrase sounds cheesy, you shouldn't be using it. Does your protagonist see the writing on the wall and save the day in the nick of time? Does your antagonist say world domination is like taking candy from a baby? Thematic clichés can be just as bad as these idiomatic ones too, but this is a line editing article. Dealing with plot is a job for another day.
Too Much. It's Just Too Much!
Here we are in condensed form:- Reduce usage of "look" and "turn"
- Reduce usage of "that"
- Reduce usage of adverbs
- Reduce usage of "to-be" verbs
- Remove "sudden" and "suddenly"
- Remove uncertain modifiers
- Check for tense consistency
- Check for repetition
- Fix passive voice
- Avoid clichés
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