On Editing
12 sentences that will change how you think about editing.
10X Writer #89
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Editing isn’t the stage after writing. It’s where the writing actually happens.
Most first drafts aren’t bad. They’re just honest. Editing is where you get selective.
The hardest edit isn’t fixing bad sentences. It’s cutting good ones that don’t belong.
If you’re attached to a line, that’s the first one to question.
Read it as a stranger would. Not like someone who knows what they meant to say.
Every word that doesn’t add pulls something away from the words that do.
Editing for clarity is easy. Editing for impact takes courage.
The best edit often isn’t a rewrite. It’s a deletion.
When a paragraph feels weak, the problem is usually the first sentence of that paragraph.
Read it aloud. Your ear catches what your eye forgives.
Most pieces are 20% too long. That 20% is quietly killing the other 80%.
You’re done editing, not when there’s nothing left to add, but when there’s nothing left to cut.