Self-Editing Practices: 6 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing
Editing writing requires different skills than telling a story, which makes it hard for many writers to do their self-editing. If you can’t hire an editor, you’ll want to work on your own editing skills to make your writing more readable and improve its overall quality.
A good piece of writing does not just happen the first time you start writing. Here are some editing tips from book marketing services to improve your writing. Whether you want to save money or do the editing yourself, these tips can help.
Print it and Read Aloud.
It’s easier to find spelling mistakes, sentence fragments, and run-ons when you read your words on paper than when you try to find them on a bright computer screen. You can even change the formatting of the text if that helps you look at it in a new way.
Use a red pen (or any other bright colour) to keep track of changes and edits as you go. You can also hear how your writing sounds, which can help you look for lines that don’t sound right, like long sentences that don’t make sense, overuse of certain phrases, and unnecessary words. They may not realize that their sentence structure is bad or that their main point isn’t clear until they hear it read out loud.
Change your space and writing style.
Walking away from your writing project for a period of time and then returning to it with fresh eyes can assist you in getting a fresh perspective on your work by separating you from it on an emotional level. This can assist you in seeing things in a different light. Allow yourself some space to remain objective.
When you return to your own writing, you may notice that it has changed significantly. When the subject of a sentence takes action, this is known as active voice writing. It is demonstrated by using a verb, which is the part of speech that brings sentences to a close. Although passive voice is not strictly prohibited in writing, keeping your tone lively and upbeat is generally preferable. This encourages your readers to continue reading.
Get familiar with writing and editing styles.
A good editor will go over a piece of writing from beginning to end, and you should do the same for your own writing. To identify errors in your own work, you’ll need to examine the words you’ve written with great care.
This task is likely to take some time and will be extremely challenging. Professional editors may already possess a wide range of editing abilities. But it is possible to learn what they do not already know from books or other educational resources. Make certain that you know which writing style guide you must follow.
If you’re copywriting, you might need the AP style guide, but you’ll need the Chicago Manual if you write fiction. Take note of the rules that have been set out and add them to your editing list: Are all of the commas where they should be for this piece of writing? Is the text in italics or quotation marks? You can improve your editing skills and become a better author if you know what to look for in your writing.
Embrace re-reading and Avoid Clich?s.
If you put your own spin on clich?s or use them in a way that doesn’t seem like it has been done before, clich?s can be interesting to read and listen to. It’s almost always necessary to read your work several times to catch all of your:
- Weak sentences
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Spelling mistakes.
You must pay attention to how you write.
Writing and speaking should be done with the utmost care. The use of powerful verbs and powerful adjectives can completely alter the mood or feeling of a piece. And the use of weak verbs and weak adjectives will only exacerbate the situation further. When using a thesaurus, exercise caution. Make certain that your writing is strong and clear before you use it, and use it with caution after you have done so. You should avoid using a word if you aren’t sure how to use it properly. You are under no obligation to do so.
Keep proofreading until the end, so you don’t forget about it.
For copy-editing or writing your memoir’s first draft, proofreading should be your final step in editing your work on your own. The first thing you should do when you start editing your own work is to look for mistakes that you have made. The more you go through your piece, the more you’ll have to change sentences and paragraphs. So looking for grammar mistakes or doing a spell check before you write your final draft will take up more of your time.
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