To demolish a chunk of your work takes courage. Nevertheless, it is imperative to becoming a better writer. Others criticising your work is rather like them telling you that your baby is ugly. So, you should make it so tight they should not be able to pass criticism, and only stand and marvel at the intricate moving parts ticking away, like a medieval clock.

The function of editing is to remove needless words, and to streamline your work.

Sometimes it is best to leave work for a while and come back to it with “fresh eyes”. I do of course mean a better perspective, and not literally having eye transplants. That would just be weird.

Print out hard copy and look at it then. You will notice mistakes you missed when viewing it from the screen. Of course, if you write by hand, perhaps by quill and parchment by candle light, and then type it up, the same applies.

Get someone else to read it for you. Although this leaves you wide open and vulnerable to attack, like dangling your bits over a tank of hungry piranha, for better or worse, your work will improve. So, develop a thick skin, so to speak, and listen to what they say instead of filling up into a monumental rage and throwing abuse at them. Remember, you asked them to read it. They would probably have something much more worthwhile to be doing, like watching the telly or picking fluff out of their navel.

Read the paper aloud, and use your ears. If something stutters and you have to stop to make sense of it, that sentence could do with revision. Make a note in the margin and continue. If you get to the end and all the sentences flow wonderfully, you are either a liar, conceited, or an exceptional writer. Very few writers have the ability to create good copy from the off.

Importantly, has the work accomplished what you want it to do? If it is an essay, does it adequately answer the question? If a narrative, does the story make sense and interact with the plot/story elements well? Could anything be moved, altered or merely deleted to improve the text?

Depending on how organised you are, how dedicated, or in my case bone idle, you may want to break each paragraph down and isolate it from the rest of the work. Apart from the transition words or phrases, does it make sense standing alone?

It must be clear and accessible to others. This is the function of writing. People need to understand the work. If you have written something only you or you close friends would understand, you have failed. At the same time of course, and this is a general rule, assume that your audience is intelligent. Readers like to be flattered when reading. It makes them feel clever and important, even if they put the tops on toothpaste tubes, so leaps of logic and understanding they can make on their own makes them like you and your work.

Above all, omit needless words. Your work should be tight like a pair of Speedos.

Precision is the mark of good writing, and your editing should reflect this. Colloquialisms, purple phrases, redundant words, clichés should be removed or replaced with precise, coherent language.

Once you have read to check the ideas themselves are solid, check the nuts and bolts: grammar. Grammar and punctuation are strange creatures, and lurk around the dark recesses at the back, underneath or at the side of words. Do not fear them; they are your friends. If, for example, an editor (who more often are not your friends) was checking a piece of work they would be very angry if they had to stop every line to correct punctuation and grammar. (See Punctuation and Grammar)

A Few Tips that will serve you well.

Below are a few tips not just for editing, but overall good practice. They also include issues of clarity which all good writing should aspire to be.

Do not be afraid to clear the syntax; chop large sentences down to small ones.

Focus the effect of your clauses. Draw attention to the points you want to make by making sentences ‘bottom heavy’. Focal points should go at the end.

Use a positive, ‘active’ voice. Add words to clarify. E.g. ‘The shoes were complimented by the man’ is ambiguous and rather odd. ‘The man complimented the woman’s shoes’ is better but still not perfect. Work at it until you say exactly what it is you want to say. The active voice clearly explains what the verb is doing. There are exceptions, especially when the mode of writing calls for stricter neutrality, such as law and science.

Always present old information first, and new information second. Remember the ‘bottom heavy’ principle. Tell the reader what had changed by them reading your work.

Consider the use of parallel constructions, and other rhetorical devices, for more effective points. That is, a small rhetorical mirroring of ideas or technique that greatly elaborates or emphasises clauses. Eg. ‘When considering what colour hat to wear, I always take into account the weather conditions (1), the prevailing winds of fashion (2) and the Consider the application of ‘the rule of three’ also.

Make sure the tense is correct and stays the same throughout a sentence.

Avoid bunches of nouns. These crop up like mushrooms. Persons, places and dates should be kept separate if possible. Jargon is a particular villain when helping to cluster nouns together. Also, do not crowd verbs around nouns; ‘has the chance’ becomes ‘can,’ for example.

Make sure the pronoun is clear. E.g. ‘Each football season I have an old jersey. They might come in useful at the drop in centre, I suppose.’ Note ‘jersey’ and they were in agreement. The transition and object was clear.

Do not use two or even three negatives in the same sentence. It causes untold chaos.

Avoid repetitive sentences or clauses unless used for rhetorical effect.

Omit redundant phrases. For example, ‘the field of construction’ becomes ‘construction.’ ‘Large in size’ becomes ‘large’. And so on.

Avoid excessive detail or obvious explanations. For example, the ‘balloon full of helium rose heavenward’ is silly. It would be obvious to the reader that the balloon was full of gas both in order to both inflate and to rise.

Be succinct where possible, unless what you are saying needs to be said. Is it vital to the work? Does it lend it something? Advance the narrative, characterise someone, strengthen or elaborate your argument, serve as useful description…

Delete words such as ‘a’ or ‘the’ if you can. Do not reduce your work to poverty, but sometimes sentences can be streamlined. Similarly, delete ‘who,’ ‘which’ or ‘that’. Also consider getting rid of ‘it is’ or ‘there are’ .