Revision and editing advice to take your first draft to the next level.
Regardless of what you write, readers have the same expectation—they insist on stories with language that demonstrates economy, effectiveness, and energy. While entire how-to books could be written about each of those goals, this article focuses on the 10 most impactful story-improving editing tips I’ve shared with students and clients.
A terminology caveat—while some people use revising and editing interchangeably, I see that as an error. Because revision focuses on bigger-picture things such as plot, character, and structure, it should happen soon after you’ve got a full draft. Editing is the language- and sentencelevel polishing that happens after you’re done revising. Why spend energy perfecting a scene’s language only to decide later that the entire scene needs to be jettisoned?
With that, let’s examine my 10 best editing tips. Apply these as needed to your own writing, regardless of literary medium or genre.
