01.03 Editing

Logo of a pointer cursor being drawn by a fountain pen

EDITING

hammer saw

The writing process

  1. Planning

  2. Writing

  3. Editing

The art of editing

elephant sculptures

Getting some distance

Image of two people connected by a red cord. One of them has scissors ready to cut it.

Rewriting

Drawing of the lifecycle of a caterpillar and butterfly

Word choice

Each word should mean one and only one thing.

Image of combined and separate cutlery.

Sentences

Each sentence should contain only one fact.

Image of a chocolate orange with slices falling out

Paragraphs

Each paragraph should express only one idea.

Image of a stone wall.

Using weasels

Image of Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of a woman with a stoat. On it are superimposed the words 'RELEASE THE WEASELS'.

Structural review

Image of a building with wildly mismatching elements

Proofreading

Time to clean up:

  • Repeated words you’ve repeated.

  • Words that missed.

    1. Inconsistencies.

  • Sentences you meant to finish but

Getting help

assemble

Finishing

stop sign

Fin

Line drawing of a fish