One type of editing you can have done is copy editing.
This generally includes:
• Correcting spelling, capitalization, punctuation and obvious grammar errors
• Ensuring the text is clear and understandable (which may involve minor rewriting)
• Checking for potential copyright violations
• Cross-checking for consistent use of references and sources
At the copy editing stage, your manuscript is still getting in shape to be formatted, so checking such items as the table of contents would be premature.
The manuscript that needs copy editing usually is fairly far along in the drafting stage, though, as major issues such as organization and maintaining a consistent voice have been worked out.
• Use active voice
Verbs give sentences and books vibrancy. When too many of them in a story are passive or weak, the writing sounds drab.
• Cut begin fallacy
One way to tighten your writing is to eliminate the begin fallacy. This occurs when the writer introduces an action to the reader by saying “began to,” as in “My nerves began to calm.”
• Fat writing
Fat writing, a term coined by CSFW’s Sarah Smith, is “unnecessary and grandiose verbiage.” You may have heard writing instructors refer to it as “verdant greenery” or “purple prose.”
• Delete redundancies
A redundancy exists when the modifying words aren’t needed because they say exactly what the word being modified implies. For example, “rich heiress” is redundant as an heiress by definition is rich.
• Avoid pushbutton words
Sometimes rather than finding a truly evocative term, writers get lazy and use pushbutton words. Pushbutton words attempt to evoke an emotional response from readers without appealing to their critical faculties or intellect.
• Dump fuzzy words
Fuzzy words weaken your writing by giving an inexact, out-of-focus picture of the landscape or idea that you’re portraying. Examples of fuzzy words include almost, half- , very, really, seem, looked like, and felt.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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