Line editing Basics
What is line editing
Top Tip
We’re really close to our work, and it can be difficult to look past what we read the story as in our head versus what you actually have down on the page. An argument might be super clear to you because you’ve dreamt out the whole thing, but when it was placed on the page it lost some of its clarity. The best way I find to make the book feel fresh and sepearte from myself, is either to have the book read aloud, change the font, or print it out.
When to line edit
Line editing is a waste of time until you’ve done a majority of the large picture edits. there is nothing worse than perfecting every sentence and nailing a gorgeous setting description only to realize that scene is no longer needed. Once you are ready to line edit, here’s a simple checklist of items to search your entire manuscript for.
Dialogue tags (be careful not to use too many ‘fancy’ words instead of said.
Clarity. Sentences have to make sense. Look out for clunky phrases, wrong tenses,
2. Varied sentence structure (the only exception to this is for voice’s sake. Voice trumps proper grammar any day)
3. Proper word choice (they’re, their, there) (further vs. Farther) (its vs it’s) (your vs you’re)
4. Crutch words and phrases (we all have phrases we lean on while drafting. Maybe your character’s roll their eyes a lot, maybe they stutter, maybe they nod. Maybe their chest pounds.
5. Filter words