Writing for a Living: Editing Your Own Work

Rewriting is Key: Master the Art of Editing for Better Writing

Did you know that 99% of writing involves rewriting? As a writer, you'll likely spend a significant amount of time refining your work. While revising – adding, changing ideas, characters, and plot – is crucial, this course focuses on editing: taking a critical look at existing text to polish it into its best form.

This isn't about simply correcting typos (that's proofreading). Editing involves cutting, restructuring, and streamlining your writing, transforming even the most promising (or messy!) drafts into compelling content ready for readers or professional review.

This course provides practical techniques in eight easy-to-follow lectures:

1. Introduction: Understanding the importance of editing.
2. Magic Typos and Getting Tense: A refresher on grammar and punctuation – even experienced writers can benefit! Learn about tricky concepts like the future perfect continuous tense.
3. The Vile Beast Redundancy and Overuse: Discover how to eliminate unnecessary words and phrases – a major obstacle to clear and effective writing. Learn to avoid redundancy in all its forms.
4. Story Structure for Editing: Apply narrative principles of tension and release to effectively edit sentences, paragraphs, and scenes.
5. Editing Sentences: Learn techniques for crafting concise and impactful sentences.
6. Editing Paragraphs: Develop skills to create well-organized and focused paragraphs.
7. Editing Scenes: Master the art of scene construction and refinement.
8. Editing the Rich and Famous: See editing in action with examples from renowned authors.

No special software or equipment is needed – just your text and a willingness to improve! Learn to elevate your writing with these essential editing skills.