Editing is one of the most important skills a writer can have today. Being able to cut the fat and slice your writing down to the most efficient, clear copy is something that editors value. I've noticed that having this one skill will make you stand out, and get you more work as a writer. So, let' take a look at this important part of editing.
The editing samples below draw on this article about cutting your word count. Familiarize yourself with the 5 suggestions therein: let go of your intro, get rid of modifiers, repackage quotes, use a call out box, and cut your bio. We'll use a few of those here.
Editing for Wordiness
Let's go right to wordiness. This is one of the easiest ways to cut, and is also one of the most important skills for magazine writers. Those word counts are like the bible I tell ya! Below is a portion of a press release that I did for a client. Press releases must be kept to one page. The words in parenthesis are the ones that I cut. You'll notice that none of these changes the meaning of the piece:
In March of this year, Utah's Governor Gary Herbert signed (into a law) a set of immigration reform bills that avoided much of the national-level hoopla (and media attention) that (seemed to surround) surrounded similar laws in Arizona and Alabama. Although portions of Utah's laws (show an) attempt to balance the needs of all the residents in the state, taking a significantly less draconian approach than those of other states, the end results laws (still) deserve a closer look.
In this editing example, you see that none of the word cuts I made effect the meaning whatsoever. The final version is much cleaner and neater, and helped the end result press release to stay on one page.
Another example I have for you is something I wrote in the intro paragraph above. Recall that in our original article, I said that intros can often "go" (or, at least, large portions of them can). We writers use them as a warm up. And, when we're warming up, we're often inserting all kinds of fluffy works. So, an example:
I originally wrote that editing is "something that is valued by editors." Microsoft Word kindly reminded me that this is passive structure, and I therefore changed the phrase to: it is "something that editors value." That's two words down and a stronger, tighter structure.
Again, editing for efficiency and clarity is essential. With practice, you'll find that your editing practice automatically includes killing your darling words, and that you end up with a stronger product because of it.
