Shape of Things

This is part 2 of a primer on editing.  Much of this comes from a Folio magazine seminar taught by Peter Jacobi more than 25 years ago.  Jacobi is now professor emeritus at the Indiana University School of Journalism.

 

What to avoid

Delaying the subject in a sentence

      Bad:        The goals and objectives of writers…

      Good:      The writer’s goals and objectives…

The passive voice

      Bad:        The purchase of hardware is a tedious chore.

      Good:      Buying hardware is tedious.

Excess adjectives

      Bad:        The Internet-enabled, scalable and robust X14AB is a good tool.

      Good:      The X14AB works on the Internet and is able to expand to fit users’ needs.

Hyperbole

      Few actions are outrageous, cities are rarely paralyzed and very few things are vital.

Clichés

Trash high-scalability, high-performance, highly interactive, state-of-the-art and other meaningless phrases.

Pretentious language

      Away with paragon, parameters, debilitate, facilitate.

Newly minted “verbs”

      In general, any word with “ize” and “ate” at the end could be dangerous.  Don’t

      synergize, hypothesize, strategize or caffinate.

Needless words

“he is a man who hunts” should be “he hunts”; “the fact that” is a term we can do without.

Exclamation points

      Except for “World at War!,” there are very few causes for this punctuation.

Using quotations for easily documented facts

      “PlutoView costs $3,000 for a license,” says Joe Magnum.

Backing into sentences

      Bad:        When it comes to electronics, he is an expert.

      Good:      He is an electronics expert.

Non-sequiturs

      His hair flowed majestically, making him a good candidate for the space program.

 

What to embrace

Direct, short sentences

Repetition, if it makes a sentence simpler

Common words used in a conversational tone

Reinforcing messages by phrasing them in different forms

Using a semicolon for forcefulness:

      Her romances are entertaining; they are full of exciting adventures.

Being specific:

      Bad:        They work on computer models containing millions of polygons.

      Good:      They work on computer models containing 10-million polygons or more.

Sentences in positive form:

      Bad:        He was not very often on time.

      Good:      He usually came late.

 

You have the power…be good with it

Editing gives you the power to shape messages in a way that will interest, inform and entertain your readers.  Power has its responsibilities, of course.  You must be a benevolent ruler, always keeping in mind the needs of your readers and being gentle with your writers.  May the editing force be with you.

 

References:

The Art of Editing, Floyd K. Baskette and Jack Z. Sissors, 1971, The Macmillan Company, pp. 418-419

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Addison-Wesley Publishing.

 

 

Editing is a lost art, or at least a misplaced one.  It used to be rare to see a typo or grammatical error in the New York Times; now, it’s almost a daily occurrence.

 

Although it might seem a bit anachronistic, good editing matters.  How many times have you left a website because of poorly written text or typos? Poor writing and editing often precede the sound of business walking out the door.

 

I could go on, but the importance of editing is something people get or they don’t.  For those who do, here’s a two-part primer.  It’s no Strunk and White, but it’s a start.  Much of this comes from a Folio magazine seminar taught by Peter Jacobi more than 25 years ago.  Jacobi is now professor emeritus in the Indiana University School of Journalism.

 

What is Editing?

Editing is selection – knowing what to put in, what to take out, and how to prioritize information.

 

What is an Editor?

·         A creative planner

·         A visionary

·         A procurer and selector

·         A researcher

·         A conscience

·         A utility person

·         An understudy

·         An enforcer

·         A protector

·         A big-picture person

·         An attention-to-detail person

·         A servant

·         A trench worker

·         A voice

·         A cynic

·         A learner

·         A benevolent dictator

·         An unsung hero

 

Editing: The Two-Headed Monster

Micro-editing – helping the writer by concentrating on words, meaning, style, structure

Macro-editing – serving the reading audience by setting the agenda, tone and image

 

10 Ways to Become A Great Editor

1.      Read

2.      Write

3.      Perceive

4.      Appreciate

5.      Analyze

6.      Study

7.      Practice

8.      Be curious

9.      Learn from mistakes

10.  Be helpful

 

Begin at the Beginning

Know your audience: who they are, what they do, what they know, what they want to know, how they want to find out.

 

What Every Reader Wants

·         Information – as succinctly and clearly as possible.

·         Interpretation – what does it mean and how does it relate to my world?

·         Entertainment – yes, even technically oriented material should entertain.

 

What We Don’t Want to Do…

·         Assume that the audience is captive and that the message is a must for the reader – no story has a divine right to be read.

·         Write for the masses – each story goes out to an individual; picture the lonely engineer in the windowless cubicle and bring some light into his or her day.

·         Get into a rut – give readers change before they realize they want it.

·         Bore your reader – stay unique, focus on being different, lively.

 

The 6 Cs for Success

1.      Clarity

2.      Concise

3.      Complete

4.      Constructive

5.      Credible

6.      Conversational

 

Oh, and a Couple More

Consistent

Captivating

 

Part 2:  What to avoid and what to embrace.

 

References:

The Art of Editing, Floyd K. Baskette and Jack Z. Sissors, 1971, The Macmillan Company, pp. 418-419

The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, Addison-Wesley Publishing.

 

Edit your copy as if you are a lecherous skeptic with a jaundiced view of the world.  I hope for your sake you’re not.