Improve Your Writing Skills with Five Self-Editing Tips

 

Editing is an important part when it comes to writing. Writing from scratch takes time but editing your writing to improvise is doubled effort. It sounds like a tedious task as you have to go through each word and line to rectify. For this, overlooking your own mistakes is a big no.

 

Make a checklist first

 

First, start with a plan. The checklist is simple where you identify the possible areas where your writing can go wrong. Finding the shortcomings is tougher than coming up with a solution. All you require is a meticulous mind and technique to Grammar check the content to detect the editable parts.  

 

·         Grammar and spellings: Checking grammatical errors and spellings all by yourself is arduous to accomplish. You can take the help of a Grammar checker that works online. Use the online platform to rectify the errors and reflect optimal grammatical quality. In this way, you can save a lot of time to utilize in other finding ways to edit. 

 

·         Vocabulary check: If the vocabulary used in the content is hard to comprehend, the reader starts losing interest. It is a practical problem for which most writings need editing essentialities. Check this aspect and keep it as one of the vitals in the checklist.

 

·         Content clarity: The last thing to consider in the checklist is the overall content. Be it the tone or clarity of the passage, you need to keep a careful eye on it. Monotonous and long sentences are a big no as it bores the reader.   

 

Five helpful tips:

 

1.      Ten percent rule

 

In the book, On Writing, Stephen King explained the “ten percent rule.” Here, he advises the writer to cut down ten percent of the written content to make it crisp. It will easily eliminate the fluff of the writing and unnecessary sentences. However, deleting is not the only option; you can modify the content after checking the first draft. 

 

2.      Think of the audience

 

A writer writes for the audience. The content should always focus on the mindset of the reader. Be it the language or the tone of the writing; you need to edit it by thinking from a reader’s perspective. It yields a better outcome. 

 

3.      Readout loudly

 

Reading the content, you are about to edit in a loud voice helps in catching the faults easily. It works effectively compared to a silent read. By hearing the voice and tone of your written content, you can easily identify the areas to work on.

 

4.      Sleeping break

 

Making a draft write-up takes time. Immediately checking the same content written by you makes you overlook the flaws. Thus, it is better to take a break or a nap to clear the mind. Re-read the content to edit after taking the break, and you will notice the change yourself.

 

5.      Using resources

 

Remembering every grammatical rule is almost impossible for everyone, including students. People often neglect grammatical nuances while speaking English. But you cannot afford to risk it while writing. A write-up needs to be perfect in terms of grammar and spelling. An online checking resource to fix grammatical mistakes is what you require the most.

 

Summing up

 

Reading the above will help you come up with a systematic approach to resolve self-editing tasks. Follow the checklist and the five tips and outshine among your readers.