Week 15 - Amy Williams

As an English major in my last semester, I’ve been doing a ton of editing for classmates. Mostly these pieces have been creative writing, like short stories or chapters of novels, but I feel like editing process is similar to an academic essay. I learned to separate the things we as editors look for into smaller groups in order to make tackling the piece a little easier. For example, I would first look for surface errors, like missing or excessive commas, then spelling, etc. After that, I would edit for style. Does the style match throughout the piece? Is the author’s voice heard? Next, I’d edit for clarity and accuracy. Does this make sense? Is this true to the character? Would that item exist during this time period, would that character say that word, etc.? I think being able to split up the editing into categories is incredibly helpful.

I also learned that, though many writers have a tough skin, it’s helpful to lead with some positive things about their writing. As our reading stated, it was written by a human and not a computer. We need to recognize that as editors and make sure we respect the author and acknowledge their skills before getting into the nitty gritty, sometimes harsh parts of editing.