Editing Mastery: How to Edit Writing to Perfection

Course details

Most editors can capably fix the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and typos in a piece of writing. It takes a different skill set to turn dry, disorganized prose into writing that is beautifully organized and bursting with life and energy. In this course, instructor Shani Raja acquaints you with a powerful technique—deep editing—that can help you transform nearly any piece of nonfiction writing into magnificent, sparkling prose. The deep editing technique forces you to consider every aspect of a document, ensuring that quality gets embedded into each pore of the writing. Discover how to fine-tune the content, structure, style, and presentation of a document so that the final product shines.

Learning objectives
What is deep editing?
Editing for content, style, and presentation
Deleting irrelevant points
Getting rid of repetition
Choosing your angle
Ordering points within sections
Arranging paragraphs
Creating a snazzy ending
Fixing inconsistencies

Concepts

1. The Magic of Deep Editing

01 - What is deep editing
02 - The deep editing framework
03 - How is this going to work

2. The Content Edit

04 - What is the territory of the piece
05 - Sample article
06 - What is its ultimate purpose
07 - What are the individual points
08 - Demonstration - Breaking up the points
09 - Does every point make sense
10 - Demonstration - Making sense of each point
11 - Is every point relevant
12 - Demonstration - Deleting irrelevant points
13 - Is every point worthwhile
14 - Demonstration - Eliminating rambling
15 - Is every point unique
16 - Demonstration - Getting rid of repetition
17 - Are all the facts correct
18 - Demonstration - Verifying the facts
19 - Is anything missing
20 - Demonstration - Adding in missing information

3. The Structure Edit

21 - What is the angle
22 - Demonstration - Choosing your angle
23 - What are the key sections
24 - Demonstration - Creating categories
25 - What is the narrative structure
26 - Demonstration - Creating a narrative
27 - Are the points ordered elegantly
28 - Demonstration - Ordering points within sections

4. The Style Edit

29 - Is there narrative definition
30 - Demonstration - Creating narrative turns
31 - Does it read well
32 - Demonstration - Making the piece read well
33 - Is there any clutter
34 - Demonstration - Clearing up the clutter
35 - Are the paragraphs in good shape
36 - Demonstration - Arranging paragraphs
37 - Could it start better
38 - Demonstration - Creating a jazzy intro
39 - Could it end better
40 - Demonstration - Creating a snazzy ending
41 - Can we make it more evocative
42 - Demonstration - Adding color to the narrative
43 - Is every person and entity correctly introduced
44 - Demonstration - Tidy references

5. The Presentation Edit

45 - Is the spelling, grammar, punctuation respectable
46 - Demonstration - Taking care of the basics
47 - Do the headlines and text square up
48 - Demonstration - Title matching
49 - Is everything consistent
50 - Demonstration - Fixing inconsistencies
51 - Read out loud
52 - Demonstration - Addressing trip-ups

Conclusion

53 - Congratulations, you're an elite editor
54 - Some final exercises