It’s important. It’s just a shame that it’s so hard. Writing is an art not a science, but editing is even more capricious. I’ve taken bad stories and edited them into something interesting, but I’ve taken rather clever stories and made them into dreck just the same. Editing is a difficult, time-consuming, and horribly subjective process that make or ruin any writing.
It may be subjective, but it’s not without rules. Below are a handful of websites with suggestions on editing. Some of them are well-known and fairly. (Less is more) Others are far more obscure. (Don’t norminalize your verbs).
Improve Your Writing With These Editing Tips
And a few tips of my own:
Change the font on your manuscript so it looks different: It helps you read writing you are already intimately familiar without filling in the gaps with what you remember.
Reverse Outline: Go through a story or chapter and create an outline of the major points. Match this to your original outline to see if you said more or less than what you intended.
Keep Revisions: Keep saved versions of older edits. Feel free to tear your writing apart since you can always look back at what you had.
Good luck!
