Editing Your Book, Part IV—Line Editing, the 500 Foot View

Learn the process of editing your book.

by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer

There are four basic types of editing:

Developmental Editing

Substantive Editing

Line Editing

Copy Editing

Each type of editing offers an opportunity to look at a manuscript from a different place. Today, we work with Line Editing (LE).

LE is where, finally, you make it pretty.

Up to now, we’ve worked with global concepts: structure and character motivation and world building. And, you’ll probably continue to work with those points throughout each edit. Even at this point, you may realize that a scene will work better in a different location or that you need to beef up the conflict. Make changes as needed – it’s never too late!

But the focus of Line Editing is to literally look at each line. Is it the best it can be? Does it make sense? Do the paragraphs ideas flow in a logical manner? Are you using the strongest words in every sentence? Can you improve it in any way?

Here are additional things to consider during LE:

Syntax and Cadence

Do your sentences make sense?

Are they phrased in logical and magical ways?

Is the content of each sentence clear?

Does each sentence flow or do they drop off abruptly?

Best word choices

Strong verbs?

Power words?

Suggestion: Make a word cloud of a scene or chapter to better see what words are most prominent. Try a word cloud generator—there are several free ones out there. If you have a lot of weak words show up, you may want to re-evaluate some of them. Here’s a word cloud for the first two chapters of my YA historical. Zibiah and her best friend Rebecca show up just as they should, front and center. And, obviously, I need to work on the ‘even’s.

Awkward phrasing

Was, were, said, ly words, had, foggy construction, etc.?

Too many prepositions?

Prepositions that attribute to the wrong thing?

Word and phrase overuse

Duplications?

Throwaway words? Even, just, very, that, suddenly, then, etc.

Sentence construction

Alternate lengths and alternate construction depending on place in story?

Remember, in a place of high levels of action, short sentences can help raise the tension. In areas of lower levels of action, longer sentences can slow the flow and give the reader a little breathing room.

Showing vs. telling

Is each sentence in character’s deep POV?

Are your descriptions vivid and realistic?

Do you ‘attach’ description to a character so there isn’t an info dump of details?

Dialogue issues

Age appropriate?

Gender appropriate?

Realistic sounding?

Dialects/accents

Culturally accurate?

Minimal use—just enough to flavor the story?

Scene description

Use of all five senses?

Spread out or intimately connected to POV character?

Timeline consistency

Track timeline (day/date, time of day, specific details)

Fact checking

Is everything accurate?

Anachronistic problems?

Scene breaks / chapter breaks

In the correct place?

Do the breaks move the story forward?

Do the breaks leave the reader breathless so they’ll read more?

What else can you fix?

Remember! The strength in editing your story line by line is in getting the words to sound magical. You want to draw your readers in with your prose. Don’t try to sound like other writers—sound like yourself. In the words of the amazing Margie Lawson, “Flow trumps everything else”.  Understanding and correctly using all these ‘rules’ can make a difference. But rules can ruin a story by stripping the heart out of it. You want your voice to shine through.   

My suggestion is to make a checklist of your weak points and compare them to each page. Correct what you can. Tweak words or sentences that need polish.

It will take time to get it done properly. But it’s well worth the work.

Next month, we’ll finish with Copy Editing, last but not the least.

How’s your editing going? Do you have any tips you can add to mine? 

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Don't miss the previous posts in this series!
Part I, How to Edit Your book
Part II, Developmental Editing
Part III, Substantive Editing

Sarah (Sally) Hamer is a lover of books, a teacher of writers, and a believer in good stories. Most of all, she is eternally fascinated by people and how they 'tick'. She’s passionate about helping people tell their own stories, whether through fiction or through memoir. Writing in many genres - mystery, science fiction, fantasy, romance, medieval history, non-fiction – she has won awards at both local and national levels, including two Golden Heart finals.

A teacher of memoir, beginning and advanced creative fiction writing, and screenwriting at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for over twelve years, she also teaches online for Margie Lawson at www.margielawson.com. Sally is a free-lance editor and book coach, with many of her students and clients becoming successful, award-winning authors. You can find her at www.sallyhamer.blogspot.com or on Twitter @sarahsallyhamer.

I wish to express gratitude to the giants whose shoulders I stand on, from whom I learned the craft of writing. I would list every one, if it were only possible.