The Rule of Reading

A Lesson by

Professional editor Nicholas Klacsanzky describes one of the essential processes in editing: reading your work after its all done.

I've known many writers, including myself, that when they have "finished" editing a work, they run away from it. One aspect of editing I learned quickly in my first few weeks of being hired as a book editor is that it is essential to read over the entirety of what you edited.

Though this may sound daunting, especially if you are dealing with novels, it is purely a requirement of standard material that will appear on bookshelves. My first professional project as an editor was editing a biographical book that dealt mostly with politics. I essentially edited it in three days, being my usual overly-meticulous self. But even though I followed procedure to the last drop of this ocean of a book, I noticed after my edit that the book still had plenty to correct - and that was after I sent it back to the author!

So, read over the work you have done, or you might face similar circumstances. Luckily, I still have my job and am working with the same author. You might not be so lucky ;)

Comments

Mary Joie Marero Cultiv..

Posted 5 Years Ago

Before, I used to read and revise my written work twice. Just because I read and revised it twice, I thought there were already no mistakes left. But, when I got my work back, there were still some mistakes I had missed. The bottom line is read and revise your work not twice but many times or you can let someone read your work to see if there are more mistakes to be corrected.

Moriarty

Posted 12 Years Ago

Nice lesson...a lot to take away from it...you do strike a chord (I know I am using an oft used phrase here) when you say that a writer runs from editing, after he's done it for the first time...for my part I run from what I write...I can't get to re-reading what I've written...any ideas that might help?