Questions tagged [editing]
Editing is the act of improving a piece of writing. Questions with this tag should focus on specific editing techniques or ways to improve editing skills. Critiques or proofreading questions are off-topic here.
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How do I know who to trust as I start producing a book?
I am writing a book at age 10-11, by myself. I have some people like my teacher and parents helping to edit, but I don't have anyone I can trust to help me (without screwing it up). I also don't know ...
user59727
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Combatting crippling perfectionism
I am attempting to begin writing a Substack newsletter, but I have hit a serious problem: I am a chronic, crippled perfectionist. I can't get through a sentence of any given post without freezing up ...
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How do I fix "when" at the beginning of a sentence?
I was editing an essay and the sentence checker said, " 'when' at the beginning of a sentence usually requires a 2nd clause." I followed some of suggestions it made and it said it was ...
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Is omniscient observer POV really dead?
I am in the midst of reworking my latest manuscript into a shape that someone might be inclined to publish. To help me along I hired a professional editor and writer, whose comments and suggestions, ...
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Why can I not self-reflect on my own writing critically? How can I self-edit?
When an editor goes over my writing, even if most of their feedback is Writing 101 advice, it's still super helpful because my writing has a lot of flaws.
But I never notice these flaws (big picture ...
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Searching for a word in sentence ending in a question
I would like to search for words in a sentence that ends with a question mark - ?
For example I have a pdf document or a word document with the following sentence:
Which of the following describes a ...
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How to identify your own so-called "darlings"?
tl;dr; It recently occurred to me that I don't have a good smoke test for identifying those passages we might call "darlings". It can be hard enough to cull even the obvious darlings, but it ...
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For people of color, are there unique ways to describe emotional state through skin tone, besides 'going pale,' 'turning red,' 'looking green,' etc?
Are there some words or phrases to describe a person of color, specifically darker colors, when their skin tone changes with emotion? Like for a white person, they'd turn pale when scared or turn red ...
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Is there a keyboard shortcut in Final Draft to change an element into a dialogue?
In Final Draft, when I paste in text into the editor, it defaults to an action.
If I select the text or put my cursor on a spot in the text, I can go to the menu and choose "Format > Change ...
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What do I call an introductory section written by myself (not the author)
I am putting together an electronic version of a book written by my grandfather about his service in the middle east in WW1. The other grandchildren and I have transcribed the text from scanned ...
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What is the best way to reword the following sentence [closed]
The sentence is: They reinforce how African-Americans used art, music, and literature to help shape their cultural identity.
This sentence is explaining how the inclusion of details about Harlem ...
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Asking editors to elaborate on their response
Do let me know if this is off-topic. My question relates to the publishing process, and the typical ramifications of an possible action could have on one's future ability to be published.
Getting ...
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Question about present tense writing, and use of the words: have, and think
I am just beginning to get serious about the way I write, furthermore I’m a very cautious writer so I would just like to know if these simple paragraphs are correct. I am trying to clarify both my use ...
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What to expect from the editing process
So I finished my very first novel and decided that I want to get an editor for the manuscript. I found someone offering their services online through a trusted platform and contacted them but now I'm ...
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How do I frame this question?
I'm writing a script and there's a question I want one character to ask another but for nearly a month, I just can't construct the question even though I know what I want to ask.
Basically, I want to ...
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Do you have to hire an editor to see if your novel is appropriate for an age group?
Do you have to hire an editor to see if your novel is appropriate for an age group? Because people nowadays self publish a lot, I was wondering how you would verify that your novel is appropriate for ...
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Is there a resource (website, book, etc.) to learn the basics of novel/story grammar?
I'm interested in learning to write as someone that has been a reader my whole life. I'm aware there are many website for tips like "every time a different character speaks, start a new line"...
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How to Write a Temporary 'Goodbye" [closed]
I'm working on my first novel, and my main character is going on a 'no contact' vacation where she doesn't communicate with anyone in her life. I'm struggling to figure out how to write it even though ...
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Would an editor for major publisher suggest that a novel have more "diverse" characters? [closed]
It just seems to me that for some novels -- especially those published in the last ten years or so -- that the author goes out of their way to make a point that a character is Asian, or black, or ...
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Scrivener, footnotes are missing/misformated when compiling to PDF (Windows 3; V3.0)
I'm creating a novel in Scrivener 3.0 that makes heavy use of footnotes. In recent compile tests on a chapter, I'm finding that on one page the footnotes are being displayed laid on top of the text at ...
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"Lack of [plural]": should accompanying verb be singular or plural?
In this sentence:
It’s not our lack of answers to these problems that causes us such pain.
My word processor tells me that "causes" should be in the plural form "cause", but I'm ...
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Best method to separate complex/multiple nouns and the verb? Semi-colon?
Would a semi-colon be appropriate separating a list of nouns all affected by a verb/or are all the agents responsible for said action? If not what do you all suggest without altering the structure of ...
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Are Certain Religious Terms Capitalized?
Is the term, "the great falling away" directly from the Bible, capitalized when used in a sentence to emphasize its importance? Also, the term "last days" is in question.
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After editing a chapter, the whole story changes?
I created my story last year in the nanowrimo challenge, and I finished the whole thing, I was quite happy even if it was a mess. Then I tried to edit it to give it a little more clarity and fixing ...
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Are "floating quotations" to be avoided in academic writing?
I am finishing my dissertation, and my advisor was highly critical of my use of "floating quotations" or "stand-alone quotations." She directed me to a University of North Carolina ...
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Would the term 'blue collar worker' be understood by a global audience? [closed]
Would the term 'blue collar worker' be understood by a global audience, for example in India, China, Japan?
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How do you format a song when it's part of a larger spoken piece?
I'm editing a children's book which includes songs. I usually format the songs as a block quote in a slightly smaller type size and centred on the longest line. However, I've just come to a song that ...
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City of [city name] or [city name] city?
I’m wondering what is more appropriate when referring to a city, let’s say Damascus for example. Is it better to say “city of Damascus” or “Damascus city”? Or are they both interchangeable. I know for ...
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Where should I look for editing and publishing?
I have finally finished my first book, but I'm not quite sure where to look for editing or publishing. I'm interested in traditional publishing, but from what I've heard and read, I need an agency for ...
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Editing question for novel, about indentation, double spacing and page size
I'm getting close to finishing a novel and looking through online guides for the formatting process. From what I've seen, everyone is strongly recommending double spacing and an indentation of .5inch/...
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Alternative words for genitalia
I am editing a piece of writing for my English-speaking friends from a rough translation. I need softer words to replace "vagina", "penis", "breasts" etc. I have used ...
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Is it possible to teach yourself how to line-edit and copy-edit your own writing?
Is it possible to teach yourself how to line edit and copy edit if you are the writer? I read others work, but the styles of a writer can be confusing. I need to learn how to edit to be a good writer.
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Should I use a comma or a colon? [closed]
I am a bit confused as to whether I should use a comma or a colon for the following sentence:
Art quickly became a world where I could trust my abilities, a world where I can share my emotions and ...
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How late in the book editing process can you change a character’s name?
I am on the last edit before I send my book to beta readers for the first time, and I'm not sold on two of my characters names since they sound similar. One is Zeidric, with the "ei" ...
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How should I format chapters in my manuscript?
I'm in my final stages of editing before I send my manuscript to beta readers. I'm wondering how I should format chapter titles. Do I put them as a header, or as a slightly larger, bolder font?
(This ...
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What can be the guideline for modifying quote?
God does not play roulette
— Albert Einstein
There are cases that I feel like a change in the original quote would make it more rhythm, poetic, or reflect the spirit of the quote better. How should I ...
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Is there a limit to how much I should edit my work?
Is adding new ideas to a chapter after finishing it a bad habit? It's my first time writing a novella, and English is not my native language. Is it ok to edit my chapters many times to get a perfect ...
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International English Style Guide?
For writers who are self-publishing to Amazon (especially for a global or US & UK audience) is there a style guide for "international" English? Or must one commit fully to either an ...
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Who had 3 rules for submissions: 1. You must have a point. 2. You must make your point. 3. You must make it in pristine, first-rate english? [closed]
I think it was a famous magazine editor. I must be butchering the quote because Google search is absolutely no help on this one. In particular, I really don't remember how the third rule was exactly ...
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Suggesting changes in cowriting
I am about to cowrite a song with a friend, who already drafted something. I want to suggest edits. I find some changes in the form necessary because we want the song to be in a different style than ...
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When writing and formatting a novel, what are the rules for scene breaks? Is it okay to use both asterisks and double spaces?
I have found information on this topic of scene breaks available on the internet to be quite conflicting and I've frustrated myself into a lot of confusion. Some authors use only double spaces to ...
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What order do I start seeking editors
I have completed writing my first novel. What order should I start putting it in front of editors (copy, development, structural, etc.) before submitting it to an agent or publisher?
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When editing, should I use track changes?
I want to keep a file for each of my editing stages throughout my self-editing process. Should I use track changes when I am editing so that I can see what I have changed, and then when I am on the ...
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What are the stages to self editing?
I just finished writing my first draft of my novel, and I don't quite know the states of self-editing. Right now, I'm not looking for advice on professional editors/proofreaders, I just want to know ...
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Will a copyeditor refine both dialogue and plot?
I am a big-picture kinda guy. I have ideas and I love details, but I hate to get stuck up in the microscopic level grunt work - managing accents, tones and environment details that are not so central ...
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Are adverbs as transition a bad thing?
I am using prowritingaid to edit my writing and it keeps flagging all adverbs. They have a post related to it here.
Yet I feel like adverbs as transition such as finally, additionally can be useful to ...
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How exactly does a book go from typewritten pages into an actual mass-produced unit ready for the consumer, and do authors have any control?
I want to be clear that I'm asking about this both for the present time, where nearly everyone does everything digitally, and for "back in the day", such as the 1970s or 1950s or 1920s or ...
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How to change color of all edits to red in word? I dont want to switch back to red each time I make an edit
I am editing an existing doc, I want to make all my edit as red (or any different color). What I am doing right now, I made edit and then reach out to fonts and change color each time I change ...
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seeking advice - screenwriter looking to write novel
All. I'm looking for some advice. I'm interested in writing a young adult mystery novel, but I don't believe I'm a good writer in the traditional sense. My background is in screenwriting, so my ...
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If you're writing a story where the location is based in the USA, should you adapt your spelling to the American way, rather than British?
If an Australian writer writes a story based in America or another country that uses American English, should you change your spelling to American English, or continue using British English? Is this ...
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