Jobs that pay by the word are common. In those cases, bust out your inner Victor Hugo or Kronk from the Emporer’s New Grove. “And here you have a moment of confirmation – the poison. The poison for Kuzco. The poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco. Kuzco’s poison. That poison?” Some companies pay 3 CENTS a word. THREE cents. If they’re going to be like that, pull out all the stops. Craft beautifully written, 12-line sentences.

I want to talk about one of my favourite editing techniques for when the word count does not influence your pay. The “Top 5 Tracks” technique.

By default, I am a fairly wordy writer. I write things out like I am talking to someone face to face. My punctuation tends to indicate where, in my mind, a speaking voice would pause. I’m sure my university professors loved receiving my essays that were NOT concise and NOT succinct.

Please take a moment of silence for the head writer in my department. She is likely one more instance of a comma splice away from throwing her whole computer at me.

So what is this editing technique that from the sounds of things, has nothing to do with punctuation?

Have you ever been speaking with someone and suddenly noticed they say ‘um’ or ‘like’ a lot? This technique is like calling yourself out for exactly that behaviour.

Pick five words that “weaken” your writing. Ones you know you are bad for. Here are mine:

WORD:WHY’S IT BAD:
ThatNine times out of ten, when I delete it, the sentence doesn’t change. At all.
Sort ofNine times out of ten, when I delete it, the sentence doesn’t change. At all.
JustNine times out of ten, when I delete it, the sentence doesn’t change. At all.
VeryNine times out of ten, when I delete it, the sentence doesn’t change. At all.
ReallyNine times out of ten, when I delete it, the sentence doesn’t change. At all.

Do you see where I’m coming from?

If we were to talk in person, I’m SURE a quarter of my vocabulary would be those five. (Not really, but it feels like it.)

Now, you may be thinking to yourself “yes. There are many words that water down sentences.”

I agree! A quick google search of “weak words” will show you hundreds of articles detailing which words you should or should not use, ways to catch yourself, things to replace, etc. I have a problem with absolutes, so I don’t like this. Case in point, many guides out there will tell you not to use adverbs ending in -ly. At all. Because it’s telling instead of showing. Okay, but sometimes it fits the tone! Sometimes I’m going for a tone! Or sometimes, the moment is not important enough for me to expect the reader to pick up on the subtleties of the context cues! For example, what if the maid gently excused herself? What if I just want to say that and move on, rather than describing her movements when she’s not an important character?

With that being said, this is where the Top 5 Tracks comes in. Review your writing. Read a few articles about weak words. I’m sure you will find one or two you KNOW you overuse. If you don’t, try using CTRL + F on something you’ve written recently, and start testing words. The results might SHOCK you.

The articles you may read during your research will outline anything from 4 to 600+ words experts and professionals caution not to use. Know what’s going to be impossible to remember? An arbitrary number of words you may or may not be in the habit of using. This is why you pick the biggest offenders.

Biggest offenders are going to fluctuate depending on genre and style, but should be fairly (Adverb ending in -ly, take that list!) stable for each individual. Pick five of the ones you have trouble with, and focus on those.

CTRL + F within your document for each of the 5 offenders and delete them, or judge them an exception.

“What? Don’t just delete them!?” No! Because look! There’s a “just” in that sentence, and if you deleted it, you’d lose your meaning! “Don’t delete them” implies that you keep them all! “Don’t just delete them” implies that there are additional steps to consider before the action is taken. I guess you could reword it. “What? Don’t delete them without consideration!?” Which I guess gets the point across, but all this to avoid the word ‘just’? Why?

Especially when the words you are using are common, you can’t wholesale delete things.

So.

Read a bunch of your work, pick your Top 5 Tracks, and happy editing!

References

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