The 4 Cs of Sharp Editing, a 3-Way Word Wars & My Novel Reading Reco

Welcome, readers! Fun tidbit – after I totally made up the name Pink Pineapple Post (I really like alliteration, ok?), I found out that pink pineapples are an actual real thing. You can try a Pinkglow® for yourself for around $5 (at least that’s what I paid at my Kroger). Now, down to brass tacks. When you’re publishing content, you have to know how to edit. Luckily, I’m sharing The 4 Cs of Sharp Editing in this issue. Plus, test your word power with today’s three-way installment of word wars.

Evoke vs. Provoke vs. Invoke

The 4 Cs of Sharp Editing: Clarity, Cohesiveness, Consistency & Correctness

Much like a diamond can be carefully cut for maximal fire and flash, disciplined editing can bring your ideas or your brand vividly to life for your readers. And similar to knowing the 4 Cs that characterize the quality of a diamond (that’s color, clarity, cut and carat, people, this is must-know stuff!) before you buy a diamond ring (or not), it’s crucial to have an editing rubric to guide you in your quest to craft content that truly sparkles. Sure, it’s great to catch typos and all, but technically, that’s proofreading. Editing is a step up on the ladder, and also requires a certain cool detachment. Editors kill the unnecessary and ask the tough questions. Editors must be merciless (although the best ones are simultaneously kind).

If you can have someone else edit your writing, hand it over and then do yourself a favor and actually listen to what they say. What I’ve discovered the (very) hard way over many years is that if one person thinks a certain thing about what you’ve written, or stumbles over a sentence or a word, another reader out there will have the same issue. Better to tweak it now than die on your sword later.

1. Clarity

Does the writing make sense? Editing for clarity should always be your first step. A process that works for me is to read the whole piece all the way through once, resisting the urge to make any edits at all. Read it as a reader first, through the eyes of your audience. Note any places where you feel confused or “stuck.” Sometimes after this pass, something is “bothering” me — more of a feeling than a knowing. If I go for a walk, make dinner or sleep on it, I usually figure out what’s not quite right and have some idea how to address it. As you edit for clarity, go from a 30,000-foot view down to ground level. Does the structure make sense? Move and chop for the best flow. Do the paragraphs make sense? Sometimes one sneaky idea shows up like an uninvited guest a few paragraphs away. Do the individual sentences make sense? Rearrange words, add more context, whatever is needed to make the ideas crystal clear. 

If you are the editor, you may need to ask clarifying questions and let the writer address and decide how to tweak the writing. Otherwise, offer solutions instead of identifying issues. You are not the hero because you pointed out a sticky problem. You’re just pushing the problem back on someone else to solve. Spend an extra few minutes and write a new sentence that does make sense, or correct the confusion based on context clues. Again, this is something I learned the hard way after being on both sides of the fence as a copywriter and an editor. When you’re crunched for time and fatigued after looking at the same content for way too long, it’s a gift to pick up a readymade remedy.

2. Cohesiveness

Editing through this lens is all about judging how well the whole piece hangs together. Is there information that’s related to the topic at hand, but tangentially? Cut/paste into a new document and save that for a later piece of content. Heck, maybe you’ve uncovered a series to deliver in bite-sized installments. No content is bad content, but it might not be in the right place.

This step isn’t only about cutting. You might need to add a missing crucial puzzle piece that suddenly snaps the full picture into focus. This could be something small – in my experience, it usually is. For instance, sharpening your headline can do so much heavy lifting here. Generally, this work is at the beginning and the end. Does your lead or first sentence capture your compelling main point or primary message right from the start? Does the ending summarize that main point, and/or drive your reader to the desired action?

3. Consistency

OK, we’re getting pretty granular now. If you’re editing for consistency, the overall piece should feel pretty solid. Don’t bother messing with this level of detail if big parts of the piece are still shifting around. Literally, this step is making sure things are referenced the same way in every instance. Is one subhead in all caps and other times in title case (initial caps)? Pick one and format them the same throughout. If you’re citing sources, are you doing it the same way each time? If you reference a company name or use alphabet-soup-style initials, have you listed the full name out in the first usage followed by the initials in parenthesis? Like this: Pink Pineapple Post (PPP). After that first time, default to the initials exactly as they appear in your parens for the duration.

For brands and companies big and small, I recommend developing a style guide to ensure consistency, not only within a single piece but holistically, across all your posts and collateral. As a first step, you can leverage excellent existing styles from either the Associated Press or the Chicago Manual of Style. Myself, I’m a Chicago gal, although I’ll admit to being a writerly contradiction because I eschew the Oxford comma, aka the serial comma (it comes before and in a series) that is ensconced as law in Chicago.

And that’s the point of writing your own style guide. You can cherry-pick what fits your brand and make your own way. Documentation is key here. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does have to be written down and saved in a place where everyone can access it.

4. Correctness

This last step is actually an editing-proofreading hybrid. It’s the stage where you go through your copy with a fine-tooth comb at the word level. Sometimes editors will mark this as “word choice.” Do you use the same word three times in one paragraph? Vary word choice. Did you use the most correct, accurate word or is there a better one? This is the moment where I often catch an actual wrong word, which has become entertaining fodder for the word wars feature.

All right, there you have it. Edit through these four lenses for content that makes the same kind of impact as a flawless gemstone, expertly faceted and polished.

8 Reasons to Read The Covenant of Water, Written by Abraham Verghese

1. You want a good cry. Verghese’s novels slay me into puddles of sobs, but the sheer beauty of the story is so worth the pain.

2. It has a fiery love story – literally. Actually, there are abundant love stories here, just don’t be expecting any happy endings.

3. To find out the truth about leprosy. Did you think it was super contagious? Me too. Turns out, not so much.

4. You crave a multi-generational family epic. This doorstop-size book spans three quarters of a century from 1900-1977, mostly set in water-locked Kerala, India, but with brief pit stops in Scotland. Sounds so weird, works so well.

5. To discover the poetry in medicine. Didn’t think surgery and disease could be evocatively beautiful? Verghese, a trained physician, is about to change your mind.

6. You’re intrigued by family curses. This family has a doozie. But is it really a curse?

7. You already read Verghese’s previous novel, Cutting for Stone. Another epic family tale with lyrical descriptions of … yep, hepatitis C and fistulas.

8. You want to be a better writer. Reading wonderful writers like Verghese illustrates the power and beauty of words used well.

Love, leprosy and death by drowning!