Week 19: The Line Edit

The glorious task of line editing. The arduous task of line editing. The closest we writers get to a fearless moral inventory of our work is when we go line by line, sentence by sentence, to determine if the words amount to the meaning we wish to impart with this story.

I am currently in the line edit stage and while I still find the fun in it, the process can be harrowing. Line editing forces us to reckon with the story that currently exists on the page and ask ourselves if this is what we want to say. Not only do we face the existential quandary of each sentence, but we also have to question the mechanics of the sentence. Are the words working to create meaning in the way they intend?

A more pressing matter is, does each sentence have purpose? Kurt Vonnegut famously stated that "Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.” What better place than the line edit to meditate on these questions.

Is the sentence showing some, as of yet, unknown aspect of the character? If it is not, then is the sentence advancing the plot? Is it furthering the story in a matter to continue propelling events forward in a way that is inevitable and, ultimately, compelling?

With a line edit, try to keep focused on the words themselves. Are they doing what they need to be doing at any particular moment? Revealing character or furthering plot? If they fail to do either, then now is the time to question their presence (or absence).

For any writers currently line editing: God bless you. May you be illuminated with precisely the right words for every sentence.