Are You A Victim Of Vagueness Or A Champion Of Clarity?

The two most important parts of any writing project are clarity and concision. This has been true for as long as writing has existed. Without these two elements, it is impossible to convey any points meaningfully, no matter how many other words are tossed around in a fancy vocabulary.

As freelance writer and editor Charlene Dill writes, "Clarity is essential because vague content confuses readers and can lead to misunderstandings." Clarity isn't just important for the reader; it's critical for the author. We live so close to what we create that it's easy to lose sight of our own work's flaws.

Clarity and concision are a package deal. The two are intertwined, intertwined in such a way that they can exist without the other. But they can't exist without each other either. If you don't have concision, you won't be able to use clarity effectively. If you don't have clarity, you'll be unable to use concision effectively.

I've come across several people who claim that they're great editors because they "don't bother with clarity." I'm sure that there are plenty of people who think the same about themselves as writers. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who think the same about themselves as editors. People like to think of themselves as experts in their craft, even when they're not.

We're more likely to be blind to our own faults. And we're especially likely to be blind to our own faults when it comes to something we do a lot, like writing or editing. It's something we think about so much that it becomes part of us, something we can't see any longer because it has become a part of us. We no longer see it as an external force that can be changed.

But what are you if you don't have clarity and concision? You're not an author, that's for sure. You will not be able to communicate your ideas. You'll have written a lot of words, but none of them are going to mean anything.

What are you if you don't have concision? You're not an editor, that's for sure. There's no way you can meet any deadlines or produce a piece of work that's profitable for anyone involved. Not just because your work will be so long, it won't make sense either!

I'm not saying that a person needs to possess the ideal version of clarity and concision in order to write or edit professionally. But I am saying that you need to possess a version of them. You may not have them in the form of a direct prescription, but you need to have some version of them.

Some people are very good at writing and editing. They're so good they don't even talk about it. They're so good they don't even know how good they are. Maybe that's what makes them great at it - knowing that they're really damn good at it but not really wanting to actually explain themselves about it.

I believe that anyone can write or edit well when given the proper tools. There are plenty of books in existence that can explain how it's done. But the tools themselves are useless if you don't know how to use them yourself. You have to actually follow the directions, not just flip through the pages and say, "This makes sense! I think I can figure things out by myself."

It's never as simple as reading a book and then applying what you've learned. You need to understand why that advice is there in the first place. Your mind needs to be programmed with it before you can successfully utilize it on your own projects. That's why so many people who read books about writing or editing don't really improve upon their skills.

So why do so many people think they're good editors? I have no idea. But the more I read about the industry, the more I see people like that. They're probably not so good at editing and writing, but they think they are. They're probably not learning how to edit and write properly and effectively, but they think they are.

If you want to be a great editor or writer, you need to know how good you actually are as an editor or writer first. You need to know what sounds bad when you hear it and what sounds good when you hear it. You need to understand what words are necessary and what words can be dropped with little consequence to the meaning of your work. You need to be able to identify when a sentence doesn't make sense and why it doesn't make sense.

If you're not a great editor or writer, you can still learn how to be one. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who know how to do it and would be willing to help you for free because they like that type of thing. But if you don't take the initiative, if you don't ask them for their help, if you don't try at all - then all your talk about great editing skill is just that: talk.

Your writing will speak for itself. If your writing is clear and concise, then maybe you have some skill after all. Maybe you are a great editor after all.

Author: Laura K. Lawless

Posted by Laura at 1:22 AM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzzes, starts, stops and misaligns with the rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation in your writing. But weak writing is not as noticeable as good editing work, right? Who cares if you do an awful job but make expensive mistakes like capitalizing the wrong word or using the wrong punctuation mark? They're all easy to fix, right? But there's just one problem: all the easy changes can actually ruin your meaning and prose flow. You can't even tell why it's wrong or awkward because you put so much work into making it look and sound right. And good editing work is not that noticeable, because good editors know how to make your writing flow smoothly. We're not always re-writing entire sections in order to make them flow better, although that is a part of the job. Sometimes we're just fixing small mistakes like poorly punctuated dialogues and transitions between paragraphs . . . but mistakes like those can actually ruin a story on their own! I've seen stories destroyed by them. So the problem is not just about weak work ruining good work. The problem is about weak work being mistaken for good editing work, since both can go unnoticed at first glance. You might have a horrible story with no grammar, spelling or punctuation mistakes, but your audience can still see that it's boring and that the characters are not fleshed out enough. The only way to fix that is by improving the writing itself. Good editing always makes your story better, but to make sure of that, you have to learn how to edit professionally. Here's what you need to know about editing professionally: 1. You have to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to editing . . . "Do you think I'm an excellent editor?" Yes! I do! An excellent editor should always be able to understand how his or her editing skills can be improved upon.

Conclusion: You should know what you're good at and what you're bad at when it comes to editing. You need to exploit your strengths, improve on your weaknesses and avoid the temptation of improving on everything at once or by trial-and-error. 2. . . .  you also have to be aware of other people's editing skills . . . "Do you think I'm an excellent editor?" No, no, no! Not just because she even asked me that! I don't think you're an excellent editor. I know from experience that you can work as a professional editorial assistant but not as a professional editor.