Tag Archives: editing
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold: Book versus Movie Script
A novel and its screenplay well demonstrate the skills of revising and editing. A book must be pared down to fit a film’s run length and to eliminate much of the scene setting in a novel done with words and … Continue reading
A Few Good Lines From a Few Good Men
Thomas Guy Farley Testifies in Court on thomasfarleyblog.com LTJG Kaffee: Mr. Farley. Did you build the website thomasfarleyblog.com? Judge Randolph: You don’t have to answer that question! Farley: I’ll answer the question. You want answers? LTJG Kaffee: I think I’m … Continue reading
Posted in organizing writing, Thoughts on writing, Uncategorized, Writing by others
Tagged a few good men, editing, revising, writing
Leave a comment
What Content Authority Means in SEO and Why it is Important
January 2, 2021 What Does Content Authority Mean? Content authority means a website that Google considers an encyclopedic reference to a particular field or topic. Any practitioner in a highly competitive market should have this Wikipedia like presence if they can … Continue reading
Posted in Thoughts on writing, Uncategorized, Writing by others, Writing tips
Tagged editing, legal assistant, legal practice, paralegal, revising, the law, writing
Leave a comment
Rewriting F. Scott Fitzgerald
I’ve always liked the following sentence from the Great Gatsby but I’m bothered by how “careless” and “carelessness” are found so close together. Fitzgerald is making an important point in this sentence but the second use doesn’t expand on what … Continue reading
Posted in Thoughts on writing, Uncategorized, Writing by others, Writing tips
Tagged authors, editing, revising, revising copy, writers
Leave a comment
Writing Within Different Styles Part 1 (Repost – additions and corrections)
Writing Within Different Styles (Part 1) Little writing is more stilted or conforming to its trade than legal writing. Anything submitted to the court must sound legal, just as the IRS tax Code must sound like all that previously written … Continue reading
Let’s Return to Direct Lead Paragraphs
A Wandering Lead and Three Revisions Writers must compose direct lead paragraphs or risk losing readers. A wandering opening finds readers lost, wandering somewhere else. A direct opening can’t guarantee that a reader will continue but a clear, direct path … Continue reading
Revised Post on Revising
NB: I wrote this post last year and titled it “More on Revising.” (internal link) I noticed tonight that it needed more work so I have revised this post on revising. Argh. Editing never ends. More on Revising — Updated … Continue reading
Not Only
Not Only “Not only” is a phrase which brings negativity to a piece and prevents you from directly and quickly stating your position. Original: Not only is ice cream tastier than sherbet but it appeals to more people. Revised Ice … Continue reading
Fighting Wordiness
I once revised copy for a painter’s home page. The original text was only 250 words or so. These changes were the most important. It’s not just about reducing word count but making text more direct and impactful. Fighting wordiness … Continue reading
Posted in editing writing, non-fiction writing, organizing writing, revising writing
Tagged copy, editing, text, writing
2 Comments
Shun “tion”
Slow and Soft Notice how slow and soft these “tion” words are compared to their more active counterparts. First the “lion” word, then the active word. division, dividing multiplication, multiplying addition, adding revision, revising motivation, motivating contention, contending summation, summary … Continue reading