How I Edit My Medium Stories in Three Simple Stages
These stages transform my posts from excreta to excellence
Without editing, my stories read like utter thrash.
When I write the first draft, all I care about is one thing — getting my thoughts down as quickly as possible. Nothing else matters. With a typing speed of a hundred words per minute, I fly through my first draft like I’ve been possessed by a freaking demon. You should see me. I bet you’d call John Constantine. Or the Pope.
I write first and edit later.
Better yet, I write on one day and edit it another day. It speeds up the writing process.
Where I don’t have a piece of information off the top of my head, I don’t stop to research. Rookie mistake number one. Doing that slows down momentum. Instead, I use a placeholder that reminds me to research later. Then I move on.
The first draft of this post is a goddamn travesty. Endless ramblings, malapropisms, robotic sentences, mistakes galore. Grammar? I don’t even know what that word means. I wouldn’t wish such torture on my worst enemy.
To ensure you don’t die of a seizure after reading my first paragraph, I put my stories through three stages of revision.
Stage #1: Line editing
Since my goal during the writing stage is to finish my first draft quickly, I hardly care about the rudiments of the English language.
The first stage of the editing process is where I slow down to critically analyze my choice of words. I analyze the structure of each sentence, carefully rephrasing the weak ones.
Yes, every single sentence. Line by line.
Each sentence must serve a purpose. If it’s useless, I cut it out. If the wording is awkward, verbose, or not poetic enough, I rewrite it. Reading out the words to myself while I edit goes a long way to help me identify these issues.
The line editing stage is basically the rewriting stage. I don’t change the core message of my article, however, the difference is palpable. Sentences are more coherent and varied, tenses are better, storytelling is more engaging, words and expressions are more alive, and everything is more readable.
Yet, the work has barely begun. After all, there are still placeholders that need filling and inconsistencies that need fixing.
Stage #2: Copyediting
Now that my story flows better, I concentrate on correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation, and inconsistencies. And yes, this is the stage where I fill the placeholders. I do that by embedding links and images, while also verifying the information I’m not sure of.
I use Grammarly for copyediting. It’s an effective tool that helps me:
- correct spelling mistakes
- replace words with synonyms to avoid redundancy
- correct the wrong use of words or expressions
- add omitted words
- use punctuation properly.
Once I’m done with the copyediting, the piece is better than ever. Hell, I can publish if I so wish. However, I dare not. I know some errors are lurking, waiting for me to publish, only to rear their ugly heads and stick out their tongues at me. Not today, Satan.
It’s time to weed those fuckers out. Enter stage three.
Caution: While Grammarly is no doubt an amazing tool, it can come up with some strange suggestions that will just make your work sound ridiculous. Apply your inner editor and trust your instinct. Don’t let Grammarly tell you that you’re huge when you know you’re great.
Stage #3: Proofreading
Stage three is for proofreading.
Here, I read through the work to prune those petty mistakes that somehow crept into the story during the last two stages.
Even after all those rounds of editing, errors still find their way back like that one crazy ex who simply won’t go away.
This is why I never publish without proofreading. Um, the errors, I mean, not the crazy ex.
I used to proofread my work by carefully reading through it and making the necessary changes along the way. But it was not good enough.
I ended up missing something. Every single time. It was quite frustrating, given my penchant for perfection. Sometimes I went back to correct these errors if they were so bad they made me want to combust in flames. Most days though, I just didn’t bother. I would much rather focus on writing new articles than tinker with published ones.
Thankfully, I found an even more efficient strategy for proofreading my articles. Ever since I started using this method, the accuracy level of my stories skyrocketed to between 99% to 100%.
By the way, won’t it be funny if you found any errors in this post? Hundred percent what? *Laughing maniacally*
Anyway, what’s this more efficient strategy I’m talking about?
I use a feature on Medium to proofread my work.
Here’s how I do it.
After line and copy editing, I transfer my story from the Grammarly editor to the Medium editor. Then I copy the draft link of the story and open it in a new tab.
This converts the story from editing mode to published mode. And just like a published story, I can press play and listen to it in audio form.
Hearing my words play out loud helps me catch errors easily. Why? Because the AI reads it exactly as I’ve written it.
If there’s something odd with spelling, grammar, tenses, punctuation, and just about anything, I actually hear it loud and clear. And that shit hurts my head. I’m not even joking.
For each error, I go back to make corrections.
But that’s not all.
I can also hear how well it flows from one sentence to the next. If it sounds monotonous because the sentences are not varied enough, or I’m using a particular word too many times, my ears feel the difference and I go back to rework them.
This hack has profoundly changed my editing game. Although I call it the proofreading stage, it also involves a lighter form of copyediting and line editing at the same time.
Once I correct everything, I refresh the page and listen to it one last time to ensure that I have indeed done all the corrections, and not left something out.
When I’m satisfied with the results, I hit publish. The rest is history.
Final thoughts
Editing consumes more of my time than writing the first draft. Depending on the length, it takes me somewhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours to write one draft.
The entire editing process used to take me about 6 hours. Just one article. Fucking insane, I know. But that was when I was still a newbie. Now that I’m less of a newbie, I’m a lot faster, so it takes me about 5 hours and 59 minutes… I’m kidding, I’m kidding.
It’s about 2 to 4 hours.
It may still sound like a lot of time spent on one article, but it’s well worth it, I promise.
Of course, all writers are different. So maybe it’s shorter or longer for you. What matters is that you edit your work. It’s very important. Tools like Grammarly and text-to-speech software like Speechify (the same tool that powers Medium’s audio), are your friends.
Your story is well-edited when it:
1. has accurate information
2. has little to no grammatical errors
3. has minimal or no spelling errors
4. flows well and is easy to read
5. is devoid of inconsistencies
In other words, transform your work into the best version it can possibly be. That doesn’t mean you should waste all the time in the world on editing. Sure, you’ll be slow if you’re still new to this. That’s fine. With more practice, you’ll know what works and what doesn’t, which improves your productivity.
Here’s a thumb of rule: As long as you’ve conveyed your thoughts well and cleared all the glaring errors, you’re good to go. Publish and move on.
If you would much rather concentrate on producing more content instead of using that time to edit, then you need to hire an editor to help you out. Sure, you can choose not to edit your work. However, if you aim to grow a loyal audience who trusts what you write, then you absolutely cannot skip the editing process.
Your stories deserve to be at their very best. Let me help you with that.
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