Number 6
Often a magazine or newspaper article has to be written to fit space available, or cut ~ 1,000 words to 750 words, or even 4,000 to 1,000. The short-short story "Shocking Secrets" I sent to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine had to be 250 words or less, and I counted every word as I wrote and rewrote; it’s like a game ~ cut two words here, add one there.
A former newspaper writer told me that layout people “edit” a story that’s too long for the space with scissors ~ they cut the column at the end till it fits. If you’ve ever read a newspaper article that ends abruptly and feels unfinished, this is what happened. You could compare this to pollarding a tree ~ cutting big chunks off the top or side, to clear a power line, for example. It leaves a hole in the natural shape of the tree. It’s ugly. A newspaper article has to be written with scissors in mind; it’s one reason (though not the primary reason) news stories should lead with the five Ws.
Good cutting is like pruning a tree correctly. It’s not just about keeping the branches off the roof. Proper pruning can let in more air and light, encourage the main branches to grow in the direction you want, and balance the shape of the tree. It’s possible to cut a story too much so that the style becomes ridiculously telegraphic* ~ sort of like chopping off too many or the wrong limbs ~ but because so much writing is padded with unnecessary or even meaningless words, ordinarily heavy cutting may actually make the style more graceful and readable.
Magazines or books have a longer lead time to print than newspapers and cutting can be less brutal. The editor’s job is to retain essential content. Removing expendable content and eliminating repetition are like trimming or thinning a tree: whole limbs may be cut out ~ sentences, paragraphs ~ in the right places. Taking out a little all over is like heading in (or heading back) a tree, reducing its silhouette. A careful copyeditor can often reduce length considerably without sacrificing substance or cutting whole sentences by eliminating useless words and phrases and recasting clumsy sentences. Usually I start thinning a story by looking for certain words and phrases that can almost always be dispensed with:
A good writing exercise would be to write a paragraph without using any of these words (like writing a paragraph without using any words containing the letter E). Most of the language I discussed in the “Ghoti Hell” edition is dispensable. Lots of words automatically trigger my mental scissors, but I don’t start out lopping, I deadhead ~ snip off the dead flowers.
Another easy way to cut is to substitute shorter for longer words (e.g., “car” for “automobile”) or to use more contractions and acronyms. This is useful if you’re pressed for physical space and are not just doing a word count. However, when you’re editing someone else’s work, you shouldn’t change their voice. Synonyms are not always truly interchangeable, and you also have to listen to the rhythm of a sentence. Furthermore, too many acronyms destroy clarity. The words listed above are no one’s real voice so I don’t mind removing them, but changing vocabulary just for length (or for your own preferences) is not good editing, even if you write better than the editee. You can do anything you want when editing your own work.
Remember: When editing for length, count words, then make sure every word counts.
* A publicity hack once telegraphed Cary Grant in England requesting information for a story: “HOW OLD CARY GRANT?” Grant telegraphed back: “OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU?”
Copyright Rhonda Keith 2003. Parvum Opus or part of it may be reproduced only with permission, but it is permissible to forward the entire newsletter as long as the copyright remains.
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