Editing Tip: How to Stop Over-Editing

Below is one graduate student’s story, but is it also yours?

Vani, a doctoral candidate in psychology, sent me her literature review to read. She said I could share her story.

Vani’s literature review is very well organized. Her writing is clear. But I keep forgetting why I am reading. After just a few paragraphs, I recognize the problem: Vani is over-editing.

I ask if she has an earlier draft.

She hesitates.

I understand.

This file is her secret document, where she stores the “extra” text that gets deleted as she writes.

She shows me the file because because I insist.

I insist because I know that in this earlier draft, I will find sentences that explain her purpose, sentences that add complexity and nuance to her text; sentences that add transition and connection between ideas. I will find Vani, the researcher, in this file.

I tell Vani to put it all back.

When we over-edit, we tend to believe that the sentences that provide context and transition are too obvious, too basic. Our writing becomes tied up in our insecurities and our fears--fear of failure, fear of feeling like an imposter, fear of disappointing our research supervisors. So we edit out the pieces that show our thinking and keep it in a secret file so that no one can judge us.

When we over-edit, we tend to remove contextualizing information from our work and while our neurological processes automatically fill in these details, our readers don't have the same ability to do so. As writers, we do not miss these details, but our readers, including our research supervisors, need them.

Do you have a secret file of deleted text? How much time would you save if you wrote your draft without over-editing? Are you ready to become a faster writer?

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