3rd session Exeter - Phase 1: line editing skills

Line editing skills.
It is often difficult to suggest to writers which editing skills are most appropriate for them. In the main, the basic principle of all editing is that writing should be coherent. Fiction writers should aim to express themselves in the simplest terms possible. However, writers can have a tendency to:

• over qualify 
• use pointless adjectives
  
• chose adverbs that spoil the reader's engagement
  
• lose cohesion within a paragraph, and between paragraphs.
  

I try to convey in my sessions the importance of the reader in the writing process. Some writers believe that they are more important and ignore the efforts that their writers need to make to get even a basic understanding of the content of what has been written.
Some self-published authors believe that their work is worthy of being read by someone other than themselves, but have not taken care to edit their writing sufficiently for it to make basic sense.
It is important to have your writing put through a filter. You must subject it to critique from other writers. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can make a big difference. 
Once you begin line-editing and re-drafting you grow in stature as a writer because you develop a self-awareness. You begin to grasp the strengths and weaknesses of your work and, if you're not too self-obessessed, make the necessary changes to make your reader more comfortable. It is, after all, their time and effort that must go into the reading of your creation. Please give them more consideration.