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In her book The Artful Edit, Susan Bell says editing \u201cinvolves a deep, long meditation within which the editor or self-editor listens to every last sound the prose before him makes, then separates the music from the noise" (5).\n\nWe talked last time about the need to listen\u2014we even explored ways to do so. Now we\u2019re taking it to a more intense level involving "a deep, long meditation," as Bell emphasizes the need to listen to "every last sound the prose" before us makes.\n\nThis takes time. Attention. Focus. We're making decisions based on what we hear, listening with a discerning ear, to separate the music from the noise.\n\nListen for the music.\n\nEliminate the noise.\n\n\nThe Noise\nLet\u2019s start with the noise. I suspect most of us would agree we writers don\u2019t want to add to the noise of the world, nor do we want to simply make noise with our words. No need to sound like a clanging cymbal unless that\u2019s adding pizzazz or punctuation to drive home a point.\n\nSo we must recognize when a passage isn\u2019t pulling its weight. Have you read something that feels like it\u2019s sagging, long-winded, or slow? Yeah, that\u2019s probably a sign it ought to be examined more closely and tightened or even eliminated.\n\nSusan Bell says in a later chapter, \u201cDevelop your editor\u2019s eye to see where your words slouch.\u201d Though she\u2019s switched from listening to seeing, I suspect avid readers who have grown to love the sound of words can see or sense a slouchy passage, especially when reading aloud. We may be able to spot it on the page, too, if the paragraph is packed with long sentences, too much detail, or lack of clarity or focus.\n\nYou\u2019ve probably hit a sluggish, slouchy passage if you realize you\u2019re speed-reading to rush through a section or you caught your mind wandering. Your text probably needs attention if you're reading and re-reading a passage because it didn\u2019t click the first time.\nMego\nAnd heaven forbid if your eyes glaze over.\n\nThe late Ben Bradlee, legendary editor of The Washington Post, coined a term for a bad story: \u201cmego.\u201d A story that bored him was \u201cmego," M-E-G-O, the acronym for \u201cmy eyes glaze over.\u201d\xa0\n\nIf you\u2019re reading and your eyes are glazing over, flag that section. Come back and tighten it, condense it, or if it isn\u2019t necessary, simply delete it. Slouchy words and passages will tire or bore your reader. You\u2019ll risk mego.\n\nMinimize mego. Maximize music.\nMaking Music\nSo let\u2019s talk about the music. Bell advises, "you can rhythmically hold on to [your reader] by controlling the musical measure of your prose" (119). A balance of sentence length is a simple fix, but it\u2019s not a science. I can\u2019t tell you to add three compound-complex sentences followed by a short sentence for the perfect combination.\n\nI like to think we\u2019ll know music when we hear it.\n\nIt\u2019s the sound of the sentences flowing from one to the other. It\u2019s the word choices that roll off the tongue with ease. It\u2019s the idea that engages the mind without having to read it twice and the scene that unfolds naturally so the reader practically steps into it.\n\nThe flow of the passage serves the story or the idea. The music serves the message.\n\nAuthor Mary Caponegro says:\nI\u2019d always write out loud. When I got that opening, I would repeat it out loud, over and over and over\u2026because it was so important to me that the sonic qualities were intact in every single line. A lot of my self-editing would be preoccupied with trying to maintain the standard in my head of musicality. (171)\nShe seems to enter that long, deep meditation Bell describes to listen to every last sound the prose makes. She\u2019s intent on making music, first. Above all.\nBeige or Purple Prose\nWhen crafting lyrical prose\u2014or trying to\u2014writers are tempted to go too far and often produce "purple prose," a term for passages that have grown too flowery, elaborate, excessive, or ornate. They're overwritten and overwrought. Out of the blue, a series of adjectives plucked from a thesaurus line up to modify a pe...