Ep 95: Focus on Your High-Level Edits First
Last time we talked about commas. In particular, I brought to you the serial comma, or the Oxford comma. I emphasized the fact that details\u2014even commas\u2014really do matter to writers. This was on my mind because of that court case ruling hinging upon how workers, an organization, and the state of Maine interpreted its statutes as a result of a missing Oxford comma.\n\nAs I warned at the end of episode 94, however, this is a detail-level edit. Don\u2019t let concern over comma placement stall the writing of your draft. You have to write with freedom and abandon when you\u2019re in the writing stage.\n\nComma concerns come later, in the editing phase, when you pop on your fedora and dig into that draft. Even then, though\u2014even when editing\u2014comma concerns are not your first concerns.\n\nThey're important, no doubt\u2014I mean, I dedicated an entire episode to a single type of comma\u2014but the first time you revisit that draft to consider edits and changes, the commas are not the first thing you tackle.\n\nFocus on your high-level edits first.\n\nBefore you worry about sentence-level changes or stylistic flair you can add\u2014that\u2019s that jazziness that Ayn Rand called it in The Art of Nonfiction. In episode 69, I quoted her saying: "The first absolute is: be clear. Drama, jazziness, color\u2014which can be added later\u2014are never as important as clarity.\u201d\n\nClarity before commas, high-level concerns before proofreading, high-order concerns before low-order concerns.\nHigh-Order Concerns or High-Level Edits\nThat last set of phrases traces back to academia. When I taught composition to high school students, I kept encountering that terminology: \u201chigh-order concerns,\u201d or \u201cHOCs\u201d and "low-order concerns," or \u201cLOCs.\u201d I used this with my students, reminding them to focus on HOCs first, then spend time on the LOCs. In the publishing world, you might hear the high-order concerns, or HOCs, referred to as:\n\n \thigh-level edits\n \tbig-picture edits\n \tdevelopmental edits\n \tstructural edits\n \tsubstantive edits\n \tglobal edits\n \tmacro concerns\n\nIt doesn\u2019t really matter what you call this stage or level of editorial input. Just make sure you and anyone else involved understands what you mean and joins you in attending to these types of evaluations and recommendations first.\nFocus\nWhen you\u2019re focusing on your high-level edits, the HOCs, you\u2019ll be examining the overall focus of the piece. You\u2019ll look at the big idea and the theme. You\u2019ll need to be sure of your intended audience\u2014make sure you know who you\u2019re writing for.\n\nWhat are you wanting to share with these readers? Can you state in one sentence what your piece is about? If you can't, you may need to revisit the big idea or thesis of your project and figure out what you\u2019re really trying to say. Have a friend read the opener of your nonfiction project and without letting him read further, have him try to tell you what it\u2019s about. Did he get it? If not, figure out what needs to be brought out more and refine it. And then write the rest of your piece to match that opening explanation.\n\nYou may find in that evaluation process that you need to narrow your focus or tighten it up if you\u2019re trying to tackle too much. Or, it's possible you\u2019ve narrowed your idea so much that you actually need to expand it a bit or dive more deeply into it.\n\nThese are all high-order concerns\u2014the macro concerns for the developmental stage of your project.\nOrganization or Structure\nThe organization and structure of the piece also need time and attention at this stage. We make choices as writers about how to present our information or story. In fiction, this could be the point of view or the tense we choose to tell the story\u2014is it first person and present tense? Is that working well for the story? In nonfiction, it may be the\xa0way you order your ideas and how those ideas or concepts build. Or it could be the way you group and present your content.\n\nYou, the writer, and any editor involved\xa0may decide upon a second or third reading tha...