Line Editing

Editing to Make Your Words Sing

In line editing I focus on polishing your writing to make it clear and engaging while helping your words tell the story you want them to tell.

During this process, I watch for any words or phrases that aren’t communicating your ideas as well as they could.

I also flag anything that sounds clunky or out of place, and anything that might distract readers and pull them out of the story.

Tone and voice

I also pay attention to your tone and make sure your voice and narrative style are consistent throughout the manuscript.

I don’t rewrite your story or change your voice; I help you polish away whatever is getting in the way of your message so that your novel will sound even more like you than it did before.

Line editing makes the words flow

My goal is to show you how to phrase everything a natural way that flows across the page.

Through the editing process, your writing becomes more effective at telling your story and fades into the background so that readers can focus on your plot and your characters.

What it looks like:

  • You send me your manuscript as a Word document
  • I send it back with suggested changes in redlining as well as comments that provide relevant information and discuss broader ideas
  • I provide a review letter that gives feedback on the manuscript as a whole, how to interpret my suggestions, and what to focus on during your revisions

Not what you’re looking for?

Maybe the line editing described here isn’t quite what your manuscript needs. In that case, check out my other editing services or my article where I go through the types of editing and how to decide which ones you need.

If you haven’t yet gotten big-picture feedback on your story as a whole, your manuscript may benefit from a developmental edit.

Combining a Line Edit with a Copyedit

You may be interested in line editing but feel good enough about the writing quality of your manuscript that you don’t want to devote a whole round of editing to it. If this is your situation, contact me to see if a line/copy combination edit could be right for you.

Doing each of them separately allows for more attention to detail and produces a higher quality result, but bundling them together can help you save money.