Editing
“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
- Michelangelo.
​
My experience as an editor-in-chief of two publications has taught me that editing is not some impersonal scrawling of red ink across a page. Instead, it is more akin to Michelangelo’s approach to sculpting: chisel away the excess to reveal the work’s truest form.
A look back on previous work
.png)
"Varsity girls soccer eager for 6A debut" was one of the very first articles I wrote. Looking back on this article has reminded me just how far I have come in two years.
​
While writing this, our school was still under pandemic protocols, which made interviews very difficult to schedule and conduct. This piece taught me to stay flexible in difficult circumstance and to work well under the pressure of a deadline.
​
Things that I would change about this article are:
-
Provide more info on their earlier wins.
-
Remove instances of editorializing.
-
Write clearly and concisely.
​
Click here to read a revised version of the article below!
Click the image to open in a new tab!
"Trendy tragedy" was the first time I felt that "fire" for journalism. I think it is evident in my writing, because I do come in a bit hot opinion-wise. This article pushed me out of my comfort zone and into the new world of opinion writing. I am very proud of myself for putting my thoughts out there, especially during a very sensitive time in our history.
​
If I were to "start over" on this entire writing process, I would
-
Be much more specific in my examples of performative activism.
-
Organize my thoughts and improve the "flow" of the piece.
-
Shorten the length to read less like an essay.
-
Make the photo more relevant to the topic.
​
This article was also published in our online edition.
Click here to read a revised version of the article below!
Click the image to open in a new tab!
"Varsity girls soccer eager for 6A debut"
"Trendy tragedy: the rise of performative activism"
Editing the work of others
I edited "Dirty Dan, the jet ski man, written by 2022-2023 co-editor-in-chief of the The Bengal Beat, Diego Gonzalez, before its publication in December. While I am no longer an official staff member of The Bengal Beat, I edit and contribute articles whenever they are in need of an extra set of hands.
​
The graphic below (click to expand) shows some of the content edits I made. To see all edits, including grammatical and AP Style, click here.
​
Some key notes I made on his article are:
-
Expand on the story. Gonzalez typically wrote hard news articles and needed some support in going beyond the "who" and the "what".
-
Use contrast between two ideas to grab the reader's attention.
-
Make time for including the details.
"Dirty Dan, the jet ski man"
.png)
This article was published online as well as in our print edition seen below. Click the image to open as a PDF!
The Ambush 2022-2023, pg. 12-13
The spread below is a spread made by Envy Hawkins, staff writer for The Ambush. Hawkins was new to AP style, so the majority of my corrections were fixing small things such as attribution conventions. I created a graphic to represent the suggestions I gave her through the Book and in person.
​
Some key notes I made on her spread are:
-
Stay true to AP style. Ex. Only use "Name said" format.
-
Only take quotes from people in the photo.
-
Be mindful of dead space when selecting photos.
​
Click here to see an unmarked version of the edited spread below.
Edited
Click the image to expand!
Revised
Click the image to expand!
The gist.
-
Good writing requires good editing.
-
Revisting old pieces strengthened my understanding of journalistic writing.
-
Asking the author questions while editing allows them to come up with solutions on their own.