Creative Writing Editing and Revision 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'copy editing'?
- Editing that corrects grammar, punctuation, spelling, consistency, and factual errors at the sentence level (Correct answer)
- Editing focused on story structure and plot
- The process of formatting a manuscript for publication
- Editing performed on promotional copy rather than books
Correct answer: Editing that corrects grammar, punctuation, spelling, consistency, and factual errors at the sentence level
Copy editing is the process of correcting grammatical errors, punctuation, spelling, consistency, and factual accuracy at the sentence and word level.
Question 2: What does it mean to 'cut for clarity' during revision?
- Removing unnecessary words, repetition, and tangential content that obscures the main idea (Correct answer)
- Shortening all sentences to under 15 words
- Removing all adjectives and adverbs from the manuscript
- Cutting chapters that don't advance the main plot
Correct answer: Removing unnecessary words, repetition, and tangential content that obscures the main idea
Cutting for clarity means eliminating redundant phrases, over-explanation, and tangential information that muddies your meaning and slows readers down.
Question 3: What is 'overwriting' in creative writing?
- Using too many words, excessive description, or elaborate language where simpler prose would be more effective (Correct answer)
- Writing at an unusually fast pace
- Including too many subplots in a single story
- Writing beyond the expected word count for your genre
Correct answer: Using too many words, excessive description, or elaborate language where simpler prose would be more effective
Overwriting is the tendency to use excessive description, purple prose, or unnecessary words where simpler, more direct language would create greater impact.
Question 4: What is 'passive voice' and why do writing guides often advise against it?
- Passive voice places the action's recipient as subject, which can obscure agency and weaken prose (Correct answer)
- Passive voice uses present tense verbs exclusively
- Passive voice avoids using pronouns in sentences
- Passive voice describes actions happening in the past
Correct answer: Passive voice places the action's recipient as subject, which can obscure agency and weaken prose
Passive voice constructs sentences where the subject receives rather than performs the action (e.g., 'The ball was thrown by him'), which often weakens sentence impact and buries agency.
Question 5: What is 'consistency' in manuscript editing?
- Ensuring uniform use of spelling, style, character details, timeline, and world rules throughout the manuscript (Correct answer)
- Making sure all chapters are the same length
- Maintaining identical sentence structure across the narrative
- Writing in the same location and time each day
Correct answer: Ensuring uniform use of spelling, style, character details, timeline, and world rules throughout the manuscript
Consistency in editing means ensuring that character names, physical descriptions, timelines, world-building rules, and stylistic choices remain uniform throughout the entire manuscript.
Question 6: What is 'showing restraint' as an editing principle?
- Trusting readers to infer meaning without over-explaining emotions, themes, or symbolism (Correct answer)
- Never writing more than one draft of a scene
- Limiting the number of characters in a single scene
- Avoiding all forms of figurative language in your writing
Correct answer: Trusting readers to infer meaning without over-explaining emotions, themes, or symbolism
Showing restraint means trusting your readers' intelligence—not over-explaining what you've already shown, not labeling emotions the scene already conveys, and not spelling out themes.
Creative Writing Editing and Revision 2
What is 'copy editing'?