Chapter Ten
You have finished your final draft, but you are not finished. Now comes the edit. You should choose one or two people to help you edit your essay. Do not choose too many people because too many editors can muddy your voice. Listen to those editors, be they teachers, parents, or trusted others. They’re not always right, but they are your best hope to hone your essay—and avoid embarrassing mistakes. But, here’s the tricky part; don’t let them convince you to write something that makes you feel phony or uncomfortable. Editors are invaluable. You can’t do this without them. But trust your instincts too. If something strikes you as insincere or over the top, then it is likely to be. Remember, the final edit is always yours.
When you edit your essay, you have three goals and you must meet all three: (1) tell your story clearly, (2) ensure you are not confusing the reader, (3) come in at or under the word count. To accomplish these goals, there are two aspects to editing your paper—content and style. The content edit is to make sure you have put forth your story in an understandable way for the reader. This may involve taking out extraneous details or unnecessary sentences. Occasionally, if space permits, you may want to add sentences for emphasis to clarify your message. The style edit is to guarantee that every word and every sentence is exactly what you want to say as concisely as possible.
Here’s a little tip when you begin. The word count of your final draft is important. The more the draft exceeds the word limit, the more content you must remove. If your final draft is at or under the word count, you can do either edit content or style or do them simultaneously. You don’t have to worry about meeting the word count because you are already there.
If your essay is less than 10 percent over the allotted word count, do a style edit first. You may not have to remove any content. If your Common App essay is more than 650 but less than 715 words, or your 250-word supplemental essay is 275 words, you may be able to get down to the required word count without changing your essay but merely by rewriting your sentences so they are shorter and tighter. This is where you change “the reason being that” to “because” (three words saved immediately). “He did not understand, and he was not often on time” becomes “He was confused, and he usually came late.” In the second sentence you’ve said the same thing, made it clearer, and saved three words. Those words saved add up as you try and get down to the limit.
When your essay is more than 10 percent over the limit, it’s extremely hard to get down to the word limit simply by rewriting your sentences (saving 25 words with style editing alone is easier in a 650-word essay than it is in a 250-word essay). This means you may have to prioritize the points you are making—and take out content you might want to keep in. (Experienced writers have a term for this, believed to be coined by William Faulkner—“killing your darlings.”) That means don’t get too attached to a favorite sentence, turn of phrase, or metaphor. Often the ones that you most adore are the ones that just . . . don’t . . . work. Ironic, but true. Good editors will help you excise or fix belabored passages and phrases. Sometimes you just have to do it. It’s extremely difficult to shave 100 words or more off a Common App essay without killing some of your darlings.
As with so many other writing tips, there is no best way to edit your essay. These are our suggestions. First, send it through spell-check for spelling and grammar for obvious errors. Because you may have asked others (remember, not too many) to edit, see what they say before you edit. You should not blindly accept their suggestions, nor should you discard them out of hand. After reading their changes ask yourself two things about each change: Does it improve how I tell my story and does it make my essay sound better? Then decide whether to incorporate that specific change.
Taking suggestions from others requires humility. Don’t take criticism personally. The best example of this comes from the movie All the President’s Men, screenplay by William Goldman, who was one of the best screenwriters of his generation. In one scene, the neophyte reporter, played by Robert Redford (the actors are not important in case you are unfamiliar with them), hands in a story he has just typed. Another, more experienced reporter, played by Dustin Hoffman, who happens to be working on the same story grabs it from the desk and starts editing it. Redford is outraged, but Hoffman calmly explains to him why what Redford wrote was unclear. They argue and finally Hoffman says, “Read it both ways. If you think yours is better, use it.” Redford reads them both, puts his version down and says humbly to Hoffman, “Yours is better.” After that, they become partners on the story. Goldman’s point in that scene is that it takes humility to recognize that someone else might be able to improve your writing.
Once you have considered others’ edits, it’s up to you. The first thing we recommend is that you read the whole essay aloud (either from a printed copy or from your screen). Quite often your ear will pick up something your eye doesn’t see. (This is a good way to pick up a word you wrote twice in a row if spell-check missed it.) Something may not sound right, you see something you think you can leave out, or you may think of a better way to say it. Does your introduction make the reader want to read on? Are there transitions between paragraphs? Is the conclusion strong enough? Finally, does the essay tell the reader about you? If you’re satisfied on all those counts, put it down and come back to it in a day or so (this is a good reason you don’t want to wait until the last day).
When you come back to your piece, the next step is to read it sentence by sentence. Have you followed general grammar rules? Is each sentence clear and concise? Have you written any ambiguous sentences? (Example: I saw a girl in a boat on the lake with my binoculars. Who has your binoculars? Are you using them or does the girl in the boat have them?) Look at the adjectives and verbs you used. Are they right or could you pick better ones? Did you make any spelling mistakes spell-check might have missed? (One of us recently wrote a sentence using the term vice grip to indicate entrapment. Spell-check didn’t flag it because both words were spelled correctly. A sharp-eyed editor pointed out that the correct term is “vise grip.”)
One of our favorite editors had a saying, “If someone put a gun to my head and said, ‘Remove one sentence from each paragraph (because that will pick up the pace),’ what sentences would I remove in order to save my life? Then remove ’em.” Good advice.
When you are done with your line-by-line corrections, read the whole essay one more time. This is your final read. Does it sound right? If you are satisfied, you’re done. Move on to your other essays or whatever else you have to do to finish your application.
Some students don’t like to change their essays once they have written them, but good editing is almost as important as good writing. Remember every writer benefits from a good editor.