Be Your Own Editor
You may think that just because you are dealing with an editor you don't have to pay much attention to editing and you can leave that to the editor. However, in most cases the editors of magazines and periodicals are overwhelmed with many tasks — sorting through queries and proposals, acquiring articles, establishing the terms of assignments, editing specific articles and sometimes entire sections of the publication, and even writing articles themselves. What editors want to see when an article is submitted is a polished piece that has been rewritten, reworked, and edited by the writer so it's just about ready to go to production.
Less Is More
You know the saying “less is more.” Nowhere is this more appropriate than in writing articles. What was said in Chapter 1 about being concise and eliminating material that doesn't belong — no matter how important or wonderfully written — applies tenfold to writing articles. You have to be like a butcher cleaving the fat from the beef even if it means you might take a bit of meat with it.
In rewriting and editing, it's not always a matter of removing material. There may be gaps that demand more information, which you can spot if you read the piece from the point of view of the reader. So bear in mind that the editing process can also mean adding to the article.
On your first rewrite, it will probably be easy to see where you have gone off on a tangent or gotten a bit too personal. That means that any material that makes for a good conversation but is not needed for the article should be cut. The more difficult problem is determining what facts and information should go. In this case, anything that is not necessary to the story, even if it is extremely interesting, should be deleted.
Be Consistent
It should be fairly easy to detect your writing style and tone of voice after the first or second paragraph. Whatever the tone of voice, you must be consistent and maintain it throughout the article. In writing fiction, it is almost an absolute rule not to move from one point of view to another — especially with short stories. This is even more unequivocal when writing articles.
If you see the tone has changed from the beginning to something else later in the article, go back and see what style works best. Don't automatically think you must abide by the way you began the piece. It may just be that while you were writing you unconsciously deviated from the original style because it just wasn't working. The thing to remember is that you must have only one style, tone, and point of view.
