What Is the First Stage of Editing? A Simple Guide

ANSWER (provided at the very beginning)

Stage 1: The First Piece of the Puzzle – Structural Editing

The starting point of editing your work, is the first stage of editing; often referred to as developmental or substantive editing. At this point, you’re looking at the overall structure and flow of your content – the big picture. This stage should be done before getting into the nitty gritty of grammar and spelling corrections.

Some Key Points to Remember

• Don’t get too caught up in the small stuff yet – Structural editing is all about letting go of your attachment to the individual sentences and just focusing on how the whole piece hangs together.
• Grammar can wait – If you start worrying about commas and spelling before you’ve got the overall structure right, you’ll end up wasting a lot of time.
• The editor is looking at the overall flow – This stage is all about checking that your content is in the right order, that there are no gaping holes, and that you’re not including anything that’s not needed.
• Making big picture changes now will save you a whole lot of time later on – Think about it, if you get the overall structure wrong, you’ll be rewriting entire sections of your content.

What’s All the Fuss About?

You’ve finally finished writing that article, blog post or video script of yours and – let’s be honest – you’re feeling a mix of relief and anxiety. Your instincts are to dive in and start correcting all the little errors you can see – but before you do that, stop.

Let’s face it – no matter how nice your writing looks once you’ve tidied up the spelling and punctuation, if the flow is all wrong and the different sections don’t fit together properly – it’s still going to feel like something’s not quite right. And no amount of tidying up the little things is going to magically fix those problems.

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So What Is This First Stage of Editing?

The first stage of editing is structural editing. It’s all about looking at the overall organisation and effectiveness of your content. This is also sometimes referred to as developmental or substantive editing, depending on the exact terminology you’re using in your industry. The key idea here is that we’re looking at the overall structure before we start worrying about the finer details.

At this stage, the editor or writer is looking at the content as a whole, checking to see that the structure is logical and whether the content is actually achieving its intended purpose. They’re not worried about grammar, spelling or punctuation yet – that can all come later.

An editor at this stage would ask themselves (and their writers) questions such as:

• Is the content logically laid out?
• Does the introduction of the content give the reader a clear sense of what to expect?
• Are the different sections in the right order?
• Is there anything in the content that is just not needed?
• Does the content actually achieve its intended purpose?

The Questions to Ask Yourself

At this stage, you want to be asking yourself (and potentially your editor or co-writer) questions like:

• Does this content work as a whole?
• Does it achieve what it’s supposed to achieve?
• Is there anything unnecessary or missing in the content?
• Is the flow and organisation of this content clear and logical?
• Does the introduction do a good job of setting the scene and pulling the reader in?

Why Terminology Can Vary

The first stage of editing might go by a few different names, but whatever it’s called – some editors call it structural editing, others developmental editing, and yet others substantive editing – the goal is always the same: take a close look at the overall structure and content of a piece of work.

The number of different editing stages can vary, too, but most often you’ll come across one of three models: three stages, four stages, or five. In the four-stage model, structural editing is the first up, while in a three-stage model, it might be known as substantive editing. Not exactly rocket science, but the name itself isn’t as important as the purpose: getting the big-picture problems sorted out before tackling the smaller stuff.

WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE FIRST STAGE OF EDITING ENTAIL?

The first stage of editing involves a super thorough review of the content as a whole.Editors typically do the following checks as part of this stage:

Reviewing the overall structure: Can we say that the content is logically put together? Does it have a clear beginning, middle and end, or is it all a bit of a jumble?

Checking the flow of ideas: Does the text flow smoothly from one point to another, or are there any jarring jumps or gaps that might pull the reader up short?

Marking down any sections that aren’t adding value: Are there bits that don’t add anything to the content, or are there any repeats of what’s been said before?

Plugging any gaps in the information: Are there holes in the content or are there bits of important info missing?

Checking whether the content actually meets its intended purpose: Does the content deliver what it’s supposed to, or is it not quite hitting the mark?

Rearranging bits if need be: Should sections be moved around to improve the flow? Would a different order actually make more sense?

Flagging major content problems before moving on to sentence-level editing: The key thing here is that it’s a waste of time to get bogged down in perfecting grammar in a section that might eventually get cut or completely re-written from scratch.

WHY DO WE DO STRUCTURAL EDITING FIRST?

Structural editing is where you start because it’s the foundation of good solid content. Here’s why:

Fixing grammar before getting to grips with the structure is a waste of time. Just imagine spending an hour tweaking the grammar in a paragraph that you eventually decide to remove. You’ve just wasted an hour of your time. It’s completely unnecessary. By checking the structure first, you avoid all that hassle.

Structural changes can affect big chunks of text. A structural change might mean re-writing an entire section, moving a paragraph around or adding new stuff. If you’ve already had a go at copy editing that section, you’ll have to do the whole thing again, which is just frustrating.

This stage improves clarity and makes the whole thing more enjoyable to read. The end result is a piece that’s easier to get through and more persuasive too – a well-structured piece will achieve what it’s supposed to do far better than one that’s a bit of a mess.

Good editors solve major problems before getting bogged down in minor errors. It’s just common sense: sort out the big stuff first and the little stuff will fall into place much easier.

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EXAMPLE OF THE FIRST STAGE OF EDITING

Here is a simple before-and-after example to show how the first stage works.

Before Structural Editing

The Problem with a Clumsy Article Structure

I’ve got a great example that really brings this home . A writer once submitted a manuscript to a publisher that was riddled with typos. You can imagine this is not a good start. Then we’ll take a look at some of the key issues that can make an article structure fall apart.

Grammar Rules are Important but Not the Main Event

Grammar rules are essential to good writing, but they’re not the only things that matter. For example did you know that the rules around verb tenses can be really finicky. What’s more important is making sure your story has a solid structure.

Why Structure Matters

The structure of an article is what holds everything together. It’s what keeps the reader following along and understanding the argument. Without a clear structure, your article is going to feel like a jumbled mess.

Then We Get Back to Our Writer

But our writer didn’t learn from their first experience – they submitted another manuscript with typos and other problems, and then we were lucky enough to work with them to improve their writing. This story wraps up the article nicely and gives us a chance to highlight some of the key points.

The Conclusion – What You Need to Take Away

By this point you should have a pretty good idea of how to structure your article so that it flows well and effectively communicates with your readers. The next stage is to take all of the ideas and advice and incorporate them into the article itself.

First Stage of Editing vs Other Stages of Editing

Here is a simple table showing how the first stage fits into the overall editing process. Note that some people use different terms to refer to the same editing stage – but the overall flow is the same.

In different frameworks, the names may change. Some call the first stage “developmental editing.” Some combine structural and content editing into a single “substantive editing” stage. But the principle is the same: fix the big picture first.

WHAT SHOULD YOU CHECK DURING THE FIRST EDITING STAGE?

Use this checklist when applying the first stage of editing to your work.

Is the content logically organized?
Does the structure make sense? Are the sections in a logical order?

Does the introduction establish the topic?
Does the introduction grab attention and set expectations? Does it tell the reader what to expect?

Are sections in the right order?
Does each section build on the previous one? Would a different order improve the flow?

Is anything unnecessary?
Are there sections that do not add value? Is anything repeated? Can any section be cut without losing important content?

Is important information missing?
Are there gaps in the content? Does the content address all the key points? Is there anything the reader needs to know that is not included?

Are ideas repeated?
Does the content say the same thing in multiple places? Can repetitions be consolidated or removed?

Does the content achieve its intended purpose?
Is the content useful for the intended audience? Does it achieve what it set out to do?

Is the overall flow easy to follow?
Can a reader move through the content without confusion? Does one section lead naturally to the next?

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CONCLUSION

The first stage of editing is all about getting the overall layout of your work right. That means sorting out the big picture stuff before you even start worrying about grammar or spelling. Its the way you lay out your content that will make or break it.

When you’re doing this stage of editing, you’re checking that everything is in the right order, that makes sense and flows smoothly. You’re looking for bits that dont add anything, repetition, and gaps in the content. You’re trying to fix the major problems before getting bogged down in the small stuff. And it makes sense, because sorting this out first will make everything else flow much more smoothly.

Doing structural editing first really pays off in the end, because it stops you getting bogged down in the small stuff and means you can focus on making your content good. And its not just a question of saving time, its a question of making sure your overall content works. After this, you can move on to content editing, copy editing and finally proof reading but its all started with getting the big picture right.

Remember to get the structure right first and the rest will fall into place.