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Cut Ten Percent

by TurboMarmot Creative Production › Editing

Start routine

40 minutes 6 Steps

  1. Set the target

    • Note your word count
    • Work out 90% of it: that's your target

  2. Cut throat-clearing

    10 minutes

    Delete openings that warm up before the point, and summaries that repeat it.

  3. Cut qualifiers

    10 minutes

    Hunt down very, really, just, quite, somewhat and actually.

  4. Cut repetition

    10 minutes

    Where you say the same thing twice, keep the better one.

  5. Tighten sentences

    10 minutes

    Merge short sentences that share a subject, and swap phrases for single words.

  6. Check the count

    • Under target? Done.
    • Over? Go back to the longest paragraph.