X-TREME EDITING - A to Z CHALLENGED

X is for X-TREME EDITING
with a big red X

Each post for the A to Z Challenge is the challenge I set for myself.  

Hard work around the house
 was the first x-treme sport ;)

X is for X-TREME EDITING. For the editor (and the teacher in me) who prints out a final copy and uses red pen and large Xs to remind me which sections I need to re-write.

HAL LONGLEAT AND THE TROUBLE WITH TRUTH

There have been a lot of different versions of the hook for this book.

1^st VERSION:

Hal hid in the shadows by the stable door. He hoped no one would notice him standing back from the competition. He didn’t know why the challenge had been called but everyone knew that the knight, de Moreville, had named the prize.

2^nd VERSION:

Hal hid in the shadows by the stable door when everyone else crowded forward to get a better view. He chewed on his grubby fingernail. He rubbed the top of the short nail against a tooth. It scraped and clicked and filled his head with noise.

CURRENT:

Hal hid in the shadows by the stable door when everyone else crowded forward to get a better view. He was as quick, and thin as a hungry rat, and ready to dart back inside if anyone came to find him. 

Could YOU have been gifted with the ability to identify and eliminate weak and brittle phrases from your work? To the uninitiated, these interlopers look like quality imagery.

CLICHÉ RAIDERS: REWRITE!

I don’t have a lot – my xiphias gladius clichés are thin

•           X-rated

I PRINT OFF A RED PEN COPY FOR MY FINAL EDIT. FOR X-TREME EDITING, I CHOOSE THE X – for not good enough – AND USE IT, A LOT, TO DRAW ATTENTION TO SECTIONS THAT NEED WORK. WHAT IS THE SUBJECT OF YOUR X POST?