The five editing passes I run before anyone else reads the page

Editing prose involves a methodical five-step process, each addressing a specific issue without mixing them. The first pass is the claim pass, where only the first sentence of every paragraph is read. If these sentences do not form an argument on their own, the structure is flawed. The second pass is the cut pass, wherein the first and last paragraphs of every section are deleted.

Often, drafts begin with a warm-up and end by reiterating the same point, which can be removed if the content remains strong. The third pass, the actor pass, requires that each sentence have a subject performing an action. Phrases like "it was decided" or "mistakes were made" obscure responsibility, so the actor should be placed at the beginning of the sentence.

The fourth pass is the concrete pass, where every abstract noun is underlined, and if the thing cannot be pointed out, it should be replaced or deleted. Vague statements such as "we improved performance" are replaced with concrete, measurable results, like "the page went from 4.1 seconds to 900 milliseconds." The final pass is the read-aloud pass, where the entire piece is read out loud.

Any stumbling points indicate where the reader is likely to stumble, and the fix is usually fewer words, not different ones. The order of these passes matters; many editors mistakenly start with the read-aloud pass and wonder why the piece remains dull. A crucial insight from editing others' work is that the writer usually knows which paragraph is weak but finds it difficult to cut it, as they invested time and effort into it. The job is to remove what they suspect, not necessarily to have a better taste than the writer.