The goal of line editing isn't simply to make the words and the sentences prettier for the sake of being pretty.

It's to calibrate every word for maximum emotional impact on your reader.

In order to do that, you must understand what the global story is doing.

What is your story about?

And you must understand what the scene that you're editing is doing. What changes in this

scene? And why does it matter to the overall story? And from there, you can make micro, line level

choices that make that change really clear. Everything. Where to use dialogue or add interiority,

or describe the setting, where to expand with more moment-by-moment detail

and where to summarize, whether to say your character walks or strolls or paces or meanders,

everything, every single individual word choice is in service to that change.

Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo, and I'm here to help you write a story that works.

I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're

brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you.

So pick up a pen and let's get started. In today's episode, we're diving into a topic we don't

talk too much about on this show, and that is line editing. And this is a topic that has been

requested over and over again, so I thought we would go ahead and tackle it today. So what exactly

is line editing? Well, it's the process of refining your prose at the paragraph and sentence level,

so looking at word choice, sentence structure, rhythm, flow, and making sure every single line serves your story.

It is different from developmental editing, which focuses on the big picture elements like plot and character arcs,

and it's different from copy editing, which is about spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

So line editing sits right in the middle. It's about making your writing clear,

engaging, and effective. So for this episode, I asked three book coaches, Karen Fisher, Julie Arts,

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