What Is Line Editing? A Guide for Indie Authors
- Iris Marsh
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You’ve finished your first draft—yay!
But what comes next may make or break your novel: editing. And while you might already know about developmental edits and grammar fixes, there’s another step that often gets overlooked: line editing.
You likely already do a bit of it intuitively as you strengthen the prose within your novel.
But it can help immensely to have a solid understanding of what line editing is, what common techniques are involved, and how it can strengthen your book.
So what is line editing?
In a nutshell, it’s the process of refining your prose line by line. You zoom in on your paragraphs and sentences to enhance your voice, clarify meaning, and elevate your writing style.
Line editing helps your story sound as good as it is.
If it sounds a bit overwhelming, don't worry: I will guide you through everything that's involved here. Let’s break down exactly what line editing is, where it fits within the editing process, and how to tell if it’s the right next step for your novel.
What Line Editing Means
Line editing is often called a stylistic type of edit. That’s because you’re not looking at grammar rules (that’s copyediting), and you’re not reshuffling scenes (that’s developmental editing).
It’s all about language—how each sentence flows, whether your word choices are effective, and if your tone, emotion, and character voice come through clearly.
I find many newer authors struggle with understanding the difference between the stages and what comes when, so let's talk about that next.
When does this stage happen?
After you’ve finished your first draft, you start with developmental editing. Once you’re happy with the big-picture elements, you zoom in with line editing. After revising your prose, you continue with copyediting.
In other words, line editing bridges the gap between developmental and copyediting.
Developmental editing: Fixes the big-picture issues—plot, structure, character arcs.
Line editing: Focuses on how you tell the story—your voice, pacing, and clarity at the sentence level.
Copyediting: Checks for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and consistency.
Proofreading: A final polish before publishing.
That doesn’t mean there’s no overlap.
Developmental editing vs. line editing
Developmental editing is the widest lens you can cast on your novel.
It focuses on structure, narrative threads, character arcs, scene organization, pacing, the effect of the setting, POV choice, inclusion of genre tropes/market expectations, and a lot more.
You might need to rewrite whole scenes, cut them, or even start from scratch.
With line editing, you look at how those elements come across in the prose. You don’t question whether they’re structurally sound.
You rewrite sentences, cut them, or do minor rewrites of paragraphs.
Developmental Editing | Line Editing |
Big-picture structure and story | Sentence-level style and clarity |
Looks at plot holes, pacing, and arcs | Refines voice, rhythm, and emotion |
May suggest rewriting whole scenes | Focuses on revising how scenes are written |
Copyediting vs. line editing
Copyediting is where things become more technical and rule-based and less subjective.
The lens through which you perform a line edit or copyedit is similar in terms of distance.
But a line edit focuses on improving clarity and emotional impact, while a copyedit focuses on improving for correctness, clarity, and consistency.
Copyediting | Line Editing |
Grammar, punctuation, spelling | Word choice, flow, pacing |
Follows style guides | Strengthens voice and style |
Fixes mistakes | Improves clarity and emotional impact |
Is Line Editing Necessary?
Now that we have a better understanding of what it is and where it fits within your revisions, you may wonder: Do I actually need line editing?
And the answer is: yes, 100%.
This one Reddit user phrases it best: “I won’t publish without a line edit.”
Why is that?
Proper editing of your prose will change your draft from “okay” or “meh” to “absolutely fantastic!”
This is the stage you will create all your beautiful sentences, cut redundancies, refine word choices, add artistry, and make your pages emotionally impactful.
Can you even imagine what a book will read like if you skip that stage?
I know that whenever I'm finished with my structural edits, my plot is sound. It works. There are set-ups and payoffs, characters grow, and there's a heap of conflict to keep things interesting.
But I also know that most of the writing is flat. If I were to move on to copyediting at that point, I'd miss all the opportunities for refining the story, trimming the fat, adding literary effects, and make my characters come to life.
And, maybe most important: there’s a bigger chance readers won’t emotionally connect to the characters. Because that’s what good line writing will give you.
What Does Line Editing Include?
Now you know you need it, but what in the world does it actually include? As I find visual examples the most clarifying, I've added an example below.
I asked ChatGPT to give me an example that shows some common prose issues. And it came up with something that summarizes what I see most with newer writers. There's a larger focus on "telling" the story through a narrator walking us through what the character experiences.
This is the original text (generated by ChatGPT):
The wind was blowing really hard outside, rattling the windows a lot. Sarah sat by the fire and thought about what had happened earlier that day. It had been a long, exhausting day, and she was still trying to understand everything. She kind of felt like things might never be the same again, but she couldn’t exactly say why.
These are the line edits made (mine, not ChatGPT):
Which results in this new text:
The wind howled outside, shuddering the windows in their frame. Sarah slumped by the fire, staring at the flames. The day’s events had drained her. Something is different, she thought. But she couldn’t exactly say how.
Common techniques
Let’s look at the above more clearly.
In the above example, you can see I exchanged weak verbs like “blowing really hard” for stronger ones (“howled”). I also elevated the tone by changing some word choices, such as “shuddered” instead of “rattling.”
Shuddering implies a shiver or tremble, which is quieter and more reflective. While rattling is more extreme and gives the sense of breaking and violence (although “howling” does that, too, so we might want to reconsider that word choice as well).
Then, I brought the narrative distance closer by removing the filter words (“thought,” “trying,” “felt”) and cutting the told prose. We show Sarah’s internal state a bit more by having her slump and stare.
Then I added a direct thought to bring us even closer to Sarah’s perspective and experience.
The original ideas of the author are still there. But it’s now more refined and closer to the character.
To summarize, when you focus on revising your prose, you can:
Strengthen character voice
Remove filter words to manipulate narrative distance
Remove unintentional echoes
Clarify vague language
Turn info-dumps into subtle information trickles
Fix “talking heads”
Remove “head hopping” or inconsistent POV shifts
Adjust tone to match the scene and emotional valence
Improve pacing by manipulating sentence length and punctuation.
And a whole lot more.
When Should I Start Line Editing?
We’ve covered quite a bit already, and I can understand that by now you’re ready to jump right into line editing to craft a standout novel.
Whenever I receive a request for a sentence-level edit, I want to make sure the client is already happy with their story thus far. While there's a bit more leeway if you're doing your own edits, it's better to have your brain focus on one type of editing.
You’re ready for line editing when you:
have gone through several rounds of developmental editing
have no more need to add, remove, or majorly revise plot points, scenes, and characters
are essentially happy with your plot, chosen POV and characters, worldbuilding details, and have included all the genre tropes/market expectations
have checked for plot holes and potential timeline issues
have gotten some critique on your manuscript, either from alpha readers or a professional editor (like a developmental edit, manuscript critique, or other service).
How long does line editing take?
A line edit can take quite long, and it’s also something that you shouldn’t rush. As with all things, you’ll get better and faster over time.
But consider this: according to a survey from the EFA, the average fiction line editor can edit about 5 to 8 pages an hour.
Assuming 250 words per page, that’s 1250–2000 words per hour.
You will be slower, especially at the start. To give yourself the best estimation, do the following:
Start a timer.
Begin your line edit. Continue until you’ve edited about 5000 words.
Stop the timer.
How many minutes did that take? Now divide 5000 by those minutes and multiply by 60. For instance, if it took you 600 minutes, you’ll get: 5000 / 600 = 8.3333; then x 60 = about 500. Meaning you can edit 500 words an hour on average.
Of course, you may not be able to edit those 5000 words in one sitting. Simply repeat steps 1–3 above until you reach 5000.
How do I line edit my own writing?
There are a lot of options and different methods for how to actually line edit your own work. It’s up to you to find the best process for you.
But that would be a sucky way to leave it, wouldn’t it?
So here’s what I would recommend:
Start with a scene and go from a bigger to a smaller lense until you’re happy with the scene before moving on to the next one.
Then mark all the descriptions of characters, settings, and so on. Evaluate what you’re describing and how. Is it long? Is it short? Is it necessary? Is it shown or told? Have you made use of the five senses? What kind of judgment is there in your word choices?
Mark all other exposition, which includes backstory, key information, and other narrative elements. In essence: everything you use to tell the story. What is the function of that bit of narration? Does the reader need it? What would happen if you left it out? Is there a way you can show this information? Or can you remove certain things from the exposition that are too explanatory? Do you have any unnecessary filter words? Are there info-dumps? Is the narrative voice consistent?
Continue with dialogue and thoughts. A nice trick is to isolate the dialogue and read it that way (so without tags). Can you still identify who said what? Each character should have some way to distinguish their voice. This can be in general (for instance, specific word choices or way they phrase things) and situational (dialogue patterns that depend on someone’s emotional state or who they’re talking to). Is there conflict in the dialogue? Repeated information? Is dialogue used as an info-dump?
Check the dialogue tags and action beats. Are the dialogue tags informative? Do they use strong verbs? Or perhaps you only use “said” and “asked.” Do the action beats convey information or are they redundant “filler” phrases? Things you repeat a lot?
Move on to actions, so the things your characters actually do. Are the sentences mostly active? Is the action necessary or do you use a lot of stage direction (meaning micro-actions readers can infer, like opening the door, entering, closing the door)? Do you use weak verbs or strong verbs?
Check the pacing. In general, short paragraphs and sentences increase the pacing, longer once slow the pacing. See where you want to speed up and slow down. Then revise sentences accordingly.
Finally, read it aloud. How does it sound to your ear? Anything that feels off? Try to identify what it is and revise.
Are there tools to help me?
If it all seems a bit overwhelming, I can relate. It’s a lot to pay attention to and a lot of techniques to master. Luckily, you don’t have to do it all at once.
To get better at line writing/editing, here are the books I highly recommend you read:
These are some excellent resources to start with.
For software tools, the most known ones are AutoCrit, ProWritingAid, and Hemingway.
These can help, but use them in moderation. They can be helpful in pointing out, say, where you use adverbs. But then it’s up to you to decide whether the adverb is effective or whether a stronger verb would be better.
Never follow it blindly.
Do I Need a Line Editor?
Since I work as a line editor, I’m inherently biased.
But as an author, I can only say that, if you have the financial means, hire a professional line editor.
That said, a line edit can easily cost around $2000 for a regular 80k novel, and I know not everyone can afford this.
Especially if you’re a newer author, you might benefit a lot more from a developmental edit instead. And then your budget might be spent.
In that case, see if you can fork over some money for a smaller line edit (say your first 10k words). It’ll make sure your opening pages come alive, which will draw readers in and entice them to buy.
Another option is a line writing assessment, where the editor edits a small portion of your manuscript and then gives you a detailed report with guidance for self-edits. But not every editor offers this.
If you want to hire a professional, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Ask for a quote and make sure what the constraints are, especially if they charge by the hour. You don’t want them to need more hours than they quoted and add that to your quote without asking you.
Contact several editors to compare quotes & ask all of them for a sample edit of your manuscript. Most editors will offer this automatically, some will charge a small amount for it (which will be deducted if you decide to work with them).
Don't only factor in price for your decision. Make sure the sample edits are in line with your vision of the book. And that their feedback tone fits with your preferences. Those things are a lot more important, especially since you’ll be forking over a lot of money either way.
Learn Line Edits & Create A Masterpiece
Line editing is an essential revision step that will make your writing truly stand out. It’s where your voice grows and strengthens—and where your story starts to feel like a book.
In short: it’s what will help you move from okay writing to great writing.
When you start your line edits, make sure all your structural edits are done.
These are your next steps:
--> No idea where to start or how to begin? Sign up for my free self-editing course!
You’ll get info on each editing stage, tips for self-editing, and recommended resources to learn more about each editing stage.
I do recommend you self-edit before you hire a line editor. It’ll improve your writing skills and bring down the costs.
--> Really lost as to how to self-edit line by line? Get a line writing assessment to help you along.
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