The opportunity of the beginning of a text

There are many first words that work as beginnings of text: the name of a work, the title of a section, the first paragraph, the first page, the first phrase of a paragraph... These are usually the places where a reader begins his journey through the text, and if – and only if – they’re attractive enough, will he give the following section or the following work a chance.

This is textual area of opportunity – maybe the last chance we have – to capture the reader’s interest so he’ll be compelled to keep reading, to not let go of the text, and to force himself to make time to read us.

How to correct your text

In order to make the decision on whether to keep or to take out some content, both the author and the text should be kept in mind. The text should be kept in mind to see if it can be supported by itself. We ask the question, “What’s the text mentioned above?” If we can find an answer (in other words, if we don’t get lost when we’re trying to find the answer, and the answer is there, clear and obvious), then we only need to see that it’s not discordant, and that it’s in the right place, with proper spelling and syntax. 

But, if we can’t answer the question based on the text, we need to ask the author. Look the author in the eye and ask him or her to answer, with a sentence or a word, what the above text actually is. If he can’t answer, or if he does with something similar to “What was just said, can’t you see it?” then we’ll both (author and corrector) have strong evidence that the problem is not the redaction, but rather a blurred construction, without clarity, that can’t be communicated because the reasoning that should be supporting it needs to be refined. This is equivalent to the test of knowledge: if I can explain something, it’s because I know it; if I get lost in the explanation, I don’t know it yet. So, before rewriting, we have to send the author back home with the homework of redesigning with more precision, not just his words, but rather his whole work.