Paws & Prose: Powers of an editing stick

Is it a drumstick? A chopstick? Wand? Nope, it’s an editing stick! Ok… it’s a chopstick really, but who says that something has only one purpose? Maybe it has another. For example, a useful writer’s tool to help edit your latest Work in Progress!

Everyone always tells you to proofread your work, right? But you still miss stuff because your brain, being your brain, tells you that you put genes not jeans in that all-important science essay. We had a lecture at university about editing our work and one of the suggestions was this chopstick—something to go into the writer’s toolbox.

But the chopstick, it forces you to pause as you read. Especially if you move it around as you read aloud. You know, some people are very active talkers. I’m one of them, can’t help but move my hand as I talk and I have noticed others are the same too.

The important bit, I think, is you read aloud, waving the stick. And you don’t notice something is wrong verbally or while you are moving until the stick stops following along. The editing stick before this was following you line by line, word by word and suddenly, there’s a slight pause before it catches up again. That bit of no movement, that’s your brain registering whether it’s a mistake

The Story Behind the Editing Stick

I know it sounds odd, but it works. So let me tell you the story behind my editing stick.

Last year, I sat in on the radio module. It was a small class, perhaps a dozen or so students in the room.  Once, the lecturer came in with several chopsticks bunched up in his hand like a bouquet. He puts all but one on the desk and starts up a powerpoint. As he talks through the slides, he waves the chopstick around.

By now, everyone was probably wondering why he had a chopstick in his hand. When he finished a section of the powerpoint, he would ask us questions. The people who engaged in the discussion got a chopstick, by the end of the presentation, many people had one. Naturally, we started acting as if we were given a wand crafted by Ollivander or were challenged to a duel (edit: this was before JK Rowling expressed her opinions on matters). It was great. We felt safe to act like kids.

He then told us that it wasn’t a chopstick and he received comments back agreeing, many saying it is a wand or sword). He said they were neither wand nor sword, but an editing stick; used to point out errors in our work.

What is an editing stick?

It is a writer’s tool for editing. Whether you are writing a story, screenplay or article, the stick is there to help.

It works by holding the stick in your hand as you read aloud. Your hand will naturally move the stick across the page, and if there is a word or sentence that does not make sense, the stick will remain still, indicating a problem in your writing.

You try the sentence again, but you can’t get past a word—the stick won’t allow you. So you review that word or the whole phrase and read from a point higher up. If it moves on, you have fixed the problem, if not try again.

I love this idea. It’s so simple.

I haven’t always used it, but when I have, I have found that it works. Just that moment of no movement and I know there is something that I must fix.

Edit: after writing this post, I learned that I am dyslexic. Now, all my non-dyslexic friends have found that this editing chopstick has worked for them also, but I think if you have dyslexia, it also helps with any writing barriers that you may have because of that. It’s an awesome writer’s tool and while I may not have my original anymore, any stick-like thing can take its place. A pencil, a pen…. anything with a point. I highly recommend it.

My plan for my editing stick.

Anyway, I’m thinking of decorating mine and would love your ideas. I know people in class have started turning them into Editing Wands—in the theme of Harry Potter. I could go with the wand theme, not sure. I tried paperclips but they kept falling off. Would love something that isn’t fully permanent but would last more than 5 minutes. I get bored of the same designs.

To all the writers out there, I do recommend trying this method. You may be surprised how much it will help you. It has helped me with my coursework so far, as well as my stories and my scripts!

You can probably get them cheap from The Works and Amazon. I know The Works sells lollypop sticks, they’re probably just as good if they don’t have chopsticks. And this editing stick doesn’t take much effort to use either, so you know… nothing stopping you from getting one and using it pretty much instantly, other than yourself.

Before you go

What did you think of this writer’s tool? Would you try it? What stories come to mind when you think about trying it? Is it a Work in Progress that you have been struggling with?

If you have tried it already, what did you think and has it helped? I would really love to hear your thoughts, as well as any other techniques that you use and find work. Writers supporting writers.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have, why not read some other writing tips and content. There are plenty on here: 12 Key tips to writing your dissertation and 3 antagonist types, Bad guys that will interest your audience just to name a few.

And please do follow me on here, Facebook or Twitter Bluesky. I will be posting more writing tips… also do feel free to sign up to my newsletter. It will let you know all of my posts for the last month!

~Shannon~