Line editing is a hard look at the language. Paragraph by paragraph, line by line, this process addresses how well the words tell the story the writer wants to tell. In a line edit, I’ll look at sentence flow and structure, word choice (in the context of tone and mood), clarity, dialogue, and patterns in usage (overuse of certain words, clichés, etc.). In addition, I’ll look for unnecessary words/phrases, extraneous information, and consistency in POV (point of view). I will point out sections that can be improved and make some suggestions for that improvement. 

In my triple-pass method, the first read-through is to get familiar with the overall style and tone, the plot, the characters, and to just take mental notes of anything that jumps out. In the second read-through, I will start to make edits and/or comments, using track changes and the comment feature within the text. In the third read-through, I’ll finalize those edits and comments, ensure I haven’t missed anything, and list any general observations, which will be sent in a separate document.