Very Helpful! | Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print

Terrific for editing, but also for first drafts | Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print | Renni Browne, Dave King

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	• Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print Renni Browne, Dave King Harper Paperbacks, 2004 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 149 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

I won't be able to give you an honest opinion for a couple of months. This is the first straight forward book I've found on editing. Whether it's accurate in its assertions or not is still out with the jury. If I don't sell the manuscripts I'm working on, I'll blame this book's guidance. How's that?

Very Helpful!

This book helped me understand my own writing better. It also points out a lot of pitfalls to avoid.

Terrific for editing, but also for first drafts

I've found this book to be extremely helpful not just for editing a completed draft, but also for helping me get more right as I write, and even encouraging me to write in the first place. Sometimes I'll have a story that I want to tell, but I'll get stalled at the beginning; picking up this book and reading through some of the advice can jog me out of whatever has me stuck, because usually what has me stuck is one of the flaws that this book helps writers overcome. Highly recommended.

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I want my clients to read this book.

There have been so many reviews on this book, I will keep mine short. I've won awards for both my writing and my editing. Good writing is important to me and I midwife the work of writers who want their work to sing, dance, and get attention. I'm going to recommend this book to all of my editing clients--nonfiction as well as fiction. It is that good. It will save me time and angst; it will save them money and pithy editing comments from me. Thank you Ms. Browne and Mr. King!

Good basics; I like checklists

am a big self-editor. I don't want a professional editor or even my writer's group to see my writing before it's as good as I can get it. I'm like that in all parts of my life. I clean the house before my house cleaner shows up so she never knows how messy I really am.

I have a long list of self-edits I go through (checking for passive, the use of 'was', repeated words, etc.), but I found a book I like called Self Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. It covers everything one should look at in their mss in three different ways:

* Each chapter covers a multi-page summary on how to do it
* Each chapter includes a checklist at the end to apply to your own writing
* Each chapter includes exercises to allow you to practice the skill if it's one that is difficult for you

When I first bought Browne and King's book, I read the entire thing. Not much new in it from what I already knew about writing (I have nine published books), but it did include everything I considered important to a well-developed story. Here's a partial list of the skills:

* Show and tell
* Characterization and exposition
* Point of View
* Dialogue mechanics
* Interior monologue
* Voice

Now that I know I can trust it, I go directly to the checklists, to make sure I'm doing each part correctly. For example, here's the Show and Tell Checklist:

* How often do you use narrative summary
* If there's too much narrative, convert some of it to scenes (that works well to speed up a plot and turn dull into dynamic. I love this item)
* Make sure there's enough narrative so you don't bounce from scene to scene
* Does narrative describe feelings? No good.

Overall, for the meticulous writer, this is a good book. My creative friends who want to write of the top of their heads and refuse to be constrained by protocols and rules--I'd skip this one.

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Hundreds of books have been written on the art of writing. Here at last is a book by two professional editors to teach writers the techniques of the editing trade that turn promising manuscripts into published novels and short stories.

In this completely revised and updated second edition, Renni Browne and Dave King teach you, the writer, how to apply the editing techniques they have developed to your own work. Chapters on dialogue, exposition, point of view, interior monologue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an expert editor would go through to perfect your manuscript. Each point is illustrated with examples, many drawn from the hundreds of books Browne and King have edited.

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