Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" literally had me writhing. At least my toes curled and I kept saying, "Ouch," as chapter after chapter critiqued yet another one of my cherished writing habits ('Tom Swifties' for one). I have two suggestions for potential readers: (1) bypass "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" completely if you have a delicate ego; (2) if you do read it, stock up on several different colors of magic markers and keep your manuscript nearby. It will soon be streaming with color.

Renni Browne and Dave King also explain why self-editing, "is probably the only kind of editing your manuscript will ever get." Many publishing houses have eliminated the tedious step of editing a promising manuscript to bring it up to its full potential. If they like it coming in the door, the manuscript is published 'as is'!

I'm sorry, Renni and Dave. I had to use an exclamation point to end that last sentence. Your book explains why I've been struggling through so many bloated fantasy novels, lately. The editors who used to take a red pencil to them are now gone missing, probably in the interests of 'cost cutting'. And if there is anyone out there who still believes fantasy novels do get edited, read "Rhapsody: Child of Blood" by Elizabeth Haydon.

"Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" is not just for the unpublished. The authors take examples of bad dialogue mechanics or second-hand reporting right out of the classics and show us how to rectify them. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and P.D. James all take their lumps in this book, and once you've seen how Renni and Dave improve these authors' paragraphs, you will probably agree with them (I did). You also get to practice on "The Great Gatsby" yourself in one of the exercises that follows the chapter on "Dialogue Mechanics".

Each chapter except the last in "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" has a checklist that you can take to your own manuscript. I used all eleven of the checklists on mine, and all I can say is, thank God for the 'cut and paste feature' in word processors. This novel of mine originally started out on a typewriter, and I would have been forced to commit hara-kiri if I'd read this book before 'cut and paste' was invented.

Seriously, this is a most helpful book for would-be 'published' authors of fiction. I'll give it five stars for now, but I'm going to hack in to Amazon.com and up its rating to seventeen stars if I actually do get published. Right now, I've got a few more changes to make to my manuscript....

Read, follow the checklists, and complete the exercises included with each chapter. Check your versions in the Answers to Exercises section of the book. Applying the techniques within this book will help you write, not just for publication, but something that is memorable.

"Authors who sell well are almost always certain to go to the highest bidder, and publishers can't reasonably afford to develop an author for a competing house." (Browne, King) The business of publishing changed, and those great editors who supported their clients and helped create stellar books are gone. The business is about making money. Therefore, "self editing is probably the only kind of editing your manuscript will ever get."

Chapter 1: Show and Tell. The difference is 'to tell' is to describe what happened through a narrative summary, while 'to show' is to experience what happens. With the use of cartoon sketches, the concept is clearly revealed. Yet, pacing is important and you accomplish this by slowing the scene with narrative summary, or descriptions.

Chapter 2: Characterization and Exposition. "A lot of readers seem to feel they have to give their readers a clear understanding of a new character before they can get on with their story." This stops the story. Each character is psychoanalyzed and physical details are listed. It may not seem like a list, but it is. "When you define your characters the minute you introduce them, you may be setting boundary lines..." rather than letting your characters grow.

Chapter 3: Point of View. Many times a switch in POV is subtle, but it changes the perspective and makes it hard for readers to relate to the characters in the scene, story, or book. The first person POV is limiting, yet it is an excellent exercise because you can only know what "I" experience. The omniscient POV is informative, and narrative summary is an aspect. In using the third person POV, which is the compromise between the two, it is imperative to stay in one person's mind for the entire sequence, or no interior monologues by multiple characters.

Chapter 4: Dialogue Mechanics. "If the dialogue doesn't work, the manuscript gets bounced." Many writers hate to use said, but it is transparent and does not require the reader to interpret the author's expression, which has taken the reader into the writer's head and away from what the characters say.

Chapter 5: See How It Sounds. "The creation of character voice ... is one of the most ... challenging acts you can create as a writer." Why? Every individual is different, each has their own voice, and so must your characters. In addition, the dialogue has to be meaningful. An inane conversation does not move the story forward, it is boring, and it stops the story. Listen to your dialogue aloud. Would you say it?

Chapter 6: Interior Monologue. Thoughts are constant, they interrupt our conversations by taking our attention elsewhere. We live different lives in our own minds, so do your characters, it is emotion and perception that makes them real, and interior monologue is the technique.

Chapter 7: Easy Beats. This is rhythm. A waltz is playing, what do you see? It is the Tennessee Waltz, your images change. Patti Page is not singing the song, a reggae band is. Each change creates a different feeling because each type of music has its own beat or connection. Scenes, words, dialogue, and events pace your story. "Beats enable your readers to picture the action in a scene."

Chapter 8: Breaking Up is Easy To Do. Frequent paragraphs can add tension just as a rapid-fire talk show host does. Readers' eyes move down the page more quickly, which adds momentum. However, maintaining this pace will wear you out, there will be no sudden surprise. Slowing the pace lulls the reader, provides intimacy, and creates suspense. Both are needed.

Chapter 9: Once is Usually Enough. Repeating words, phrases, descriptions, and effects are boring. When a reader knows that a map is missing in chapter one, they still know it in chapter five, they know it until it has been found. "When you try to accomplish the same effect twice, the weaker attempt is likely to undermine the power of the stronger one."

Chapter 10: Proportion. The setup in chapter one must be resolved in the climax, but if another event becomes more important, then the impact of the problem resolution is lost. If the object is to find the missing map, then a duel in a romantic liaison cannot take half the book; the proportion is off; that single event becomes more important than the premise itself.

Chapter 11: Sophistication. This contains a very good description of "the hack's favorite construction." Take care in using -ing words or linking events with as.

Chapter 12: Voice. "A strong, distinctive, authoritative writing voice is something most fiction writes want -- and something no editor or teacher can impart." It is individual, it belongs to you, and to each character you create. They are different; make sure your interior and exterior dialogue for each character is theirs.

Five stars. I recommend two books to writers, this is one of them. The other is - The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile, by Noah Lukeman.


Victoria Tarrani

A lot of succesful published authors could learn from this book. It's written by two gifted editors who worked for major publishing houses and edited writers like Erica Jong and Sol Stein. I'm a professional writer (nonfiction)and writing teacher with a master's in language arts and I learned more about writing fiction from this text than any other source. It can't give you what you don't have in the way of ideas or talent, but it can make your writing much better and help you avoid the kinds of 'errors' (or weaknesses, shortcomings, and distractions where the author gets in the way of the story) that authors like Jane Smily, Le Carre,and Ruth Rendell DON'T make but that some popular writers I've really enjoyed (like Mary Higgins Clark and Ridley Pearson) DO sometimes make. Applying Browne and King's techniques has made my fiction so much stronger and given me answers to questions I've had for years about how to show characters' emotions without 'telling,' how to handle attributions and 'beats,' and other points of craft that can be learned. This is a wonderfully written, succinct, even brilliant book from people who really know what they're talking about. If my novel gets published it will be in large part because of the editing and final polish I was able to give it after studying this book. The first two editors and one agent I have approached want to read more chapters, and I think that's because of the improvements SELF EDITING showed me how to make.

After you've written the best story you possibly can and you're ready to send it to an agent- read this book and go back to the drawing board. Don't let the comic book illustrations fool you, this is a serious writing tool. The examples and techniques given by Renni Browne and Dave King in SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS are priceless. It will highlight the amateur mistakes unwittingly made by many first-time authors, which are screaming red flags to agents and an acquisitions editor. Your manuscript will then gain that extra mark of professionalism. The distinction between a first draft and a story they want to see published. I found the chapter on characterization and exposition most beneficial. I learn something new about my growth as a writer and areas I can excel each time I read it. I consider it to be as valuable a reference as my dictionary or thesaurus. I hope to see more collaborative efforts from professionals in the field of editing and publishing for the benefit of writers in the future that are as easy to understand and readily applicable.

When I read this book, I kept my fluorescent highlighter nearby, and took my time with every paragraph. All the subjects are here: show and tell, characterization and exposition, point of view, interior monologue, etc. The authors are editors themselves and give advice based on their editorial careers. What I enjoyed most were the exercises at the end of each chapter. And unlike most instructional books, this one has the answers to the exercises. After reading the book, I went back over my own work and splattered the pages with red ink. Of all the writing instruction books I've read, this one has been the most useful (and interesting).

This book is written in Laymen's terms so it's very simple to understand. One very mentionable thing is that many writers like me think they are looking for writing tips to improve their writing when in fact they're looking for self-editing skills on how to correct writing problems.

I was looking for info in which to strengthen my work. Get rid of the -ly adverbs and things such as telling how a character felt instead of letting the character speak for him or herself. That's just the half of it. Other things were knowing something was wrong with my work, but having no clue what it was, or if I did know, then having no clue on how to fix it.

Now there's no problem. Everything that I needed was in this book. The book explains how to balance dialogue with narrative, how not to weaken your work of fiction with overly poetic composition. There's much more. Such as trying not to force a voice you don't have. How to find your own voice. Basically everything. There's not one thing in this book that wasn't covered that had been a problem for me at some point or another. Now it seems that I have no more problems whatsoever, except maybe a little brush up on my grammar.

The entire book is well organized into 12 chapters that can be thought of as helping you work through 12 major weaknesses (plus many minor ones). It explains thoroughly on how many novices end up looking like novices or amateur writers by trying not to. For example, by trying to avoid the overuse of "he said," by replacing it with similar statements like he replied, he yelled, he blurted out. But that quickly draws attention to readers or editors and publishers that that's an act of a novice or just as bad--it draws the reader away from the story.

Also there's the chapter that helps greatly on keeping your characters from sounding too stiff and unrealistic. I thought I had all that worked out... then I read the chapter and found out that I was wrong.

And for those like me who have been looking for years for an organized system in which you may go through a creative writing process and then edit your work in a way that doesn't require you to become overwhelmed, or require you to intermix your editing with your writing. You will start to see just how it can be done as soon as pick the book up and start reading through several chapters. You'll know how to separate the two, and finally, what to edit and how to edit it.

The book is not missing any single problem that all writers haven't been through at one time or another. You double this book up with a good punctuation book or grammar book (just to strengthen your knowledge to help you avoid grammar problems) then you'll have a sure path to getting yourself published if you've got the ambition.

Most importantly, I think this book is a big blessing for people like me who might feel like if anyone else edited their work then it really isn't their work entirely.

There are just three or four 'absolute must have' books for aspiring writers who want to see their work in print. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is one of them. The most important points covered are 'Show and Tell', 'Characterization and Exposition' and 'Dialogue Mechanics'. Without this basic knowledge, you can never hope to become a successful writer. This book is dynamic. It contains specific, pertinent, and entertaining advice from two professionals.

Sol Stein (one of THE gurus of the publishing world) summed it up when he said: 'My students - including the published novelists - ought to read Self Editing for Fiction Writers once a year, the Show and Tell chapter even more often.

Editing a first (or tenth) draft is the fun part of writing. Renni Browne and Dave King tell you how to go about it properly (and successfully). Armed with this book and the gem of an idea, you're on your way to becoming a published author.

When I was in High School and college, I remember people searching for old quizzes. We wanted to know what was on the exam and focused our midnight oil burning sessions trying to mimic the success of past victims. Zuckerman and Stein are great on telling you how to build a good novel (I recommend them also) but Self Editing is the key to the exam. One of the main problem areas in my writing is telling instead of showing when only one character in a scene. I have read accepted works of fiction that had no dialogue and I would see many cases of what I thought was telling --I was thoroughly confused. Self Editing opened the heavens and now I can write a good internal monologue instead of telling. I learn best by example and this book has example after example. If I had found this book a year ago, I would probably be finished with my novel. I have spent hundreds of dollars on writing books and I consider this one to be my most valuable reference. I could spend hours praising the authors for their clear and concise lessons. My only regret in this review is that I can't give the book 10 stars.

Great, but I offer a caveat: don't let it paralyze you. You have to have a bit of confidence in your writing to read this book, as you will undoubtedly find many things in it that you do which these editors say is a no no. But I find that if I follow their advice slavishly, it sort of takes away the uniqueness of individual writing. But it is great advice, though I don't necessarily agree with their statements on attribution--i.e., that he said, she said is the absolutely only way to attribute a speaker's words. Their statement that "said" is as transparent as punctuation is highly illogical, because I certainly get tired of seeing it after awhile. However, many of their other comments are right on target, and you will feel yourself smarting afterward. My advice--skim it before you read, write your work, and THEN give this book a good rereading, eliminating the bad habits that you missed from your text. Don't dwell, though, and trust your instincts if you disagree.

You wouldn't be here if you weren't interested in writing. Perhaps, like me, you also wouldn't be here unless you had also experienced some degree of professional rejection of the manuscript you thought was full of promise.

I sent my as-yet-unpublished novel to a literary agent. I wasn't surprised to not be accepted - there are plenty of famous stories of rejection of everyone from Tom Clancy to Stephen King - but I was encouraged to receive a page of constructive criticism from the agent. Among his suggestions: Read Browne and King's "Self-Editing". I did and immediately the glaring deficiencies of my manuscript stood out as plainly as a Naked Cowboy in Times Square. I took these words to heart and reworked the entire manuscript. I have no idea if the manuscript will find a professional home - but I am certain it is better, much better, than it was.