Self-editing for fiction writers
"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 Brown and King have edited."--BOOK JACKET.
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- Sure!
"On Writing Well" by William Zissner
"The Elements of Style" by William Strunk Jr., E.B. White
"Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein
"Self-editing for Fiction Writers" by Dave King
- I'm going to piggy back on this so if you find the most accurate answer, I'd like to know too.
In my attempt to help, one of the most helpful books for writing (traditional fiction/nonfiction) is "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" - the maxim, "Show, don't tell" is the central theme and what I would recommend you consider, but tailor it to a technical aspect. Here's an example of telling vs showing -
That night, the father was very nervous while he waited while he waited for his daughter.
VS
He checked his watch. 1:03 a.m. The father noted his nail was almost chewed to the nub. He got up and walked to the window and peered out. He checked his watch again, still chewing on his raw finger. It was still 1:03 a.m.
See the difference? Showing typically takes more effort and time which makes it challenge for engineer-types whose livelihood often depends on efficiency and saving time. But the result is more powerful as you begin to empathize with the character.
I struggle with technical writing too so the only other advice I could add is to get OTHER eyes on your writing as much as possible, that fresh perspective is invaluable.
Also, amazon mturk has surveys that you can have strangers do quick surveys for like 25-50 cents a head (it's mercenary work so the survey needs to be quick)... but you can consider using it if you want to test clarity in your message - mind you, these will NOT be investors but if you are trying to explain a technical concept to outsiders, (investors probably won't understand why your pitch is so important) then chances are if you get 50 strangers on the internet to all understand your technical statement, you are probably in good shape.
- I spent four years in college for English literature. You can do that or you can just read the book 'Self-editing for Fiction Writers' and do the same thing in a tenth of the time.
The other thing you could do is to join a writers workshop, in person is always good but there's no reason why you couldn't join some remote thing. The caveat is that however big the workshop is you need to read everyone else's work and comment on it as well, which means if you have a workshop with four people you typically will need to read something for 4x for every one of your submissions.
The other thing to consider is whether you want to write fiction that is necessarily entertaining or literature that is compelling. Those are two entirely different disciplines.
Then simply write a single page every single day no matter what.
- Some faves for story development:
* Secrets of Story by Matt Bird
* Anatomy of Story by John Truby
* Breakout Novelist by Donald Maass
* Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
Enjoy!
- Recently bought "Self-editing for fiction writers" as it was recommended as a good book about not only editing but also writing itself.
The first chapter is named "Show and tell".
Here the authors also state the "show, don't tell" rule. They also show the difference between the two and give the advice to alternate both styles and in which context which style would be appropriate.
So yea "Show, don't tell" isn't a law you must strictly follow, but a rule, a guideline. As all rules it can be broken. At some point you should ask yourself "But when?" And this is how the rule invites to do further research on the "Show and Tell" styles.
- Reading or recently finished:
The Book of the New Sun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun
Influence: Science and Practice: http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Practice-Robert-B-Cialdini/d...
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: http://www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yo...
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_M...
Wraeththu: http://www.amazon.com/Wraeththu-Storm-Constantine/dp/0312890...
