Self-Editing For Fiction Writers [Paperback]

There's not much of the old-style editing going on at publishing houses today. Renni Browne, veteran of William Morrow and other publishers, founded the Editorial Department in 1980 to teach fiction writers the techniques professional editors (many of whom have gone independent) use to prepare a manuscript for publication. In this book, she and senior editor Dave King share their accumulated expertise in a series of brilliantly compact lessons. One page from their simply and markedly improved version of a scene from The Great Gatsby alone would make a compelling advertisement for their techniques. Very highly recommended. --MTB

Both novice and seasoned fiction writers can ensure themselves greater publishing success by correcting textual problems before submitting their manuscripts to an editor. This exemplary instruction manual offers readers the wisdom of two experienced editors who focus on writing/editing techniques (the mechanics of dialog, characterization, point of view, etc.). Adhering to fiction's underlying principle of "show and tell," this lively text includes both good and bad examples in each lesson. At the end of every chapter is a tip checklist to match against one's own work and two or three exercises with which to practice and reinforce the chapter's topic. A superb tutorial for anyone wanting to learn from pros how to polish fiction writing with panache.
- Cathy Sabol, Northern Virginia Community Coll., Manassas
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"A superb tutorial for anyone wanting to learn from pros how to polish fiction writing with panache.

"Both novice and seasoned fiction writers can ensure themselves greater publishing success by correcting problems before submitting their manuscripts to an editor. This exemplary instruction manual offers readers the wisdom of two experienced editors who focus on writing/editing techniques (the mechanics of dialogue, characterization, point of view, etc.). Adhering to fictions' underlying principle of "show and tell," this lively text includes both good and bad examples in each lesson. At the end of every chapter is a tip checklist to match against one's own work and two or three exercises with which to practice and reinforce the chapter's topic." -- The Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 11, 1993

"An entire book on improving what you've written is SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, which comes from professional editors who know their stuff." -- The Lost Angeles Times Book Review, April 11, 1993

"A superb tutorial for anyone wanting to learn from pros how to polish fiction writing with panache."--Library Journal

The term "editor" has taken on a new connotation in recent years. At today's publishing houses, editors find most of their time is invested in negotiating contracts, acquiring books, and lunching literary agents. Because this leaves so little time for working on manuscripts, even very strong submissions that need editing tend to be rejected. Writers who use this book can give their work the editorial attention it needs--before the book ever reaches the publisher's desk. A pre-edited book, short story, or article makes looks like the work of a professional rather than an amateur. As such, its author is far more likely to get published--and to become a better writer in the process.

From Renni Browne:

In the years since SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS was first pubilshed, the publishing trend that in part inspired the book has become more and more entrenched. In 1991 The New York Times ran an article on independent editors that attributed their existence to the decline of editing in publishing houses. In 1998, The New York Times ran an article on independent editors attributing their proliferation to editors and even literary agents' expectation or demand that a new writer's manuscript be edited before it goes out to them.

Until this book came along, paying to have your work professionally edited was the only was to accomplish the goal of submitting pre-edited work. Every writer can't hire someone to edit their work--and writers who can will save a great deal of money if the manuscript's writing style is technically professional to begin with.

Editing can only be learned, really, from another editor. The writer who learns to do it will have a better book--and be a better writer--as a result.

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.

Renni Browne and Dave King are two of the country's best-known independent editors. Over the years they have edited the work of many writers--including bestselling authors--before the manuscripts went out to agents or publishers.

In this book Browne and 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.

Every chapter contains hands-on exercises to help you apply these techniques to your own work. And illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist George Booth keep everything in perspective.

Renni Browne, once senior editor for William Morrow and other publishers, left mainstream publishing to found The Editorial Department in 1980. Her son, Ross Browne, now operates the company from an office in Tucson, Arizona, and maintains a website at www.EditorialDepartment.net. Renni writes occasional commentaries on writers and writing for a public radio station as well as articles for internet and traditional publications. David King, a contributing editor for Writer's Digest, owns and operates the Dave King Editorial Service in Ashfield, Massachusetts.