A Book Every Writer Needs - Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

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You’ve seen all kinds of reviews on my blog, but all of them are fiction. Today, I’m bringing you my first nonfiction writing reference review on Self-Editing.

I first heard about this book from Sarina which you can read her review on the book. I trust her judgment on writing books and decided to give this one a try.

As writers, we have to self-edit multiple drafts by ourselves before sending it over to an editor, critique partner, beta reader, or self-publishing. But you can’t catch everything yourself. That is where Self-Editing for Fiction Writers comes in handy. This book provides you with strategies to keep from making simple mistakes when you’re editing your hard worked book. From POV to dialogue, this book makes self-editing a bit easier.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers

Author(s): Renni Browne & Dave King

Genre: Nonfiction

Publication Date: April 13, 2004

Goodreads Synopsis: 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.

Source: Owned paperback.

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We all want to be the best editor we can. Especially of our own work. However, we might not always pick up on the little pieces of writing that need to be addressed before we hit publish.

That’s why Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is a great book. It helps you through the common mishaps us writers go through when we edit our own work.

That’s why Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is a great book. It helps you through the common mishaps us writers go through when we edit our own work. Share on X

Depth of Content

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End of Chapter Summary

Exercises

Sometimes Vague Descriptions

From the very first page, I knew I was going to enjoy Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. This book covers 12 topics of self-editing in detail with exercises with their answers to practice with. The chapters also include examples before and after edits. I suggest reading this book before starting your edits. I know I will be using it for reference for years to come.

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