Book Review–Self Editing for Fiction Writers

I started reading this after my return from Asia. Wanted to work on my self-editing abilities because they always can use more honing.

Renni Browne and Dave King have a great approach to self-editing and divide the book into 12 chapters tackling major areas that writers need to focus on.

Some of the topics I was familiar with such as: voice, showing and telling, point of view, see how it sounds. Still reading their view on these topics helped cement not just what wasn’t working but why it wasn’t working.

And I’m a why person. Just telling me what doesn’t stick unless I know why. Browne and King seem to know this and make sure to explain the why.

There were a few topics completely new to me such as: proportion, easy beats, and sophistication. I learned a ton there.

What I loved most about this book was that each chapter included a cute cartoon drawing to poke fun at the topic. It was a great break from the reading and also made each self-editing lesson stick in my memory.

The book includes many before and after examples from actual clients they worked  with to show you exactly how to do what they taught in the chapter. The end of each chapter includes a key points section and also practice examples for the reader to take on (btw answers are given in the back of the book.)

This book was a fabulous learning tool for self-editing. Teaching you what you don’t know you don’t know. Probably one of the top 3 books I’ve read on editing.

Thanks to Renni Browne and Dave King for improving my writing. 🙂

You can pick up a copy here on Amazon.

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