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

Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea violates almost every concept that Self-Editing mentions, and it's a masterpiece. Hemingway uses thinker attributes in just about every paragraph of the sections that present the old man's struggle with the fish and sharks.

Some explanations on point of view are flat out wrong. The authors oversimplfy point of view such much that what they say is beyond useless; it's just incorrect. They say that omniscient POV is when you're outside all the minds of the characters. It's really just the oppoiste. Omniscient narrartors are all seeing and all knowing; they see inside the heads of all characters.

The points about repetion, dialogue, and beats are good though.

No one writes the way the authors of Self-Editing describe good writing, except in short stretches.

I don't recommned the book. The authors seem convincing because of their statures as editors, but they seem to have a personal agenda of steering writers to their unique conceptions of what good writing should be like rather than making writers aware of what good writing actually is, as practiced by established writers.


Maybe U're Looking 4 Self-Editing Skills--Not Writing Tips!   June 14, 2002
 31 out of 31 found this review helpful

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.


One of the 'Must Have' books for any aspiring writer   August 3, 2001
 30 out of 30 found this review helpful

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.


Great, but caveat...   December 22, 2001
 28 out of 32 found this review helpful

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.