The Busy Writer's Self-Editing Toolbox

Book excerpt: Editing a manuscript involves far more than doing a spelling and grammar check and fixing up a sentence here and there that doesn't flow. You need to know (a) the common mistakes that authors make (so you can avoid them or fix them) and (b) all the things that can affect a reader's opinion of your book. How The Busy Writer's Self-Editing Toolbox Will Help You In this handy self-editing guide, you will discover: # How color-coding can give you an instant snapshot of any problems with repetitive phrases, dull dialogue, style and tone, and problems with person or tense # Common errors made with viewpoint, and how to fix them # Important understandings about viewpoint # How to edit and polish dialogue so it sounds natural # The DOs and DON'Ts of writing dialogue # How "too much" of anything can ruin your story and alienate your readers # General tips on building your skills With The Self-Editing Toolbox at your elbow, you will understand exactly what you need to do so your story moves from being just average to one that wins you a loyal band of readers. If you're a beginner, then The Busy Writer's Self-Editing Toolbox will save you hours of time—and probably quite a few rejections. If you're more experienced, then you can just dip into the Toolbox for whatever you need to help you with those problem areas. Here's what some satisfied users of the Self-Editing Toolbox say about it: "I used this when editing my books… Once you know what to look for and how to fix it, these self-editing techniques make your writing tight and powerful." [D.J. Stutley, author of Operation Foxtrot Five and 4 others in the series.] "The Self-Editing Toolbox really is every writer's essential guide to editing their book to submission standard: easy to follow, yet effective. The color-coding makes it so easy to sort the rough spots from the prose that glows. I still have some polishing to do but my test readers say they can't wait for more chapters as my characters 'live off the page.' I love they're so hooked by a story that I was struggling to finish and feared I couldn't develop to its full potential. I so nearly gave up on this WIP. With The Self-Editing Toolbox, you really have taken the hard graft out of writing." [Viv Adams, Romance Writer]