Skip to main content

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers.

There's a write-up today in the Star about Renni Browne's and Dave King's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. I have this book, and let me tell you, if you're a fiction writer, this book is one book you absolutely must have on your writing desk at all times. The book is a guide on how to edit and polish your finished manuscripts and is very handy when you want to figure out how to make your story better:
Self-editing is important because a writer will want his/her manuscript to be as strong as possible before an independent editor works on it.

The best way to learn editing is from another editor, and this book offers you that opportunity.

Renni Browne and Dave King, who are professional editors, take the writer through the processes that an expert editor would follow to perfect a manuscript – from dialogue and exposition to point of view, interior monologue and voice.
I don't have the dead-tree version of the newspaper right now, but I'm betting there's a cut-out coupon in there for some sort of discount for this book at Kinokuniya. If so, I would very much recommend you get your writing rump to Kino's and get this book, if you haven't already.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Lydia Teh9/8/06 3:27 pm

    Ted, there's definitely a discount coupon for it. That write-up made me want to dash to Kino to get it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ted Mahsun9/8/06 3:46 pm

    And very well you should! It's a very useful book. Almost like an editing bible for writers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sharkgila10/8/06 6:47 am

    'Dead-tree version' - I like this phrase

    ReplyDelete
  4. John Ling10/8/06 10:31 am

    Sounds like a book no self-respecting writer should do without!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ted Mahsun10/8/06 10:40 am

    Sharks: hehe... i think i must've "internalised" that one from some pro-ebook website or something.

    John: It is, very much so. I would certainly recommend it to you. I'm sure it could help tighten your novel manuscript the way editors want it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...
5 comments
Read more

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...
5 comments
Read more

An Ipoh Ghost Story.

When I was growing up in Ipoh in the 90s, the only good bookshops around were Mubaruk's, which specialised in textbooks (and still does), and Novelhut, the second-hand bookstore that used to be in Yik Foong (and maybe still is there, but I haven't checked in years since I prefer going to their Ipoh Parade outlet when I'm in town). There was also a pretty good bookstore in the Parkson Grand in Ipoh Parade which could have been a Berita outlet, but I don't remember. This was in the days before they expanded Ipoh Parade into what it is today. (And temporarily causing the Convent school next door to consider moving.) I recall this because I was thinking of when exactly I started reading "serious" fiction, trying to pinpoint the years when I moved from young adult/fantasy/sci-fi books into non-genre fiction. I still can't remember, but it brought back memories of a book I bought from a short-lived bookshop in Old Town. Mum had brought me there, because she must...
6 comments
Read more