Hi, I'm trying to tighten up my editing. Can anyone recommend a book they found particularly helpful? Thanks in advance.
Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Renni Browne https://www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690
My favourite is Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon. Very pragmatic, easy to apply approach, and you don't get the impression the author is lecturing you so much as offering helpful suggestions.
Yep. That one's the Holy Grail. It's so dipshit stupid you'll be smacking yourself in the head for making such common mistakes.
I took your advice and got this. Read it cover to cover. Will help guide me in my initial edits before I look for a beta reader. Best $3.50 I've spent in a long time!
Last night I ran across this on Amazon: The Copyeditor's Handbook It's for really serious copy editing, like if you intend to become a professional editor, or if you really reeeeally want to learn how to edit your own stuff. And f course it doesn't cover developmental editing, which would come first. I'm not really recommending it, unless you're totally obsessed about learning it in great depth. And as I understand it, it's considered a supplement or companion piece to the Chicago Style Manual, which is another huge expensive tome.
I have not heard or read good things about the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. When I updated recently I bought a lightly-used copy of the 16th edition. Unless you **need** to be working with the latest version, the 16th or even the 15th edition will probably be all you need. Similarly, I've read numerous negative reviews of the latest edition of Roget's International Thesaurus. Consequently, I have no plans to "upgrade" from my two copies of the fifth edition.
Also, try 'Intuitive Editing.' This was actually recommended to me by a professional editor. She said it taught her more than her degree course did!!!
