self editing

Writing Tight Week IV Cause and Effect and Power Words Cause and Effect My critique partner refers to this common writing mistake as C & E. I like to think about it as action and reaction. What happens is that the author shows the result before the action occurs. The windows rattled as thunder...

Week III Exercise Here is another piece to edit. Think about when speaker attribution is necessary for clarity and when it might be excessive. Consider action beats to show the character’s personality and emotion through body language. Eliminate excess description by grounding the reader in...

Savvy Authors Workshop-Writing Tight Week III Action Beats I am a baby boomer. In first grade I learned to read with books like Dick and Jane. The word said, was the first speech tag I learned. “See Spot run,” said Jane. Speech tags are necessary to all fiction writing for they attribute...

Exercise Week II See how many directional words, stall phrases and vague words you can find. Delete or change them into a stronger sentences. Icy rain pelted down on Molly’s windshield. Even through the rapid swish of her wipers, she could barely read the Search and Rescue Dogs decal in the...

Savvy Authors-Writing Tight Week II-Unnecessary Words This week we’ll take a look at words that fill space on the page, but don’t necessarily contribute anything to the story. Directional Words Directional words are those which show the position of an object or person. They are important to...

1. Here are a few paragraphs for you to edit. See if you can change this passive, all telling, boring piece into an active, engaging one. Look for passive sentence structure, thought words, and was+ing's. I'm not looking for a total rewrite, just tightening. Tom pulled his horse to a stop on...

Week I-Active Writing In the same way a driver is careful to monitor their gas mileage by not wasting gas, as writers, we need to do the same with the words we choose to put on paper. During that all important first draft the only thing that matters is putting words on paper. We let them flow...

Welcome All, to Writing Tight. My name is Kathy and I write primarily historical romance. I live out in the country where tractors and Amish buggies frequently travel the roadways. My husband and I raised three kids while we farmed together milking Jersey cows. Although we sold out years ago...

Learn what editors look for when they are going through your manuscript. There's much more to see than basic plot. Michelle explains how an editor evaluates your overall manuscript and the details of what is checked and marked during an edit. Armed with this knowledge, you can look at your...