Posts Tagged ‘editing’
Avoid Passive Voice
Why was the road crossed by the chicken?
When a sentence starts with the thing being acted upon rather than the thing doing the acting, that sentence is in “passive voice.” For example, if you ask me where the hat is that you lent me, and I reply, “It got lost,” I have used the passive voice. A more honest and direct answer, using the active voice, would have been “I lost it.” Read more »
Subscribe to the comments for this postSamurai Editing
It’s said that a good editor is like a samurai. Proficient with both the pen and the sword, he—can’t really call a samurai “she,” can I?—slices with precision, but without hesitation. And slicing is the first step in editing your manuscript. Read more »
Show, Don’t Tell
An exasperated author I know once wrote back to me saying, “Yeah, everybody says that: ’show, don’t tell.’ But I can’t figure out what they mean! How do I know which is which?” Read more »
The First Five Pages, by Noah Lukeman
When I’m looking over a manuscript that’s been submitted to me for publication, the first thing I do is read the first five pages. At that point, I might toss it, or I might decide to read more. Apparently I’m not the only editor to take this approach.
Noah Lukeman is a successful literary agent, with plenty of experience rejecting manuscripts. In The First Five Pages he shares that experience with the reader, giving good advice about how a manuscript can be improved in the revision process to make it more likely to be accepted. If you’re thinking of doing your own editing, read this first.
Woe Is I, by Patricia O’Connor
"There are two kinds of editors. One sticks in that wherever it will fit. The other kind takes it out. They’re both wrong." — P. T. O’Connor
Woe is I is subtitled “The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English,” and I can’t describe it better than that. O’Connor solves many of the stranger mysteries of English (”He resents me going” or “He resents my going”?) without resorting to the vocabulary of a high-school English teacher. Read more »
Getting the Words Right, by Theodore R. A. Cheney
"A merely good piece of description can be transformed into a memorable one by cutting away what disguises it." — T.R.A. Cheney
Getting the Words Right is full of detailed explanations of how revision can improve a piece of writing. I’m especially fond of the first section, "Reduce". Read more »
Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is probably the most relied-upon of all the style manuals, and is very comprehensive. It’s hefty, but worth picking up when you’re having trouble. Read more »
