Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave

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Copyright
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Contents
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Introduction: You can be published!
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PART ONE: PUTTING WORDS IN......Page 16
CHAPTER 1: Your classroom? It’s your first chapter!
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CHAPTER 2: Why you should be a hooker
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CHAPTER 3: What’s your point of view?
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CHAPTER 4: Don’t be an information dumper
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CHAPTER 5: Your manuscript is a Christmas tree
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CHAPTER 6: William Brennan: A “Christmas tree” case history
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CHAPTER 7: Make your scenes work harder
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CHAPTER 8: Don’t discuss sows’ ears with silken words
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CHAPTER 9: You say your heroine doesn’t hate your hero? Too bad!
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CHAPTER 10: But they have to like each other, too!
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PART TWO: TAKING WORDS OUT......Page 62
Introduction: 21 Steps to fog-free writing
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STEP 1: Use fewer –ing words
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STEP 2: Use fewer infinitives
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STEP 3: Change passive voice to active voice
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STEP 4: Avoid “expletive” and “had ____ that” constructions
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STEP 5: Use fewer “hads” in internal dialogue
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STEP 6: Shorten verbs
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STEP 7: Eliminate double verbs
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STEP 8: Eliminate double nouns, adjectives, and adverbs
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STEP 9: Watch for foggy phrases
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STEP 10: Remove character filters
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STEP 11: Delete -ly words
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STEP 12: Get rid of all dialogue tags except “said”
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STEP 13: Now, get rid of “said”!
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STEP 14: Cut the dialogue!
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STEP 15: Eliminate redundancies
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STEP 16: Use fewer prepositional phrases
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STEP 17: Get rid of throwaway words
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STEP 18: Edit for conciseness
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STEP 19: Avoid clichés like the plague
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STEP 20: Get rid of superficials
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STEP 21: Stop those wandering eyes
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PART THREE: SHARING YOUR WORDS......Page 178
Introduction: Sharing Your Work
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CHAPTER 11: Critique partners
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CHAPTER 12: Professional editors
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CHAPTER 13: Publishers and agents
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CHAPTER 14: Writing the query letter
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CHAPTER 15: Writing the synopsis
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Appendix......Page 200
Solutions
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Sarah’s Perils Solutions
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Mystery on Firefly Knob Synopsis
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Novels used as examples
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Index
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About the author