not another book on editing

Yes, I'm afraid so, yet another book (a short one) on editing, written and edited by... me.  Why?  Let me explain.  Over the years of editing my own work, I've become aware of the myriad things that could be checked for in a piece of writing, especially fiction. These include the overview aspects such as focus of the story, interaction amongst characters; and the line-to-line editing, for example, unnecessary adverbs, laborious or incorrect verb forms.

Overwhelmed by these items lurching about my muddy brain, I made lists of them.  But this wasn't enough.  The task continued to daunt me, especially as I was still adding things to said checklists.  Then I thought of a way to make the process more systematic and manageable.  It worked well for me and I found myself desperate to describe it to anyone who'd listen.  So I thought: why not produce a booklet about it?  I did,  ThornBerry Publishing welcomed it, and thus Words'Worth: a fiction writer's guide to serious editing was born.

As the introductory blurb states, using Words'Worth won't compensate for a story which isn't worth telling or has multiple structural flaws.  If the basic craft is there,  however, following the method will make your writing tighter, stronger and more readable: the best it can be.  Quite a chunk of the book is devoted to the wonderfully applied term liposuction, which in writing terms means vigorously deleting any words which can't justify their space on the page - undoubtedly a time-consuming process, but a rewarding one.

Words'Worth is available in paperback from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/WordsWorth-Fiction-Writers-Serious-Editing/dp/1909734098/  

http://www.amazon.com/WordsWorth-Fiction-Writers-Serious-Editing/dp/1909734098/

In the meantime, here are some quotes on editing I stumbled upon:

I've found the best way to revise your own work is to pretend that somebody else wrote it and then to rip the living shit out of it.
Don Roff

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads. 
Dr. Seuss

Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.
 Patricia Fuller


Jane

P.S.  Since posting this, I have further edited it twice - Q.E.D., as the Romans would say:  quad erat demonstrandum.