FAQ - Writer Tips

Editing as a Blood Sport

By Nik Morton 

Published in The Writing Magazine, September 2008 and reproduced with permission

www.writingmagazine.co.uk  

‘Good writers appreciate intelligent editing; sadly, bad writers don’t like being edited.’

‘... editing can be the fine line between surgery and butchery.’

   

It may be a heretical thought, but books are not necessarily acquired by publishers for their literary quality but perhaps for their story content and their subject’s commercial appeal. That’s why they need editors.

 

I’ve edited magazines and books and found that the more editing I do, the better my own writing becomes. That’s one of the secrets of acceptance, actually. Yes, if your book has been accepted, it may cross my desk (or screen, in fact) and I will edit it. But the process can be a great deal faster and the book can be published much earlier if only light editing is required. For that reason, I would make a plea to all writers: the final author edit is vital. To achieve that final edit, step back from your work and appraise it with fresh eyes. Never send off a manuscript unless this final read-through has been done with a critical eye. As a commissioning editor I’ve rejected many manuscripts because it was obvious that this final re-read wasn’t performed.

 

If you’re going to be edited, however, that’s all in the past. You’ve been accepted and finally you’re allocated an editor! Time for celebration – then the worry sets in: scare stories of butchery, disagreements and abandoned contracts? Probably not. But a legitimate concern is: how does the process work? How much red ink is going to be splashed over your pristine pages?

 

In the old days, an editor and author might have worked on the book together physically. This is no longer necessary. Many, like me, work on the screen and communicate via email and attachments. That remoteness is only in spatial terms, not in the relationship between author and editor.

 

Naturally, an author is very close to her creation. It may have taken many months or even years to get to this stage. It is a cliché, but some authors liken their books to their ‘babies’ and can be very defensive. That’s quite understandable. Showing respect to a difficult author can be a problem, too. Authors can be demanding, dense or even exasperating, rejecting even the smallest proposed changes.

 

Editors are there to spot the inconsistent, the illogical and the incorrect items that the author couldn’t identify because he was too close to the work. The author knows what he means, but is it clear to the reader? Are the events and actions depicted in a logical way? An editor is always striving for clarity of understanding.

 

I begin the working relationship with an author by proposing changes. The emphasis is on the ‘proposing’. I’m not in the business of insisting on rewriting the book to suit my sensibilities. In the final analysis, it’s the author’s book, not mine. An editor strives to make the author look good by improving the book’s appeal and flow. Good writers appreciate intelligent editing; sadly, bad writers don’t like being edited.

 

Editors should follow the credo, ‘Do no harm.’ Harm is done by altering the author’s style or the meaning of the prose. A few writers might believe that editing is a blood sport and it’s their baby being hunted. To retain the blood analogy, editing can be the fine line between surgery and butchery. A bad editor will butcher – this may occur with an article or a short story, but rarely with an accepted book.

 

In the good old days, editing required a knowledge of printers’ marks – hieroglyphics for copy preparation and proof correction; they’re still used, of course, and a selection can be found in the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. But now they’re not essential since electronic pdf (portable document format) files are being used by more and more publishers. The pdf files save on trees, too. I proof corrected my last two books for Robert Hale using the pdf file they sent through the ether.

 

My editing is usually done in red on the electronic copy. I accompany the changes with a separate commentary sheet, explaining my reasoning. Some insertions are self-explanatory. I’m looking for spelling and typographical errors, lax or inconsistent punctuation and grammatical errors. All of which should rarely appear, if the author has done an adequate final self-edit.

 

Every writer – me included – will unwittingly re-use a particular word more than once in close proximity; this is called the ‘echo effect’ because that word is simply echoing in the writer’s head at that time. Elsewhere it may be a different word entirely. I will point out word repetition by underlining the culprits; occasionally, I’ll offer alternatives, or I may leave it for the writer to seek a more suitable replacement. Successive sentences or paragraphs beginning with the same phrase or word can be tedious and again will be highlighted, asking the writer to seek variations.

 

Generalisations in fiction are not helpful to the reader. The author’s aim is to create imagery in the reader’s head – not overly detailed, but enough to assist the reader in visualising the scene, character or situation. You can’t do that with generalisations; wherever possible, be specific. If you mention a dog, why not define its breed? If your hero drives a car, allocate a make. If your heroine wears a dress, specify its design or at the very least its colour.

 

At times, a scene may be too hurried or inadequately conveyed; the author hasn’t used all of the scene’s potential and this may be pointed out, to improve the drama, to create atmosphere and enhance characterisation.

 

Sometimes, there may be a need to point out where an excess of ‘tell’ has been allowed to survive to the detriment of ‘show.’ Naturally, it depends on the story’s flow, whether to show or tell. If you’re in a dramatic scene, it has more emotional impact if you show the scene through the eyes and heart of a character, rather than simply describing what is happening.

 

Good writers have a visual sense. They see what is going on in each scene, very much like a movie producer, and write down that scene so that the reader can see it too. I may from time to time highlight a section that would benefit from additional visual cues.

 

Inevitably, an editor will identify clichés, mixed metaphors and malapropisms. People use cliché in their everyday speech, so it may be appropriate in characters’ dialogue. Otherwise, the writer is advised to find fresh ways of saying what is meant. Literary writing tends to require the metaphor, but ensure that it isn’t strained. If the reader has to stop and think about the writing sense itself, then the writer isn’t doing his job properly. The cliché phrase ‘lost in a good book’ means exactly that. Any time the reader is pulled out of the world of the book, the writing is not doing its job.

 

That brings us to the story flow. These days it is rare for an adult to find time to read an entire book at one sitting. Chapters and time breaks are useful, as they provide points where the real world can intrude. Those are designed breaks, however. As an editor I don’t want to falter over an inept description, an inconsistent logical issue or an impossible scene; that stumble pulls me out of the story and upsets the narrative flow. Style is equated with story flow; each word and each sentence follows the next, without any aberration to impede the reader’s progress.

 

Striving for good narrative flow also entails seeking an economy of words. I’ve encountered writers who say the same thing in three different ways in one paragraph. Ideally, say as much as you can with as few words as possible.

 

All writers should read widely. Naturally, they should read the majority of the works within the genre with which they’re familiar. That’s what is meant by ‘write what you know’; the phrase doesn’t mean, ‘write about your boring job in the office.’ Editors too need to read and should have an interest in many subjects as this broad knowledge can be essential for spotting inconsistencies and inaccuracies. I need to know enough about any given subject to raise questions that a book’s potential readership might ask. Wherever possible, I will check the author’s research to ensure that it’s correct. Of course, the author shouldn’t be derelict in the research department, either, thinking, ‘Oh, the editor can check all that.’ In truth, it’s unlikely that a writer with that cavalier attitude would get accepted!

 

My library of books to assist me in editing is also useful for guiding me in my writing. They include The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors, The Good English Guide, Copyediting – a practical guide, Usage and Abusage, The Complete Plain Words, Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves, The Economist Pocket Style Book, The Times Guide to English Style and Usage, the Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases, Collins Thesaurus in dictionary form and the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, as well as about a dozen specialist dictionaries.

 

Editing requires perseverance, but it’s fun and really satisfying when you see an author’s book hit the shelves. The odd acknowledgement is quite nice too.

 

Nik Morton is a book editor for Libros International. His latest crime thriller, ‘Pain Wears No Mask’ and his psychic spy thriller ‘The Prague Manuscript’ are now available.

www.freewebs.com/nikmorton.

Showing versus Telling

We all know that we should be 'Showing not 'Telling' in our writing. Showing presents itself in immediate sceneses, what you can actually see. It often involves dialogue. I thought it would be useful to provide some examples:

 

The girl was bored. (telling)     >    The girl sat twiddling her earing, hardly listening to a word he said.  (Showing)

 

The man was furious. (telling)  >    "Get out of this fecking house," he shouted as he slammed the door behind her.  (Showing)

You should try to write at least 1 full length article every week for syndication and submit your article to at least 10 article syndicators.

You should try to write at least 1 full length article every week for syndication and submit your article to at least 10 article syndicators.

Stairway to Heaven; Willie Meikle talks us through the steps

Hi, I'm Willie, and I'm an author.

If that sounds like an AA introduction, it might be more apt than you think. Writing is an addiction, and I'm hooked.

I started nearly ten years ago now. Before that I had a vague idea that I might like to be a writer, but I'd never sat down and done anything about it apart from one abortive attempt at just the wrong time in my personal life. That all changed in the early 90's when I settled down and my wife bought me a word processor. Suddenly I discovered that it had been the mechanics of writing that had stopped me in the past. All I had needed was something that allowed me to get words on paper almost as fast as I was thinking. I was comfortable with the WP, and I started to write.

Since then I've had over 150 short stories published in the horror and fantasy genre press, I've slowly changed career so that I work as a technical author for a living, and I've recently sold my first novel.

In this article I'm going to share what I've learned so far, but remember, I'm still on the steps as well, just a bit higher up. If you look closely you'll see me encouraging you upwards. I'll be writing from a fiction writer's viewpoint, but most of what I'll say applies just as well to non-fiction.

Step 1: Get an Idea

 

I've read many writers discussing where ideas come from, from the highbrow discussions of the muses and "the White Goddess" to Stephen King who gets his from a little ideas shop on his street corner.

Reading helps as well. I firmly believe that you can't be a writer without being a reader. If you're stuck for an idea, read something by your favourite writer. Then ask yourself "How would I have handled a similar situation?"

For me, they come visually, like photographs of a particular scene. I look closely at the scene, and the participants start to move and talk. The story forms from there.

Whichever way the idea comes, hold on to it. Don't let it go. Ideas are precious and there are only so many new ones to go around. I carry a notebook at all times in which I jot them down. It tends to be full of fragmentary pieces of information such as "Remember the fat man with the umbrella", but it is enough to jog my memory later on.

For example, my first writing idea came to me when I saw a kid pointing at ice in a puddle. I thought 'What would happen if the ice ran out of the puddle and up his arm?' My brain gave me the picture and my first story was born.

Step 2: Write It

This is the important bit.

Many people get to step one, get a fully formed idea in their heads then they never go any further. They look up the staircase ahead of them, decide it's too steep, and they stop. (Personally I'd shoot them for using up a perfectly good idea, but that's just the addict in me taking over)
Here's Willie's first rule:

• Don't look up to the next steps until you've completed the one you're on.

At this stage, the most important thing you can do is sit on your rear-end at a table and write. It doesn't matter what medium you use, pen and paper, word processor, charcoal or crayon. Get the idea out of you and onto something else. Only then can you sit back and look at it without passion. And quickly following the first rule comes the second:

• Always read what you've written and rewrite if necessary

Editors are always commenting on the amount of rubbish they receive. A lot of this could be avoided if authors re-read what they'd written before sending it out for consideration. This is especially true in these high-tech days where the click of a mouse can send a submission around the world in seconds.

With my first story I worked and worked and worked at it for about a month before I thought it was right. Then I sent it, and it kept coming back saying it was overwritten. So that brings us to rule 3:

• Know when to stop.

If you find yourself describing in minute detail the way your hero scratches his bum, you probably need to stop (unless you're writing for some of the more specialist top shelf magazines, but I won't go into that.)

Step 3: Send it

 

OK. You've got your work written down and you've read it until your head hurts. Now comes the difficult bit.

Who do you want to read it? Have you got a market in mind? It's not going to be any use sending a science-fiction story to a war magazine, or a horror novel to Mills and Boon.

It's time for some research. Most of you will have your favourite magazines, periodicals and books. Do they publish anything like you've written. If

Hi, I'm Willie, and I'm an author.

If that sounds like an AA introduction, it might be more apt than you think. Writing is an addiction, and I'm hooked.

I started nearly ten years ago now. Before that I had a vague idea that I might like to be a writer, but I'd never sat down and done anything about it apart from one abortive attempt at just the wrong time in my personal life. That all changed in the early 90's when I settled down and my wife bought me a word processor. Suddenly I discovered that it had been the mechanics of writing that had stopped me in the past. All I had needed was something that allowed me to get words on paper almost as fast as I was thinking. I was comfortable with the WP, and I started to write.

Since then I've had over 150 short stories published in the horror and fantasy genre press, I've slowly changed career so that I work as a technical author for a living, and I've recently sold my first novel.

In this article I'm going to share what I've learned so far, but remember, I'm still on the steps as well, just a bit higher up. If you look closely you'll see me encouraging you upwards. I'll be writing from a fiction writer's viewpoint, but most of what I'll say applies just as well to non-fiction.

Step 1: Get an Idea

 

I've read many writers discussing where ideas come from, from the highbrow discussions of the muses and "the White Goddess" to Stephen King who gets his from a little ideas shop on his street corner.

Reading helps as well. I firmly believe that you can't be a writer without being a reader. If you're stuck for an idea, read something by your favourite writer. Then ask yourself "How would I have handled a similar situation?"

For me, they come visually, like photographs of a particular scene. I look closely at the scene, and the participants start to move and talk. The story forms from there.

Whichever way the idea comes, hold on to it. Don't let it go. Ideas are precious and there are only so many new ones to go around. I carry a notebook at all times in which I jot them down. It tends to be full of fragmentary pieces of information such as "Remember the fat man with the umbrella", but it is enough to jog my memory later on.

For example, my first writing idea came to me when I saw a kid pointing at ice in a puddle. I thought 'What would happen if the ice ran out of the puddle and up his arm?' My brain gave me the picture and my first story was born.

Step 2: Write It

This is the important bit.

Many people get to step one, get a fully formed idea in their heads then they never go any further. They look up the staircase ahead of them, decide it's too steep, and they stop. (Personally I'd shoot them for using up a perfectly good idea, but that's just the addict in me taking over)
Here's Willie's first rule:

• Don't look up to the next steps until you've completed the one you're on.

At this stage, the most important thing you can do is sit on your rear-end at a table and write. It doesn't matter what medium you use, pen and paper, word processor, charcoal or crayon. Get the idea out of you and onto something else. Only then can you sit back and look at it without passion. And quickly following the first rule comes the second:

• Always read what you've written and rewrite if necessary

Editors are always commenting on the amount of rubbish they receive. A lot of this could be avoided if authors re-read what they'd written before sending it out for consideration. This is especially true in these high-tech days where the click of a mouse can send a submission around the world in seconds.

With my first story I worked and worked and worked at it for about a month before I thought it was right. Then I sent it, and it kept coming back saying it was overwritten. So that brings us to rule 3:

• Know when to stop.

If you find yourself describing in minute detail the way your hero scratches his bum, you probably need to stop (unless you're writing for some of the more specialist top shelf magazines, but I won't go into that.)

Step 3: Send it

 

OK. You've got your work written down and you've read it until your head hurts. Now comes the difficult bit.

Who do you want to read it? Have you got a market in mind? It's not going to be any use sending a science-fiction story to a war magazine, or a horror novel to Mills and Boon.

It's time for some research. Most of you will have your favourite magazines, periodicals and books. Do they publish anything like you've written. If not, are their other publishers who do? Take a trip to the library and newsagent and make a list of markets. Rank them in your order of preference. Here's rule 4.

• Know what your chosen market wants before you send them your work

Again, editors receive a lot of stuff that is not even close to what their readership wants.

Most markets give out writer's guidelines. Write to the editor and ask for them. Then study them and make sure your work is suitable. Then you can send it off to the highest ranked market on your list, remembering to provide return postage in the envelope.

And now you wait.

not, are their other publishers who do? Take a trip to the library and newsagent and make a list of markets. Rank them in your order of preference. Here's rule 4.

• Know what your chosen market wants before you send them your work

Again, editors receive a lot of stuff that is not even close to what their readership wants.

Most markets give out writer's guidelines. Write to the editor and ask for them. Then study them and make sure your work is suitable. Then you can send it off to the highest ranked market on your list, remembering to provide return postage in the envelope.

And now you wait.

Writing Fantasy - Six Cliches to Avoid by Willie Meikle

Fantasy fiction is doing good business at the moment, but there are certain situations that have been overplayed. So much so, that they have become genre clichés, and everybody knows what to expect next. If you're a writer in the fantasy genre, here are 6 clichés you should try to avoid in your stories.

 

1. Receiving tutoring from the old wise man.
The 'Merlin' gambit, as used in Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Dragonslayer and innumerable King Arthur clones. A stable boy or other similar seemingly low-born type is taken under the wing of the local eccentric. There's usually a beard involved, and a pair of blue eyes piercing from beneath some spectacularly bushy eyebrows. He'll say things like: 'All of nature is one', 'Use the force' and 'You have a great destiny, my boy.' Try not to give him a grey cloak and an elven sword. Maybe you could try having the youth tutoring the old man for a change? Or, more radical, how about having the teacher as an old woman?

 

2. Learning to fight.
The 'Galahad' gambit. The stable boy gets secret training in weaponry, allowing him to beat a seasoned warrior in his first fight. People say: 'I've never seen the like before' and 'He is the best swordsman I have ever seen'. Now how realistic is that? A radical idea would be to have the stable boy being completely useless at weapons. How is he going to fulfil his destiny then?

 

3. The parting from everything you ever knew.
The 'Dick Whittington' gambit. The stable-hand, being under a geas to complete a great quest, must say goodbye to hearth and home. People say: 'I must go and fulfil my destiny' and 'I will return when I have avenged my father'. This is usually done with a great deal of schmaltz and emotion. Sometimes it is done violently, the hero being parted from family by the villain of the piece, who he is destined to kill at the end of the story. Either way, it has been done so often that any tears you are expecting to provoke could well be due to laughter. Try to do something different. Why does the hero have to leave his family? What would happen if he took them with him?

 

4. Being abducted from earth to a different world.
The 'John Carter' gambit. People say: 'How did I get here'' and 'You have been delivered to us in our hour of need'. This one was heavily overused in the early and mid-twentieth century by H Rider Haggard and A E Merritt among others. Usually it is no more than a ploy to get a character the writer is comfortable writing about into a fantasy situation where said character could never otherwise exist. Edgar Rice Burroughs liked it so much he even had it happen to Tarzan on occasion. And it still happens, the most obvious modern examples being Thomas Covenant and the various present day characters that Stephen King has recruited into his Dark Tower series. Maybe your hero could be someone from another dimension who gets transported to Earth? Or maybe he stays where he is, but everything changes around him?

 

5. The multi-race bar room.
The 'Inn at Bree' gambit. It happens a lot in science fiction a-la Star Wars, but it is just as common in the fantasy genre. After a thirsty day on the road, our heroic stable boy and his companions will visit an inn. Inside, there will be representatives of different races from the world created for the story. The innkeeper will always be fat and jolly, there will always be a silent stranger in a dark corner, and someone will sing a silly song giving the writer his chance to show off his invention of other-worldly lyrics. How about having a human trying to get a drink in a dwarf-only bar, or vice-versa? There should be plenty of opportunity to add tension there.

 

6. Discovering hidden family truths.
The 'Ugly Duckling' gambit. The stable boy gets to the final climactic battle, only to find that his adversary is his father/mother/brother/sister etc. People say: 'It was kept from you to protect you' and 'You cannot kill me, I'm your father'. This has been so overused, it even turns up across genres: witness Luke Skywalker confronting Darth Vader for example. A variation is to have the hero find that he is suddenly a prince, or even king. This says more about the writer's own desires than it does about the plot. Wishful-thinking fantasies do not usually make strong stories. But what would happen if the hero already knew his background, but his adversary didn't?

 

The next time you read a fantasy story, count how many of the above are still in use. I think you'll be surprised. It's even worse in film and television, where all of them can occur in any one movie, and often do. Just look at Star Wars - it contained most of them, and still made huge amounts of money.

 

And that's also why the above should be taken with a pinch of salt. Clichés still have their place in popular culture. Just don't take that as an excuse to use them yourself. At least not too often.

Ten Story Beginnings to Avoid by Willie Meikle

In the same way that editors don't want to see an ending they've seen before, equally, there are some story beginnings that have been done to death. Here are ten you shouldn't use.

"It was a dark and stormy night."
The "weather report" gambit. Not only is it a lazy way to start a story, but this one was voted "Worst story opening of all time."

 

"I hadn't seen her in the bar before. She was pale, but interesting."
The "Vampire pick-up gambit" Or maybe they're a werewolf, or alien, or serial killer. Or maybe the narrator isn't what he or she seems. Either way, the story turns out the same, and the editor will have given up long before he got to the end.

 

"The man with the piercing eyes and pointed beard asked 'What you would give to have your heart's desire?"
The old "Pact with the Devil" gambit. Only try this if you really have sold your soul for fame and fortune - all other permutations have been played out years ago.

 

"I thought he was supposed to be in Vegas, so I was surprised to see ........."
Almost as old as pact with the Devil stories is the "I talked to a ghost" gambit. Cavemen probably told this story to each other around their campfires. And you think an editor hasn't heard it?

 

"I woke up in the dark, and all I could feel above me was velvet, and beneath that, wood."
The "buried alive" gambit. Those cavemen probably knew this one as well. A variation is the "Sixth Sense" gambit where the narrator is already dead. Do you think the editor didn't see the film?

 

"They gave me a really good going over, and I vowed there and then to have my revenge."
The "Clint Eastwood" gambit. Generally a sign that you're going to be explicitly violent. Even if the editor wants that kind of stuff, they'll want a better plot than this.

 

"I've always felt strange around the time of the full moon."
The "werewolf" gambit. Even Michael Jackson knows about the effects of the moon on certain people, and you know how cut off he is from reality?

 

"I got a strange feeling when I saw the sarcophagus arrive in the storeroom."
The "mummy" gambit. Even more old-hat since the recent blockbuster movies. Shambling piles of bandages just don't hack it in the 21st Century.

 

"The red-haired FBI agent turned to her partner and said...."
Editors watch television too you know. The only place to send these, and those concerning teenage vampire slayers, is to fan-fiction web sites. Even there you have to have an original plotline. Rehashes of episodes just won't make it.

 

"What would you do if I gave you three wishes?"
The "Leprechaun" gambit. And guess what - the protagonist gets screwed on the third wish. The editor will be asleep before you get to wish number two.

 

There's only so many good ideas floating around. Remember, if you've seen something like it before, then the editor will have too. Try to make sure your idea is an original one.That way you might get an editor to read past page one.

 

Then you've only got the middle and the ending to worry about, but that's two completely different articles.

How to Stay A Happy Amateur by Willie Meikle

Are you happy being an amateur writer? Do you want to stay in that happy state? Then just follow these tips in all your submissions.

 

Don't address the editor by name. After all, there may be many editorial staff at the publication just waiting to jump at the chance to read your work, and you don't want them to miss out do you?

 

Don't use double spacing. You never see articles or stories published in double space do you? So why should you bother double spacing your work, when someone is just going to have to convert it to single spacing later?

 

Don't bother checking your spelling or grammar. That's the editor's job isn't it?

 

Don't send return postage. Why should you assume they'll return your work? That's defeatism. If they want to publish it, they can write you a letter - surely they can afford that? And as you've paid to send it to them, surely they can pay to return it?

 

Don't put your name on the manuscript. They're bound to keep your manuscript and the cover letter together aren't they. No one would ever file correspondence and submissions in different places. Neither would they keep your letter, and send your submission to someone else to appraise it. That never happens.

 

Don't tell them how many words it is. Surely they can count?

 

Don't use a standard font. Everybody else does, and you want your manuscript to stand out from the crowd.

Don't use a new ribbon or cartridge. Why waste ink when the manuscript will get re-typed before publication anyway?

 

Don't tell them you've sent it to other editors. What they don't know can't hurt them. And you can always play one editor off against an other when they both offer you publication. Surely they'll understand that they can't expect an exclusive look at your work without a guarantee to publish it?

 

Don't read the publication's guidelines. Your work is so good that they'll have to publish it, even if it doesn't fit what they say they want. They just don't realise that they want it yet, that's all.

 

Just follow the tips above, and you're guaranteed to remain a happy amateur for ever.

Five Ways to Immediately Improve Your Writing by William Meikle

As a writer it is all too easy to concentrate on the mechanics of submitting work to editors and to forget that the writing itself is of primary importance. We should all be constantly seeking to improve. If we do that, editorial approval will become that much easier.

To that end, here are five things you can start doing today that will immediately improve your writing, and with it your chances of getting published.

Improve your vocabulary

Buy a good dictionary, and learn a word every day. Play around with it, using it in sentences, in dialogue and description. As you go along, make a list of the words you've learned. At the end of the month, try to write down a definition beside each word. If you can't remember what the word means, look it up again, play with it again, and leave it on the list for another month. I guarantee your vocabulary will grow in leaps and bounds.

Read more

You can't come up with an original idea unless you know what isn't original. So read as widely as you can, both within your chosen area and beyond.

I write, and read, horror fiction, but I also read the classics, crime fiction, science-fiction, fantasy and the occasional airport blockbuster. I also read non-fiction, in the fields of astronomy, biology, parapsychology, archaeology, religious history and mythology.

Everything is grist to the mill, and little is ever wasted. If nothing else, it allows you to feel superior while watching "The Weakest Link".

Deconstruct writing that works

When you read something that strikes you as a fine piece of writing, or something that has had success in your chosen area, go back and read it again. This time take notes:
What caught your attention about the writing?
What does the writer do that you don't?
Would you have done it differently? If so, what makes what you've just read better?

You can also do this when you see bad writing. After a while, you'll find yourself doing it automatically with almost everything you read. From the notes you can make up a list of writing tips for yourself. Add to it as you go along, read it often, and follow your own guidance. Improvements will follow.

Edit yourself

You have to develop a thick skin, and an ability to look at your work dispassionately. After you've written something, put it away for a few days, then come back and look at it critically.
Cheque yure speling
Grammar your check
Remove any superfluous unnecessary adjectives
Remove any repeating repetitious repetition
Are your verbs will use the right tense?
If you are writing about a man, is she the right gender?
Never use a long word when a short individual will do
. Hone your work until it is as good as you can make it. If you don't respect your writing, how can you expect anyone else to do so?

Read your work out loud. Reading aloud enables you to check the rhythm of your work. Check that your writing flows. If it feels uncomfortable to say it, it's time to rewrite.

At the same time check your sentence lengths. If you need to take a breath in mid-sentence, then it probably needs editing. You might feel self-conscious at first, but stick with it. I've found this to be one of the best ways to find your writer's voice.

Go on. Start now. You'll feel the benefits immediately, and you'll be a better writer for it. And that's what we all want, isn't it?