SELF-EDITING for FICTION WRITERS-- Mastering the Art of Editing

A wonderful Literary Agent, suggested Self-Editing for Fiction Writers as a great book to help edit novels. So, I immediately ordered it from Amazon, ready to give it a try.

As always, I got my retractable pencil, my bottled water and my cat, and got ready to master it. Yes, my goal is to master every nook and constructive, helpful cranny of this book. It received high ratings from Amazon purchasers plus that top agent who suggested it plus, I scanned thru it and it looks like a winner. So, I'm determined to master it. That's the only practical way, so I don't have to keep referring to it as often and instead concentrate on using it on my latest manuscript.

So, here are my notes.

SHOW and TELL

SCENE
-immediate and transparent
-where reader can see breathless anticipation of characters
-takes place in real time (even flashbacks)
-just use enough setting to jumpstart the reader's imagination
-contains action ie. beats/Internalization
-engages reader's emotions

SEQUEL
-2nd hand report
-narrative summary
-no specific setting
-no specific characters
-no dialogue
-engages reader's intellect
-gives resting period between scenes
-gives continuity (transitions between scene to scene)

***Important things to remember***

SHOWING vs. TELLING characters' emotions

Show why your character feel the way they do.
ie. Shalla took one look at the cat and jumped up and down cheerfully.

Change to:
Describe the cat in such a way that the readers feel gleeful themselves.

Don't just give readers info, give them the experience.

Ie. Shalla is happy.

Change to:
Beautiful jazz music starts to play, bringing a huge mile onto Shalla's lips. And before long, she is tapping her foot and clapping her hands!

R.U.E. = resist the urge to explain

At this point, I wrote some questions down:
1. So, in writing dialogue. Let's say, a character's from Missourri and she has a thick accent. When writing her dialogue, shouldn't I make sure she says "Mazurrah" (and spell it that way to show she has an accent) and wouldn't letting her say "Missourri" (and spelling it that way but telling the readers, she has an accent, not be good enough?).

Ie. The old yokel from a small town if Fayettesville has got one thing to say to Californian's she's visiting, "You shore are good to me just like folks in Mazurrah!"

(Just read the chapter on See How It Sounds and apparently, what's in vogue is, keep the spelling as is. So: "You sure are good to me just like folks in Missouri!"

2. How can I make switching from first person to third person POV's flawless?

3. Is making sure to show vs. tell really that important? Many published classics don't follow this rule.

Here, my question was immediately answered in the next page. This is not a hard-and-fast rule. In fact, none of the self-editing principles in this book should be treated as rules. There are going to be times when telling will create more engagement than showing. (p.19)

The book then follows with writing exercises. Very helpful. It even has an example in first person POV, which is how I'm writing my novel.

For its 1st Chapter, I'm rating this book: a GEENIE

That means, it's helpful and it's going to make all my wishes come true!!!
Thanks G!