The Word-Loss Diet
Professional
Self-Editing Techniques for Authors
Kill your darling words!
This little book is a treasure chest and worth every cent!
What have I
hunted through web and space, created docs from saved information, printed out,
stapled together and stacked it on my chest – and here it all is condensed and
ready to wipe up! Now don’t get me wrong. There is fun in the searching and
sometimes it is an outright wonderful and legit excuse for procrastination, but
when it comes to having it all at your fingertip for future reference Rayne
Hall’s little book nails it.
Lets start to begin and turn to look at the chapters which could be full
of advice J (Good Ms. Hall is alive and well or she would haunt me after this)
What made me smile and my character cringe were her advice on smiling and
sighing – we are severely guilty on these charges.
As always the advice given is not a rule that has to be followed by all
means – in many instances we are offered examples of “slimming in different
levels”. It is up to a writer to decide how much fat is needed to convey the
essence of the situation or emotion. What works well in one – or for one – may extinguish
a voice in another. After all dieting is only healthy if you don’t disappear
completely!
This self-editing booklet is a valuable companion for the new writer as
well as the experienced one in my opinion. We may have heard it before, but this
is a simple and effective handy reminder if you have exceeded your word-count –
again ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment