Scan barcode
miszjeanie's review
5.0
This is hands down the best book I’ve read about writing and editing children’s books, and I’ll forever be indebted to the author, Cheryl Klein. If you’re interested in writing a children’s book, I’d suggest starting here.
ccaterer's review
5.0
One of the best books on manuscript revision I've read. Cheryl is a great speaker, too, and often gets around to SCBWI events. Nice to learn that she's a Midwestern gal too!
joannaroddy's review
5.0
A very practical book to help writers with craft, editing, and the publishing process. Klein's expertise (she edited two of the Harry Potter novels at Arthur A. Levine Books), combined with a down-to-earth, accessible voice, make for a wonderful read. Most helpful for YA or children's authors, but full of gems for all writerly types. Her 25 editing steps and her lecture on "The Art of Detection" are especially helpful for those of us who love a good assignment and wish we were back in school with a teacher to answer to, instead of beavering away in obscurity and isolation. There is some overlap between chapters, as they represent lectures Klein has given, rather than ideologically separate essays; however, the overall read is rich.
jessicaaaaaaa's review
This is a collection of talks and blog posts by Cheryl Klein. Because of that, the material is not organized by topic. It's more of a dive into an essay and see what you come up with. But the material more than makes up for that. It's chock full of numbered lists that you can use to analyze your own or someone else's draft. I especially liked an essay that showed several drafts of the same first chapter and another essay about picture books. I read this now out of curiosity, but this is definitely a book that I will return to if I have an opportunity to work on my own or anyone else's children's fiction in the future.
larrys's review
5.0
I love The Narrative Breakdown podcast, and even though I find narrative theory pretty much on a par with MATHS when it comes to getting confuzzled and befused, I'm a sucker for a book on story craft. So when I learned that Cheryl Klein (co-host of the podcast) had self-published a book about editing I had to read it.
At first I was a little disappointed to read in the introduction that there would be quite a bit of repetition -- and please excuse it -- because I thought, 'If anyone can turn a series of talks into a cohesive whole it's a professional editor so why didn't she?' but after reading the whole book I can see why she didn't -- some things just bear repeating because it's really important that we grasp them.
Before the book arrived I was a little worried that it would be a book on publishing rather than editing -- I've fallen into that trap before. I understand (from the Interwebs) that editors come up against it, and it would be easy to turn into Miss Snark. Fortunately, while there is some advice in here about what not to do to editors and how to work well with them, it's not too much. This book really is mostly about craft.
I'd already read Orson Scott Card's excellent book on POV, so got less out of that chapter, and the talk on picture books is fairly light -- I highly, highly recommend How Picturebooks Work co-written by Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott.
As for the rest of the book, I inhaled it in two days, made a Scrivener template using the notes, and there are so many bits highlighted in yellow that I may as well have just highlighted the other bits, save myself getting high on ink fumes.
The book has a nice list of resources, and I can't believe I haven't come across some of them before. Apart from Nikolajeva's various books (which need to be more widely read, imo!) this really is the closest I've come to the book I've been looking for: How Fiction Works (by James Wood), but for writers of children's literature.
At first I was a little disappointed to read in the introduction that there would be quite a bit of repetition -- and please excuse it -- because I thought, 'If anyone can turn a series of talks into a cohesive whole it's a professional editor so why didn't she?' but after reading the whole book I can see why she didn't -- some things just bear repeating because it's really important that we grasp them.
Before the book arrived I was a little worried that it would be a book on publishing rather than editing -- I've fallen into that trap before. I understand (from the Interwebs) that editors come up against it, and it would be easy to turn into Miss Snark. Fortunately, while there is some advice in here about what not to do to editors and how to work well with them, it's not too much. This book really is mostly about craft.
I'd already read Orson Scott Card's excellent book on POV, so got less out of that chapter, and the talk on picture books is fairly light -- I highly, highly recommend How Picturebooks Work co-written by Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott.
As for the rest of the book, I inhaled it in two days, made a Scrivener template using the notes, and there are so many bits highlighted in yellow that I may as well have just highlighted the other bits, save myself getting high on ink fumes.
The book has a nice list of resources, and I can't believe I haven't come across some of them before. Apart from Nikolajeva's various books (which need to be more widely read, imo!) this really is the closest I've come to the book I've been looking for: How Fiction Works (by James Wood), but for writers of children's literature.
megangoodwin's review
5.0
This was so helpful! I now have a clearer idea about what publishing houses do and what agents are looking for. This book is invaluable to hopeful authors.
mysterybuff's review
5.0
Cheryl Klein is one of the editors at Arthur A. Levine books (famous for taking on Harry Potter when nobody wanted it). I've read my share of books on writing and editing and this one struck a chord with me. Don't know if it is because of the plain, easy to understand language, the great examples of working and polishing a first draft to a final one, or the amount of knowledge this lady has. For example, the issue of Voice. Most agents/editors describe it as "something they are looking for, can't tell you exactly what makes a voice stand out, but they'll know it when they see it". Ms. Klein has five (FIVE!) areas that she has compiled that describe exactly what voice is and how to find your own.
Must read for anybody who wants to write for children/young adults.
Must read for anybody who wants to write for children/young adults.
More...