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mirandadarrow 's review for:
I've had this book for a number of years, but read it for an editing class I'm taking. It's a good resource with clear explanations and examples for everything from "show, don't tell" to POV and dialogue mechanics.
It also explains more advanced fiction writing issues like proportion, redundancy, the importance of paragraph breaks, and authorial voice. It also shows why adverbs are so often redundant and not active voice writing.
But then there is this weird tangent fresh out of the 1982, some odd tirade about profanity and the completed unnecessary existence of sex scenes. What? Clutch the pearls, authors, if someone dares to write a romance (which did not fare well in the examples in this book). That was odd. This book originally came out in the 90s, and the second edition in 2004 or 2005, which is somewhat of an explanation, but not a complete excuse for this unwarranted attack on the entire romance genre. As if romance doesn't have enough critics all by itself, not needing to encounter it on books aimed at authors for self-editing to improve their own writing craft. Rude.
Otherwise, good resource.
It also explains more advanced fiction writing issues like proportion, redundancy, the importance of paragraph breaks, and authorial voice. It also shows why adverbs are so often redundant and not active voice writing.
But then there is this weird tangent fresh out of the 1982, some odd tirade about profanity and the completed unnecessary existence of sex scenes. What? Clutch the pearls, authors, if someone dares to write a romance (which did not fare well in the examples in this book). That was odd. This book originally came out in the 90s, and the second edition in 2004 or 2005, which is somewhat of an explanation, but not a complete excuse for this unwarranted attack on the entire romance genre. As if romance doesn't have enough critics all by itself, not needing to encounter it on books aimed at authors for self-editing to improve their own writing craft. Rude.
Otherwise, good resource.