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laurenfai 's review for:
If I could put one book into every amateur writer's hands, it would be this one. You know what? Scratch that and make it every writer full stop, because I still see too many amateur mistakes in published fiction.
Yes, it doesn't cover everything. Yes, it doesn't cover anything we haven't heard of before. But what it does cover happens to be the really important don'ts that apply to every fiction genre—things that will instantly take your readers out of the story, guaranteed. And it covers it with easy to follow explanations, examples and exercises.
I'm not saying Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is absolute gospel. You could write a good novel that breaks every "rule" described in it. There are always exceptions. However, exceptions usually come from masters of their craft who know what they can get away with. Just like art students should spend their first years studying accurate anatomy and perspective before they can plunge into Neo Cubism, beginner writers better start by getting the hang of everything in this book.
Yes, it doesn't cover everything. Yes, it doesn't cover anything we haven't heard of before. But what it does cover happens to be the really important don'ts that apply to every fiction genre—things that will instantly take your readers out of the story, guaranteed. And it covers it with easy to follow explanations, examples and exercises.
I'm not saying Self-Editing for Fiction Writers is absolute gospel. You could write a good novel that breaks every "rule" described in it. There are always exceptions. However, exceptions usually come from masters of their craft who know what they can get away with. Just like art students should spend their first years studying accurate anatomy and perspective before they can plunge into Neo Cubism, beginner writers better start by getting the hang of everything in this book.