One in an occasional series of writing book reviews. Today, I’ll talk about Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Martin.
I came across this book when I went to the home of a fellow author who was hosting a write-in. She had very cleverly put out all of her craft books as decoration in the center of the dining table where we were invited to sit and write.
Intuitive Editing was among many books, most of which I had heard of, read or owned. I have to say, I’m really sorry I hadn’t heard of it before now. It’s a terrific book.
It covers the basics of writing craft without talking down to the reader or over simplifying. The author assumes that the reader is an intelligent, well-read individual. She does use a number of movies for her examples, but most are those are ones most people have seen. (My only complaint is that she uses the movie of the Princess Bride, rather than the book which—as is usually the case—was so much better.)
Martin organizes her book logically from the biggest concepts—what she calls ” macroedits” to the smaller concepts— “microedits.”
Macroedits, according to Martin, include character, stakes, and plot, in that order, which I think is just right. A novel is nothing without great characters, these characters must need something or else, and this is what makes up the plot of your story.
Microedits starts with suspense and tension (and the difference between the two, which honestly, I’d never thought about before, but she explains it really well). She then moves on to just what you’d expect to find: point of view, showing and telling, structure, and pacing. Oddly, there’s also a chapter on voice where she specifically (and correctly) states that voice can’t be learned or taught. So why is that there? It’s not part of editing. You can’t edit for voice. That one confuses me a bit.
The third section is online edits where she goes through all the details of what you need to look for when editing your book: passive voice, believable dialogue, repetition, and ridding your prose of cliché. Even though it’s just one section and a relatively short one at that, it is, in my opinion, one of the most important. It is filled with all those things which we tend to forget when we’re reading over our work.
And finally, Martin finishes with how to get feedback on your work—everything from writer’s groups to beta readers.
All in all, this is an extremely useful book and, unlike many editing books, a pleasure to read.