'I found Louise through her incredibly useful blog. She has become my go-to resource for aspects of writing I know I should pay attention to but when the story is in full spate I sometimes neglect. Editing Fiction at Sentence Level is my one-stop-shop resource. Highly recommended.'
Andy Maslen, Bestselling crime author

Learn how to line edit your book

Fiction is about flow, rhythm, mood, voice and style. But mostly it’s about story. When writers self-edit at line level with confidence, story is elevated and enhanced by the sentence, not buried beneath it.

Editing Fiction at Sentence Level shows you how to hone your line craft so that your narrative and dialogue compel readers to turn the page.

PDF or Kindle edition | 313 pages | 1.2 MB | 74,708 words

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Paperback due 2020

If you'd prefer a print copy, the paperback of Editing Fiction at Sentence Level will be available in summer 2020.

Contents

PART 1: INTRODUCTION
  • What this book isn’t
  • What’s different about fiction editing?
  • The different levels of editing

PART 2: CHECKING NARRATIVE
  • The importance of story structure
  • Holding narrative viewpoint
  • Choosing tense
  • Avoiding overwriting
  • Character description
  • Using and abusing filter words
  • Tacit and explicit chronology of action
  • Action versus the intention to act
  • Action beats
  • Playing with sentence length
  • Commas, conjunctions and rhythm
  • Anaphora: Purposeful repetition
  • Adverbs and adverbial phrases
  • Dealing with ‘seemed’ and other tentative language
  • Using ‘suddenly’ with caution
  • Free indirect speech
  • Writing suspenseful chapter endings
  • Showing versus telling

PART 3: CHECKING DIALOGUE AND THOUGHTS
  • How to write great dialogue
  • Other dialogue problems
  • Punctuating dialogue
  • Dialogue tags
  • Addressing others in dialogue
  • Conveying accents
  • Depicting thoughts

PART 4: PESKY PUNCTUATION
  • Apostrophes
  • Semi-colons
  • Dashes
  • Round brackets

PART 5: IS IT A RULE?
  • Rules versus style preferences
  • The most common myths debunked

PART 6: TRACKING STORY
  • Style sheets
  • World-building wikis

PART 7: INITIAL PREP AND FINAL PROOFS
  • Preparing your book file for editing
  • ​Checking final page proofs​

GLOSSARY OF TERMS