A Good Book For Writers

Before I start on today's topic--K-State won the game yesterday 49-7, and the halftime show with 2000 high school band students, the K-State Band and the Ft. Riley Band turned out to be one of the best ever. Lump in the throat, tear in the eye kind.

But today, I'd like to recommend a book that is not new, one that has been on my shelf for quite a few years. Self-Editing For Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King is still one of my favorite books on the craft of writing. The team that collaborated to write this instructional manual for self-editing are both authors and editors. Their combined expertise brought forth a book that fiction writers can refer to over and over again.

Each chapter ends with a checklist and exercises that illustrate whatever point the chapter is making. The first chapter in the book is on the importance of showing rather than telling. It's an obvious but sometimes difficult lesson for fiction writers to learn.

I think that  creative nonfiction writers can gain something from this book, since they personalize nonfiction accounts. So the fiction tools would come into use in their work, too.

I believe the latest edition of this book was published in 2004. Amazon has it in stock. To read the editorial and customer reviews on it, go to http://www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254066149&sr=1-1  You'll find the reviews toward the bottom of the page.