First, I’d like to wish, wherever you are Edgar Allen Poe, a happy birthday. January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849.
A free one-hour editing advice given by author, Tom Bromley via Reedsy, (Reedsy https://reedsy.com), was worth every cent—and more. Tom–author, editor, ghostwriter, creative writing tutor, Reedsy’s Head of Learning, and creator of the 101-day How to Write A Novel course. https://www.tombromley.co.uk/
I don’t know why it is with humans, or at least me, but the simplest things are easily misplaced without intention. There are many to-do’s when writing, let alone self-editing your work. However, I tell myself, stick to the basics!
- Attitude
“Good writers want to be critiqued and bad writers want to be told their work is good.” Tom Bromley
Mr. Bromley chose four excerpts to critique from over 1500 hopefuls.
Lessons I learned, perhaps re-learned, during this presentation:
- Flow, rhythm (of words, sentences, paragraph to paragraph…)
- Use of verbs, most important thing to get right, active and specific to create a sharper image
- Adverbs, show rather than tell, particularly with emotions (food/smells) Evoke emotions
- Repetition of words (unintended vs intended)
- Careful of slowing the pace of your story (Longer sentences and paragraphs slow the progress of the story, dialogue)
- Backstory! Ah, when is it appropriate to put that in the first chapter? Depends who you ask. Seems I’ve read a few books lately where the author lays out most of the protagonists’ backstory in the first chapter. What? Oh, the nerve. One story, no I don’t recall the title, had the setting’s backstory. Interesting, but it read…slow, and I lost interest before the second chapter.
- Drop in details about the protagonist and antagonist
- Show so you don’t need to tell.
- Why are you starting your story where you’re starting your story?
- Fantasy and Sci-fi depend on a strong sense of places
“…you learn so much about your own work by critiquing other people and then reflecting those comments back on your own work.” Tom Bromley
Overall, this presentation was well worth my time.
Featured photo by George Martin/Pexels
