The Editor's Lexicon

Andrew Burt, who runs the Critters online writing workshop, had this to say about an editor's reference book titled The Editor's Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms For Novelists by Sarah Cypher that crossed his desk the other day:

It's a concise dictionary/glossary-like book of terms editors might use to describe needed modifications in a story.  What's useful about it, beyond the obvious of looking up a term someone's used, is that by reading all of the terms you gain an expanded awareness of what to look for in critiquing.  That is, you get an overall sense of what you should and shouldn't be doing in your writing, or things to notice others doing as you critique them (which boils back down to learning what to avoid in your own writing, just via a different path).  You never know which path works best to weed out the bad habits, so it's worth checking out.

Definitely worth a check out. (And yes, I am a Critter.)

Comments

[Sarah Cypher]

Jonathan, I really appreciate your mentioning my book. Hope you find it helpful--and as it says in the introduction, I'm already collecting terms for the second edition. Good luck with your current project.

Cheers,
Sarah