Gather Manuscript Makeover: Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford To Ignore Expressed By Elizabeth Lyon Readable In Version

I finished the first draft of my book and wanted some concrete advice on how best to revise it.
This book has been just perfect! I found each of the chapters very readable, with excellent examples and lots of concise, but excellent advice.
The gem is the checklists at the end of the chapters, which I have photocopied and am using to make it easier to refer to in the revision process.
Without the chapter before each one, they would be hard to make full use of, but they do really encompass the essence of each.
This book had so much more than I expected and summarized so much of what other writing books only touch on that I've been using parts of it even before finishing reading it.
I know I will use this book for years to come, Definitely something a serious writer will want in their library, This offered lots of good techniques for fiction writers and used many helpful and clear examples throughout, I'm giving it three starts for an unfair reason I had hoped that more of what was here would translate into nonfiction writing.
But much of it really is about building narratives of particular types, So, while the sentencelevel advice might hold true across contexts, there was less here that I felt like I could otherwise mobilize than I'd hoped.
That said, if you are looking for some good insights into fiction writing, I'd recommend this! Read the otherandstar reviews.
They're much more eloquent and erudite than I would ever hope to be,

Straight up, this book is a musthave for the serious fiction writer's library, Read it. Use it. 'Nuff said. This is my first choice and then, her "A Writer's Guide to Fiction" for consulting "what I want/need to know" as I work on my MS revision.
Also, whenever I take my writing with me travelling, this book comes with me!
Excellent book, Filled with good examples from a vast variety of real authors, from John Steinbeck to Danielle Steel to students work before it was published.
The examples showed both what not to do as well as what to do, The book was structured really well and there were good exercises at the end of each chapter for those who look for that kind of thing.
I really liked that there was a summary of each chapter at the end as well, For those chapters about things I feel I do well in my writing, I was able to just read the summary and see if I missed anything or was completely off base.
There were some pet peeves I see in writing all the time that were addressed here, such as constantly changing POV.
If you have that issue, please read this book! I highly recommend this for a newer writer, If you're having trouble getting published, I think this would really help a lot, A veritable goldmine of information for the writer at that

very crucial next step, once he gets through the first draft: revision.
Elizabeth Lyon takes us from "in the begining was the word" to "in the end you will have the edited m/s, the query letter and the synopsis".
All the howto's are very clearly laid out with good summary notes at the end of every chapter,

I took one of my unpublished novellas through some of her recommended exercises and decidedly saw the uptick in its vibrance.
I shall be repeating this exercise with other pieces of writing from my "never published" and "never to be published" piles.


The only downer with reading this book is that you begin to wonder if everything you have written before is crap.


My suggestion for the writer working along with this guide is to take her manuscript through each of the chapter topics one at a time.
So, on one goaround check for sentence compositions, in the next check for viewpoint inconsistencies, in the next look for timing and pace etc.
Otherwise, revision ala Lyon may become extremely frustrating, That said, reading this book only confirmed to me what a daunting mission it is to be a writer a good one, that is.
Probably an art never to be mastered,
I picked up this writers craft book as a recommendation from a fellow writer, This will be an on going read, Lyons gives every writer practical techniques on how to approach revision and how to create a compelling story, She cites examples of what to do and what to avoid during the revision process, She discusses techniques to make a story compelling, She also suggests modeling the writing styles of awardwinning authors, Her current knowledge on publishing trends is helpful to any writer, I'm not sure how many times I've read this book, . . at least twice covertocover. Awesome reference. Somewhat sensationalized title aside, this is an excellent resource for writers that covers basically all major aspects of craft.
This book is definitely for intermediate and up writers, as it does not mess around with teaching you the basics, which for me was a huge plus.
As is clear from the title, it assumes one is at or near the revision process, The layout of the book, along with helpful checklists following each chapter, make skipping around to whatever area of craft a person might want to focus on handy.


I will say, not much attention is given to worldbuilding, and much of the slant of the book seemed to be towards thriller writers.
With that said, it's still an extremely helpful resource for a writer of any genre and a book that I'm glad I have a physical copy of, as I'm sure I'll be referencing it for years to come.


.stars.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Very good book with coherent and cogent examples and suggestions for writers of every level,

The structure of this book is exemplary in terms of letting a reader know if the section is relevant and useful, allowing anyone to find the trouble spots in their manuscripts AND great suggestions and hints on how to untangle and fix those as well.
Lyon manages to be respectful of writers at the same time she challenges us to go beyond ordinary editing techniques.
When the spelling mistakes are gone, and the bad grammar and word usage are corrected, the polishing begins, Written in a clear and authoritative style, Manuscript Makeover gave direction to my editing like no other book on my shelf.
Probably the best book on writing I have purchased, Perhaps a bit clunky in its very methodical process, but other than that, a very useful handbook for revising the first ornd orrd draft of a novel.
The author goes thru just about every aspect of writing a story point of view, character development, plot, etc etc breaking it all down into manageable components.
I also appreciate the summary points at the end of each chapter to use as later reference, In its entirety, it is a bit overwhelming, but it does give one a sense of what it takes to produce a good piece of writing.

Incredibly helpful for editing, This is a powerpacked book that lays out a detailed series of steps for revising your manuscript, I recommend it highly. I bought it as an ebook, but it would have been easier to use as a paperback, It is a book serious writers will return to again and again, WOW, WOW, WOW. This is an amazing book, I have read it and since it took me so long to read so much to absorb, I am rereading some parts, maybe the whole thing.
I give this book TEN STARS! I can hardly wait to share what I have learned with all my writerfriends.
EVERYONE WHO WRITES SHOULD OWN THIS BOOK! I rarely give five star ratings, but this book is just that good.
It's not necessarily lifechanging or, . . maybe it is, at least for this writer,

As it's subtitle says, the techniques outlined are techniques that shouldn't be ignored, although they aren't new and you've probably encountered them in any number of writing books or classes.
But, what Lyon gives you is a compact reference for improving writing, for deepening characterization, structure, plot, etc, She also touches on copy editing and marketing, because, as we know from Dr, Johnson, none but a blockhead writes for fun,

Lyon suggests techniques such as "riffwriting" that I, at least, was unaware of, "Riffwriting" is a version of free writing directed at a particular sentence or paragraph in a finished draft of a work.
It allows the writer to play, to give depth and breadth to a particular piece of writing, She also suggests common techniques such as imitating other writers to help "see" style, and to help loosen the inner editor and stave off the inner critic when drafting.
"Revise your truth. Harvest your emotions. Catch fireflies. " This is a solid reference work about different elements of fiction, but it was not nearly as helpful to me as I had hoped.
Part of this is because the author mentions early on that she has almost never seen an overwritten manuscript, and that people need to fill out theirs with more detailed, complete, fully realized writing.
I was like, "UM. Um. Then how are you going to help me with my story" It's,words, guys, My problem is not insufficient prose,

Beyond that, many topics that this book covers are already familiar to me from multiple other books that I have read, and this author focuses on lots of nittygritty elements related to the prose and presentation, without as much advice about how to overhaul your story if the fundamental elements aren't working.
There are chapters about how to select a protagonist and develop their main goal, and about character development and characterdriven plot, but a lot of this book focuses on revision elements that only come after you're truly satisfied with what you have written and don't want to change anything major.
I wish that the author had covered both final revisions and the overhaul process,

Also, many of the things this book covers are very basic, such as choosing point of view.
There are many writers who would find this section helpful as they evaluate what worked and what didn't in their manuscript, and the author breaks down the pros and cons of different approaches, but if someone has already read a lot of books about writing fiction, none of this will be new to them.
And, in my case, I plan out my stories in detail, and had already made solid decisions about things like this long ago.
I am looking for help for how to organize the revision process and overhaul parts of my story, and don't need to build from the ground up in terms of choosing a protagonist or a POV.


I'm disappointed that I didn't find this more helpful, but I wouldn't discourage someone else from pursuing it as a resource, since it's clear from the Goodreads reviews that a lot of people found this tremendously useful.
A lot of someone's response will depend on how many other books they have read about the craft of writing, and what their main struggles are with finishing or revising a manuscript.
Still, readers and potential buyers should be aware that this is mainly a reference work covering different elements of prose, writing approaches, and presentation, without significant or fresh advice about storytelling itself, and that it doesn't provide advice for how you can actually undertake the process of revision or make decisions about how to leave things on the cutting room floor.


If someone is looking for advice about storytelling, my goto recommendation would be sitelinkSave the Cat! Writes a Novel, and the best book I have read so far about revision is sitelinkThe Last Draft: A Novelist's Guide to Revision.
It definitely didn't hurt me to read Manuscript Makeover and have a refresher on lots of different basics of writing and revision, but to get help with my current project, I'll plan to read The Last Draft again.
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