CD: Thank you for hosting me,
Richard. The five editors are C. S. (Susanne) Lakin, Linda S. Clare, Robin Patchen,
Rachel Starr Thomson, and me (Christy Distler).
Susanne is an editor, the owner of
the award-winning Live Write Thrive
blog, and the author of more than a dozen novels and the writing craft books in
the Writer’s Toolbox Series (our book is part of this series).
Linda is an editor, a college
creative writing teacher, and the author of two women’s fiction novels and
three nonfiction books.
Robin is a freelance editor, as well as a
line editor for Redbud Press. She also teaches writing courses and has authored
four books.
Rachel is a freelance editor, the
author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, and was a teacher before she
transitioned to full-time editing.
I’m a freelance editor, working with
individual authors as well as with three publishing houses. I also write
contemporary and historical fiction.
RM: Each of you addresses one of
the flaws, coming at them from different standpoints. How did you all decide
which ones were the twelve most important?
CD: Susanne chose the twelve
biggest craft issues she sees as an editor, and then from that list of twelve,
we each chose a commonly seen aspect of that flaw.
RM: I think a unique feature of the
book is the inclusion of long sections (not just a single paragraph) that
demonstrate the errors, and then a revised section showing how to avoid them.
How did you all come up with that?
CD: The Before-and-After format actually
reflects one of the fatal flaws we cover in the book: “show, don’t tell.” Many
people are visual learners, so we wanted to show
the flaws (and their fixes) instead of just tell
what to do and what not to do. The Befores and Afters provide greater clarity
of how the flaws can look in context, making them easier to spot and remedy.
RM: And which “fatal flaw” do you
think is the absolute worst in your opinion?
CD: Personally, I would say
overwriting. Many writers struggle with overwriting, and for good reason. They
see their book’s incredible setting and want to convey it in full to their readers.
They want everyone who opens their book to experience the same scenes that
unfold in their mind. So they gush it all onto the page—but in doing so, they
leave nothing to the reader’s imagination and can end up on tangents that muddle
the storyline. That affects just about every facet of the story and often makes
for an unsatisfying read. If wordiness (another form of overwriting) also comes
into play, the story really suffers. Fortunately, overwriting is fixable once a
writer can recognize it for what it is, and we show just how to do that in the
book.
Thanks, Christy. The book is Five Editors Tackle the Twelve Fatal Flawsof Fiction Writing. I'm told it's available in both e-book and print form from all booksellers (online and brick-and-mortar), and I
believe every writer should have it on his or her bookshelf—after they’ve read
it.
The five editors are making a copy
of their book available to a randomly selected commenter. Leave your comment,
and don’t forget to include your email address so we can contact the winner—use
this format to foil web crawlers: Dr R L Mabry at yahoo dot com.
Tweet with a single click: "What is the 'fatal flaw' of fiction writing?" Click here to tweet.
Tweet with a single click: "What is the 'fatal flaw' of fiction writing?" Click here to tweet.