Table of Contents
Praise for Elizabeth Lyon
Manuscript Makeover
Whether youre learning the craft, revising your manuscript, or looking to position it for the best chance of getting published, read Elizabeth Lyon. Manuscript Makeover maps out exactly how to revise and rewrite. A Writers Guide to Fiction provides practical tips to bring your characters to life and to improve your plot, and The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit is the best book Ive ever read on how to write a query letter and synopsis that will get an agent and an editors attention. I wouldnt be published without either book.
Robert Dugoni, author ofNew York TimesbestsellerThe Jury MasterandDamage Control
In her new book, Manuscript Makeover, Elizabeth Lyon makes excellent use of her years as a book editor. Any writer is sure to take away some inspiring anecdote or advice that will make their writing go where it could not before.
Kathy Hepinstall, bestselling author ofThe House of Gentle MenandAbsence of Nectar
Elizabeth Lyon is a writers best friend. With masterful clarity and gentle humor she coaches us through the full range of techniques (from liberating our voice to producing a presentable product) that will improve and enhance our manuscripts and make us better at what we do. Manuscript Makeover is a must.
Barbara Corrado Pope, author ofCzannes Quarry
With Manuscript Makeover, Elizabeth Lyon converts the complex process of revision into a step-by-step method of upgrading your plot, style, and characters. The book answers the daunting question of Where do I begin? and is loaded with simple revision techniques any writer, at any level, can use to craft a better novel.
Carolyn Rose, author of the Casey Brandt series
From overhauling structure to deepening characters, fine-tuning imagery, mastering mechanics, and setting your style apartManuscript Makeover does it all. This is the one book on revision every writer should own.
Mike Nettleton, coauthor ofThe Hard Karma Shuffle
A Writers Guide to Fiction
A Writers Guide to Fiction is a terrific resource for authors; positive in tone (very important to aspiring writers), well organized (a critical point for both authors and the librarians who are often called upon to advise them in these matters), and concise.
Jayne Ann Krentz
A must-read for anyone about to embark on fiction writing or anyone enjoying a writing career. As agents, we are recommending all our clients read it either as an inspiration or as a valuable refresher course. Lyon never talks down to the writer but simply puts up clean, clear signposts to follow the fiction rules of the road. Highly recommended.
Anna Cottle and Mary Alice Kier, Cine/Lit Representation, literary agency and media consultants
A superb introduction to the basics. Dont start your novel without it.
Donald Maass, literary agent and author ofWriting the Breakout Novel
A detailed, confident, no-nonsense guide for the serious fiction writer... Highly recommended.
Library Journal
The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit
If youre serious about selling your novel, Elizabeth Lyon is here to coach you with the skills, the inside information, and the inspiration youll need.
Chuck Palahniuk, author ofFight ClubandDiary
Every novelist... should own this gem.
Kathleen Dougherty, novelist and editorial associate for Writers Digest School
Elizabeth Lyon has written a masterly work that belongs on any writers bookshelf.
Jean Naggar, literary agent
[Not] just another how-to puff, this is an operations plan. Read it.
Donald E. McQuinn, author of eight novels
A pragmatic marketing guide written for and about real writers in the trenches. Its like having a five-star general drop into your foxhole not only to show you a map of the entire battlefield, but to give you tips on marksmanship and battlefield survival.
M. K. Wren, author of eight Conan Flagg mysteries
Heres the work writers must research before they approach me or any agent. This will be required reading for any potential client.
Denise Marcil, literary agent
Throw away all of your other how-to books; The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit is the only book youll need to break into print. My dog-eared first edition helped me draft a query that landed an agent, which ultimately resulted in a three-book, six-figure deal.
J. A. Konrath, author ofWhiskey Sour
A Writers Guide to Nonfiction
In [Lyons] confident, optimistic writing primer, the first in the Writers Compass series, she shows would-be authors how to find their area of expertise and turn it into an article, essay, or even a book... Lyon crafts a detailed and practical course for the nonfiction novice. This detailed and practical guide may not guarantee writing hopefuls a book deal, but it distinguishes itself from other writing how-tos by its concrete and economical advice.
Publishers Weekly
Readers interested in the practicalities of publishing and marketing their work will find [A Writers Guide to Nonfiction] useful.
Library Journal
Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write
The perfect tool with which to create a successful book proposal.
Mary Alice Kier and Anna Cottle, Cine/Lit Representation, literary agency and media consultants
Elizabeth Lyon knows book proposals the way a surgeon knows anatomy.
Gary Provost, author of twenty-two books including100 Ways to Improve Your Writing
Dedicated to my beloved and amazing family:
Ella, Don, and Jim Redditt
Louis, Chris, and Elaine Lyon
Fiction is the single best means for arriving at the truth.
Don DeLillo, winner of National Book Award for White Noise
I learned to separate the story from the writing, probably the most important thing that any storyteller has to learnthat there are a thousand right ways to tell a story, and ten million wrong ones, and youre a lot more likely to find one of the latter than the former your first time through the tale.
Orson Scott Card, Hugo and Nebula Award-winner for Enders Game
INTRODUCTION
Preparing to Revise
The novel is complete, the short story finished. Maybe youre not satisfied with all of the writing. Maybe another writer or your critique group has indicated you have more work before your story is ready to market. Or maybe youve sent out a dozen manuscripts and all of them have come back with rejection letters. Whats next? Revision. Or, as the title of this book says, a makeover, as sweeping as demolition or as minor as a new coat of paint.
Revision, as part of writing terminology, has multiple meanings. Defined, it means to make changes in what you have written with the intention of producing an improved version. Although used as an all-encompassing word, it includes three processes: finding or marking what needs changein other words,
