Any good editing books or..hey your own opinion?

I really enjoyed The Artful Edit. It gives all sorts of editing exercises.

I think that one of the things that people don't do as much is check to see where their work sags. Where the plot slows down and the reader gets bored. I had people read my stuff and just mark the page whenever their mind started wandering. That way, I was able to cut (or if a scene was necessary, fix) the boring parts.

If you're just at the point where you are realizing you need to check more than spelling and grammar (and congrats for finding yourself there btw!), to a google search for fiction editing checklist and you can get loads of ideas to keep you busy. A few quick ones off the top of my head

-make sure everything makes sense. Make sure all the character's actions have actual motivations, and that those motivations are in-character. Make sure the reader will never say "why the f*** is he doing X and not Y, when Y makes way more sense?" Unless you want to intentionally make them question motive.

-make sure your characters don't deviate from their voice (like a ten year old girl who slips into talking like college professor for one scene)

-make sure every line is needed to develop plot, theme, or characters. If it doesn't do one or more of those, kill it.

-make sure you don't have any plot holes or dropped threads.

-make sure you start as late as possible and end as early as possible.

Kitty Pryde is right, there are many online. I remember Nathan Bransford having a long checklist on his site at one time in the not too distant past...

I have one I made for my own issues, and it grows and changes as I break myself of some habits and find new ones. Some examples of things from my list:

- use the "find and replace" feature in word to find all words ending in "ly" and see if I can replace adverbs with more active/stronger verbs and constructions.

- I way overuse references to breathing - sighs, huffs, holding breath, breathe, etc. So I use find to search for those and try to limit it to the best examples, and never too many in a clump.

- I use find to look for "that" and get rid of all but the essential ones, since often they really aren't necessary.

- I use find to count references to words I think I might have as current faves - ie, in my last draft I way over-used "wicked smile."

- I look for words I catch that don't seem to fit my character - ie, when formal, professional words slip into the voice of my rough, 17-year-old boy MC.

So, you can find checklists, and books - there are usually writing book sections in many bookstores and a librarian can help you find them at the library - or use google to find writing and editing checklists.

I liked Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, for some help in spotting common areas in need of revision and some exercises to help me get stronger in those aras - but it's one of those books that I read and it helped, but isn't a reference book I go back to over and over.

good luck.

~suki

Oh, good call on the Nathan Bransford list:

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/06/revision-checklist.html

I found How Not to Write a Novel to be helpful. It shows you a lot of typical mistakes that writers make and gives you advice on how to fix them. They also have a section in the back that shows you classic mistakes in selling your novel. I was surprised at how many of the errors I make (and even see in other books).

Seconding Self-editing for Fiction Writers.

Janice Hardy (Danthia) has done some great editing posts on her blog. Here's one and the others are pretty easy to spot if you scroll through.

-Is it confusing?
-Is it boring?
-Is it annoying?
-Does it feel right?

Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark was a lifesaver.