Tag: Easy Self-Editing

• Let’s Write – The Basics of Self-Editing: Common Mistakes

  

  Phew, we made it! Welcome to the final instalment in our series on How To Self-Edit. We’ve already discussed: Today, we’ll focus on the common mistakes found in our writing. You know, those little gremlins that slip into even the tightest manuscript, and leave writers pulling out their hair. The good news is these issues…

  Yolandie Horak

  May 12, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Grammar, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Cliches, Common Writing Mistakes, Developmental Editing, Dictionary Writing, Easy Editing, Easy Self Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How to Self Edit, How To Self-Edit, Intensifiers, Learning How to Self Edit, Learning How to Self-Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Pet Phrases, Repetition, Self Editing, Self-Editing, Simple Verbs, Structural Editing, Weak Sentence Construction, Weasel Words, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writing, Writing Mistakes

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit: Voice & Style

  

  We’re back with another addition to our series on How To Self-Edit. During the last handful of weeks, we’ve discussed: Today, we’ll wrap up the structural edit by delving into authorial voice and style. Let’s go! Voice and Style We touched on voice while discussing character development, and many of the points raised there apply…

  Yolandie Horak

  May 5, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Developmental Editing, Easy Editing, Easy Self Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How to Self Edit, How To Self-Edit, Learning How to Self Edit, Learning How to Self-Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Self Editing, Self-Editing, Structural Editing, Voice and Style in Writing, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writing, Writing Style

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit: Conflict & Resolution

  

  Welcome to this week’s instalment of our series on How To Self-Edit. We’ve already covered: Today, we’ll discuss conflict and resolution. Let’s get to it. Conflict and Resolution Every story, no matter what genre, must include conflict. Many of us read the word conflict and immediately think ‘fight’ but that’s not necessarily the case. Define…

  Yolandie Horak

  April 28, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Conflict and Resolution in Writing, Conflict in Writing, Developmental Editing, Easy Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How To Self-Edit, Learning How to Self Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Self-Editing, Structural Editing, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writing

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit: Flow & Pace

  

  Welcome back to our series on How To Self-Edit. We’ve already covered: Today we’ll talk about flow and pace, a duo of story elements that influence how excited or bored our audience will be while reading our books. Define Flow and Pace Pace is the speed/tempo at which the story is told. Meanwhile, flow is…

  Yolandie Horak

  April 21, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Grammar, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Developmental Editing, Easy Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, Flow, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How To Self-Edit, Info Dumps, Learning How to Self Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Pace, Pleonasm, Pleonasms, Punctuation, Self-Editing, Story Flow, Story Pace, Structural Editing, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writing

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit: Characters

  

  Welcome back to our series about self-editing! We’ve already covered The Basics of Self-Editing and The Structural Edit – Plot and Setting. Today is all about characters. We’re going to cover: As the title suggests, this post breaks down those character development and POV issues we should look for while we edit our manuscripts. But…

  Yolandie Horak

  April 14, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Character Development, Character Voice, Characterisation, Deep Point of View, Deep POV, Developmental Editing, Easy Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How To Self-Edit, Learning How to Self Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Point of View, POV, Self-Editing, Structural Editing, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writing, Writing Dialogue

• Let’s Write – The Structural Edit: Plot & Setting

  

  We kicked off this series about the basics of self-editing in last week’s post. For the next few weeks, we’ll discuss the first step of self-editing, the structural edit. Structural or developmental editing is the phase of the editing process where we focus on the individual elements of our stories and ensure that each fits…

  Yolandie Horak

  April 7, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Brainstorming, Developmental Editing, Easy Editing, Easy Self Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, Foreshadowing, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How to Self Edit, How To Self-Edit, Learning How to Self Edit, Learning How to Self-Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Plot, Plots in Novels, Self Editing, Self-Editing, Setting, Setting in Books, Story Plot, Structural Editing, tropes

• Let’s Write – The Basics of Self-Editing

  

  The editing process has always intrigued me—a fascination that most authors don’t share, I know. But it still blows my mind how applying grammatical and stylistic rules can take a manuscript from so-so to great, and that with minimal effort. And the best part is that self-editing is an easy skill all authors can learn…

  Yolandie Horak

  March 31, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Editing, Basic Grammar, Basic Self-Editing, Book Editing, Developmental Editing, Easy Editing, Easy Self Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Editors, How to Edit A Book, How to Edit a Novel, How to Edit Your Own Book, How to Edit Your Own Novel, How to Self Edit, How To Self-Edit, Learning How to Self Edit, Learning How to Self-Edit, Line Editing, Novel Editing, Self Editing, Self-Editing, Structural Editing

• Let’s Write – Tenses

  

  Back in the olden days, storytelling was often limited to a shallow or omnipotent third point of view set in the past tense. Nowadays, authors utilise deeper points of view to submerge readers, and we’ve seen an uptick in stories written in the present tense. And I’m totally here for it. But as storytelling changes,…

  Yolandie Horak

  March 24, 2025

  Writing

  Basic Self-Editing, Easy Self-Editing, How To, Let’s Write, Past Perfect Tense, Past Tense, Present Tense, Resources, Self-Editing, Simple Past Tense, Simple Present Tense, Tenses, Tenses in Writing, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Community

• Easy Self-Editing – Redundancies (Pleonasms)

  

  The first draft of A Study of Ash & Smoke was riddled with redundancies, AKA pleonasms. My editor, Nerine Dorman, took to my debut manuscript with a kill-it-with-fire vehemence and likely mumbled a million curses at the ceiling as she removed them (among other issues) from my very *cough, cough* unpolished novel. I’ve said this…

  Yolandie Horak

  April 22, 2024

  Writing

  ADHD Writer, Basic Self-Editing, Better Writing, Common Writing Mistakes, Easy, Easy Editing, Easy Self-Editing, Edit, Editing, Indie Writers, Let’s Write, Noob Writers, Pleonasm, Pleonasms, Redundancies in Writing, Redundant Words in Writing, Resources, Self-Editing, Stuff for Writers, Writer, Writer’s Life, Writers’ Resources, Writing, Writing Advice