Did a publisher or agent reject your manuscript?
Foggy writing--that is, using extra, misused and overused words--may well be the
reason. The fact is, the more words you eliminate without changing meaning or
sacrificing detail, the clearer and more powerful your writing becomes.
And the better chance you have of being published!
Are YOU a foggy writer? Probably. I’ve been a professional editor and writer for 40
years, and learned early that most writers--particularly unpublished ones--need heavy
editing. Unfortunately, most don’t know they're foggy writers. They know they should
self-edit, but how? Exactly which words should they take out? Why? Most unpublished
writers toil their whole lives without getting "the call" from a publisher, and often, foggy
writing is the reason.
But again, most unpublished writers don't know that. They haven't a clue! Although I
enjoy the editing process, back then I secretly wished I could teach the writers I was
responsible for to defog their own work. That, of course, seemed impossible.
But wait. I was wrong! That was before I discovered the 21 Steps to Fog-Free
Writing. These Steps changed my own writing life forever, and I'm betting they will
change yours.
That personal revelation took place several years ago on a flight from Chicago
to Atlanta, where I was to research an article for a client. Out of boredom I was
penning improvements in a fog-filled paperback—editing is actually a game for me—
when I realized the same mistakes appeared over and over. I was intrigued. I bought
another paperback at the Atlanta airport and edited it. A pattern emerged. I could
hardly contain my excitement.
Over the next several months I edited many other paperback novels. I joined critique
groups and aggressively edited other writers’ fiction. I plowed through all those
manuscripts from pre-published authors and the marked-up paperback books I'd
tossed into a dresser drawer, and painstakingly sorted thousands of offending
sentences by problem type. I eventually identified 21 distinct fog problems. Today I
call their solutions, appropriately enough, the “21 Steps to Fog-Free Writing.”
The inference staggered me. Just as there are only so many elements in chemistry’s
Periodic Table, and so many letters in the alphabet, there are only so many fog
problems in writing. Again, I counted 21. I realized many unnecessary words were
actually tips of bad-writing icebergs, and that eliminating them, or replacing them with
fewer words, quickly resolved otherwise complicated editing problems. In fact, more
than half the Steps actually strengthened action while shortening sentences. You
could see it happening right before your eyes!
Here’s the good news. You don’t have to be an English major to achieve this writing
miracle. You don’t have to diagram sentences or study verb declensions, whatever
they are. You don’t have to learn complicated rules, or wade through thick manuals of
style. All you have to do is apply a few easy-to-learn Steps. Soon you’ll write
sparkling, clear, powerful copy that attracts readers, agents, and editors. And sales!
Send me your manuscript’s first chapter, and I'll prove it. I’ll edit and critique it,
and tell you exactly why I suggest changes. I’ll give you solid examples. Believing in
the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” adage, I’ll present only those Steps you need. The idea,
after all, is to simplify things.
You’ll pick up the Steps easily as you incorporate them into that first chapter. Then, as
you apply them to the rest of your manuscript, you’ll recognize and chase away every
“fog” word. Your manuscript will sparkle. There’s no way it won’t! And every
manuscript you write from now on will be clearer than you’ve ever written, for two
reasons: You won’t write most of those foggy words in the first place, and you’ll know
exactly what to look for when you self-edit.
So consider this your fog alert. Remember this old story? “Give a man a fish and he’ll
eat for a day, but teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Send me that first
chapter today, and I'll teach you to fish!
Foggy writing--that is, using extra, misused and overused words--may well be the
reason. The fact is, the more words you eliminate without changing meaning or
sacrificing detail, the clearer and more powerful your writing becomes.
And the better chance you have of being published!
Are YOU a foggy writer? Probably. I’ve been a professional editor and writer for 40
years, and learned early that most writers--particularly unpublished ones--need heavy
editing. Unfortunately, most don’t know they're foggy writers. They know they should
self-edit, but how? Exactly which words should they take out? Why? Most unpublished
writers toil their whole lives without getting "the call" from a publisher, and often, foggy
writing is the reason.
But again, most unpublished writers don't know that. They haven't a clue! Although I
enjoy the editing process, back then I secretly wished I could teach the writers I was
responsible for to defog their own work. That, of course, seemed impossible.
But wait. I was wrong! That was before I discovered the 21 Steps to Fog-Free
Writing. These Steps changed my own writing life forever, and I'm betting they will
change yours.
That personal revelation took place several years ago on a flight from Chicago
to Atlanta, where I was to research an article for a client. Out of boredom I was
penning improvements in a fog-filled paperback—editing is actually a game for me—
when I realized the same mistakes appeared over and over. I was intrigued. I bought
another paperback at the Atlanta airport and edited it. A pattern emerged. I could
hardly contain my excitement.
Over the next several months I edited many other paperback novels. I joined critique
groups and aggressively edited other writers’ fiction. I plowed through all those
manuscripts from pre-published authors and the marked-up paperback books I'd
tossed into a dresser drawer, and painstakingly sorted thousands of offending
sentences by problem type. I eventually identified 21 distinct fog problems. Today I
call their solutions, appropriately enough, the “21 Steps to Fog-Free Writing.”
The inference staggered me. Just as there are only so many elements in chemistry’s
Periodic Table, and so many letters in the alphabet, there are only so many fog
problems in writing. Again, I counted 21. I realized many unnecessary words were
actually tips of bad-writing icebergs, and that eliminating them, or replacing them with
fewer words, quickly resolved otherwise complicated editing problems. In fact, more
than half the Steps actually strengthened action while shortening sentences. You
could see it happening right before your eyes!
Here’s the good news. You don’t have to be an English major to achieve this writing
miracle. You don’t have to diagram sentences or study verb declensions, whatever
they are. You don’t have to learn complicated rules, or wade through thick manuals of
style. All you have to do is apply a few easy-to-learn Steps. Soon you’ll write
sparkling, clear, powerful copy that attracts readers, agents, and editors. And sales!
Send me your manuscript’s first chapter, and I'll prove it. I’ll edit and critique it,
and tell you exactly why I suggest changes. I’ll give you solid examples. Believing in
the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” adage, I’ll present only those Steps you need. The idea,
after all, is to simplify things.
You’ll pick up the Steps easily as you incorporate them into that first chapter. Then, as
you apply them to the rest of your manuscript, you’ll recognize and chase away every
“fog” word. Your manuscript will sparkle. There’s no way it won’t! And every
manuscript you write from now on will be clearer than you’ve ever written, for two
reasons: You won’t write most of those foggy words in the first place, and you’ll know
exactly what to look for when you self-edit.
So consider this your fog alert. Remember this old story? “Give a man a fish and he’ll
eat for a day, but teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Send me that first
chapter today, and I'll teach you to fish!
| Take the 21 Steps to Fog-Free Writing |
"The more words you eliminate without changing meanings or sacrificing detail, the more powerful your writing becomes." |
"More than half the Steps actually strengthened action while shortening the sentences." |
"Soon you'll write sparkling, clear, powerful copy that attracts readers, agents, and editors. And sales!" |
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