The Editor's Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists

by Sarah Cypher

Become a revision-savvy writer with the help of The Editor's Essential Writing Terms for Novelists. It decodes, defines, and provides helpful examples of the editorial jargon used in writing workshops, critiques, and online forums. Written by an experienced editor and writing teacher, this dictionary-style reference book is a fundamental guide for writers across the spectrum of experience--from new writers learning the craft, to seasoned nonfiction writers working on a first novel, to intermediate-level authors wishing to sharpen their technical skills.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

80 pages, ebook

First published February 12, 2010

About the author

Sarah Cypher is a freelance book editor and author of The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine, April 2023). She has an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Creative Writing Fellow in fiction. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New Ohio Review, Majuscule, North American Review, LEON Literary Review, Crab Orchard Review, and others. She grew up in a Lebanese Christian family near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife.

Reviews

[Jan]

My fingers are crossed that I will be fortunate enough to win this book in Goodreads' Giveaway. I'm newly active at Goodreads although I joined sometime ago. I want to participate more fully by adding my reviews of books that I have read; however, I am always at a loss where to begin. Therefore, I generally only review books that I truly enjoyed (4 or 5 stars) or couldn't stand (one star). But how do I review a book that falls somewhere in the middle of my estimation?

After reading this book, I hope to be able to post reviews that enhance another reader's search for good reads.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Editor's Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists by Sarah Cypher is a must have for anyone who writes, edits and for readers too. I put this book on the same level as Strunk and White: Elements of Style.

The information in this book is presented clearly and each term has an example that demonstrates the use of the term in context of editor notes. I read it from cover to cover and will have it on my desk for future reference.

[Carolyn Benton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodread. This book covers everything you need to either become an author or an editor. Precise in content and easy to comprehend. Cypher outlines each subject, then drills into specific terms relating to the subject. Cypher even includes some writting and sentence structures as examples.

[Noura Noman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty basic work. A list of all the words which could be used by an editor as he/she advises or criticizes a fictional text. As an author I found a few useful terms and examples.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a simple glossary of terms for beginning writers and editors. If you don’t use the internet, it might be useful as a reference text, but it doesn’t really add anything new to the common lexicon. And it does not expand on terminology beyond the obvious.