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Hack Your Writing: Seven Search Function Fixes That Instantly Elevate Your Manuscript
Writing is a skill that requires constant fostering in order to improve. Especially when you are just starting out, it’s easy to teach yourself practices that will hinder your progress later on.
This guide aims to improve your skills as a writer, as well as help you elevate any manuscripts you have already written by teaching you how to hack away vain poet violations, hungry narrators, frankensteinian body parts, as well as four other issues a search function query can fix.
Hack Your Writing was written by author, editor, and publisher May Dawney. It’s based upon her experiences gathered while working with developing authors across the globe. This guide is a must-have for every budding author eager to make the next step in their writing career and get their manuscript ready for publication.
Editor: C.S. Conrad
This guide aims to improve your skills as a writer, as well as help you elevate any manuscripts you have already written by teaching you how to hack away vain poet violations, hungry narrators, frankensteinian body parts, as well as four other issues a search function query can fix.
Hack Your Writing was written by author, editor, and publisher May Dawney. It’s based upon her experiences gathered while working with developing authors across the globe. This guide is a must-have for every budding author eager to make the next step in their writing career and get their manuscript ready for publication.
Editor: C.S. Conrad
155 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 18, 2018
2 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
May Dawney
13 books124 followersAuthor signed at Ylva Publishing. My motivation to write comes from the desire to build worlds that are somehow more (or less) than our own. I want to write stories where miracles are logical manifestations of the supernatural or divine and discover what it means to be human when humanity is no longer a given. What I want to add to the amazing body of literature already out there, both to the mainstream fiction written within the genres I am drawn to and lesbian fiction as a genre onto itself, are stories where women turn to women once they stop the apocalypse—be it a global or personal one.
Survival Instincts [Coming March 2018]
Civilization ended long before Lynn Tanner was born. Wild animals roam the streets, but mankind is still the biggest threat to a woman alone in the ruins of a world reclaimed by nature. Lynn survives by sleeping with one eye open at all times and trusting no one but her dog.
When she is forced to go on a dangerous journey through the concrete jungle of New York City, Lynn does all she can to scheme her way to safety. Her guard, Dani Wilson, won’t be played that easily, however. As their lives become entwined, Lynn finds herself developing feelings for Dani and is forced to find the answer to the question that scares her most: is staying alone really the best way to survive?
Fast-paced and full of adventure, Survival Instincts introduces a post-war dystopian world where the only person you can rely on is yourself…unless you fall in love.
Survival Instincts [Coming March 2018]
Civilization ended long before Lynn Tanner was born. Wild animals roam the streets, but mankind is still the biggest threat to a woman alone in the ruins of a world reclaimed by nature. Lynn survives by sleeping with one eye open at all times and trusting no one but her dog.
When she is forced to go on a dangerous journey through the concrete jungle of New York City, Lynn does all she can to scheme her way to safety. Her guard, Dani Wilson, won’t be played that easily, however. As their lives become entwined, Lynn finds herself developing feelings for Dani and is forced to find the answer to the question that scares her most: is staying alone really the best way to survive?
Fast-paced and full of adventure, Survival Instincts introduces a post-war dystopian world where the only person you can rely on is yourself…unless you fall in love.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 22, 2018
Awesome book! Everything is so so well explained. I could follow everything perfectly. The examples are really well done and really clear. And I feel like I might actually be able to implement them. I loved it! This is a fantastic resource. I'll probably also need a paperback copy ASAP to bookmark and carry around :)
February 20, 2018
It targets a very specific audience
I think the time & money I've spent reading this book was well-invested.
This is not a guide for “wanna-be-authors”. Or for “established-authors”. No, this is a book that targets the audience in-between. It is meant for those who have just finished their manuscript and are in the process of “editing” or “sending” it to publishers.
I found it very useful. No word-building. No bla blabla x 300 pages or so!!! It's just an intensive list the highlights what mistakes to look for and how to correct them, you know, all the things that separate a professional manuscript from just another amateur’s work.
I can see now exactly where I did i go wrong with my manuscript. The structure! The dialogue! The POV! Oh, especially the POV, mine is totally messed up >.<
I think the time & money I've spent reading this book was well-invested.
This is not a guide for “wanna-be-authors”. Or for “established-authors”. No, this is a book that targets the audience in-between. It is meant for those who have just finished their manuscript and are in the process of “editing” or “sending” it to publishers.
I found it very useful. No word-building. No bla blabla x 300 pages or so!!! It's just an intensive list the highlights what mistakes to look for and how to correct them, you know, all the things that separate a professional manuscript from just another amateur’s work.
I can see now exactly where I did i go wrong with my manuscript. The structure! The dialogue! The POV! Oh, especially the POV, mine is totally messed up >.<
March 10, 2018
Hack your Writing is an excellent guide for any author that wants to polish their writing and learn how to self-edit.
When I began writing, I asked advice from other authors on the structure with story arcs, dialogue and point of view. This book has compiled all of that information in one easy to understand guide. I just wish she’d written it sooner 😉
The author talks you through how to cut out dialogue tags, show versus tell, cutting out the passive player, bypassing the vain poet, diminishing the hungry narrator and removing flashbacks. All which help to polish your manuscript ready to send out for publication.
I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the vain poet. I’m a dab hand at beautifying something that should be simplistic. As the author said, a lot of the time it takes the reader away from the story, drawing them out of the character's headspace. This is something I plan on working on in my next novel.
Finally, the chapter that details the hungry narrator, the cousin to the vain poet, is excellent. It’s a particular area I always find difficult. I want the reader to see exactly what I see, so end up writing in-depth descriptions in the first draft. Then when the second draft comes along, I finalize by shredding half of my manuscript and removing the fluff. Hopefully, I’ll spot these in the future and write a first draft that requires minimal editing!
It’s an excellent resource, well worth the investment and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend!
When I began writing, I asked advice from other authors on the structure with story arcs, dialogue and point of view. This book has compiled all of that information in one easy to understand guide. I just wish she’d written it sooner 😉
The author talks you through how to cut out dialogue tags, show versus tell, cutting out the passive player, bypassing the vain poet, diminishing the hungry narrator and removing flashbacks. All which help to polish your manuscript ready to send out for publication.
I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the vain poet. I’m a dab hand at beautifying something that should be simplistic. As the author said, a lot of the time it takes the reader away from the story, drawing them out of the character's headspace. This is something I plan on working on in my next novel.
Finally, the chapter that details the hungry narrator, the cousin to the vain poet, is excellent. It’s a particular area I always find difficult. I want the reader to see exactly what I see, so end up writing in-depth descriptions in the first draft. Then when the second draft comes along, I finalize by shredding half of my manuscript and removing the fluff. Hopefully, I’ll spot these in the future and write a first draft that requires minimal editing!
It’s an excellent resource, well worth the investment and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend!
March 10, 2018
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a great resource for any person that wants to learn how to edit their manuscript, ready to send out to prospective publishers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews