Revising Fiction by David Madden: Leading by Example (and with TOC Checklist) →

Jeff VanderMeer shares his appreciation for the book Revising Fiction (now out of print, sadly). VanderMeer shares how the book “radically changed” his perspective on revision:

I grew immeasurably as a writer and began to exhibit more control. In encountering questions I didn’t even understand at the time, I also came to understand that there is no such thing as “mastery” in writing fiction — that there would always be more to learn, more to look forward to internalizing. These two lessons, and the presence of masters of fiction ghosting through the text, soon made Revising Fiction and me inseparable. And I still return to it every year to see what else I can learn from it.

There are several used copies available for sale on Amazon, so I might consider picked one up eventually. In the meantime, VanderMeer provides most of the table of contents that is, essentially, a list of 183 questions to ask oneself while revising fiction.