Don McQuinn, a book doctor, shared his writing and editing tips at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in British Columbia. Here are several of his tips, which range from editing yourself to dealing with writer’s block.

“Editing yourself takes cold-blooded analysis,” says McQuinn. He doesn’t show his writing to anyone until it’s completely ready to go. Only his wife, Carol, sees it before it’s edited and polished. McQuinn also says “Good books are rewritten.”

To learn more Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King, click on the book cover. To dip into this book doctor’s writing and editing tips, read on…

Writing and Self-Editing Tips From Book Doctor Don McQuinn

Start with words on paper. Your words on paper are your raw material – like a potter who sits down with a great glob of mud. You can create an amazing sculpture, but first you need the mud.

Read the genre you’re attracted to. Learn from people who know what they’re doing! 

Remember that the writing business is flexible. Once you’re an established writer, it’s a flexible business – but first you have to get the information down, says McQuinn.

Edit yourself. Voice will come once you get your words down. If you start by worrying how you write so you’re presenting something unique, you’re putting the cart before the horse. “The muse comes when it’s ready,” says McQuinn.

Be vicious. When you’re editing your writing, be prepared to cut everything that doesn’t work. Be objective. “You write bad stuff,” says McQuinn. “Everyone does.” He encourages writers to look at the famous published writers, and know that it started out as bad writing.

Find the telling details. When you rewrite, look for ways to tell the most with the least. In fiction, everything must relate back to your protagonist.

Expect your editor to find “mistakes.” No matter how much you edit your work, an editor will spot an error in the first paragraph, or even sentence. This is part of the writing process, not an indication of your writing ability.

Forget about writer’s block. “If you’re a professional writer, there’s no such thing as writer’s block,” says McQuinn. “There’s starvation and no money to pay the bills, but professional writers can’t afford to have writer’s block.”

Work hard. “I never met anyone who works as hard as Dean Koontz,” says McQuinn. Koontz has written dozens of novels in 38 languages. But he works hard.

Fellow scribes, do you think husbands are detrimental to wives’ writing careers? McQuinn says, ”Male writers usually have supportive wives who help them – and who are often fabulous editors – but wives tend to have less supportive, sometimes even destructive husbands.”  I know this is NOT true for me – my hubby Bruce Kienlen is the most supportive, encouraging man I know!

And, if you’ve been to the Surrey International Writers’ Conference: was it worthwhile? Did you learn as much as you thought and hoped?