Line Editing for Crime, Mystery and Thriller Writers: Professional Techniques Writers Editors

Learn how to craft killer sentences that keep readers turning the pageThis practical handbook shows writers and professional editors how to line edit crime, mystery and thriller fiction with confidence.Each chapter explains how the topic works, then provides an accessible framework for editing at sentence level, and finishes with a lengthy before-and-after worked example that demonstrates line editing in action.The goal: You'll learn how to hone and apply sentence-level craft that will ensure the book's scenes keep readers turning the pages long into the night.Essential foundations- Viewpoint- Psychic distance- Showing and telling- Atmosphere and mood- Decluttering prose- MomentumReader engagement and orientation- Opening pages- Opening lines- Foreshadowing- Clues- Suspicion- Misdirection- Suspense- Scene transitions- Chapter exitsCharacter communication- Voice- Dialogue, thought and subtext- Interrogations- Embedded dialogue- Slurs in dialoguePace, pressure and flow- Scene beats- Rhythm- Scene pacing- Tension- Urgency- Repetition- Verbs and adverbsCharacter presentation and identity- First-person narrator presence- Character references- Identity-led pronouns- Character description- Character framing- BackstoryAction, threat and harm- Fight scenes- Chase scenes- Fear and unease- Pain and injury- Gore and brutality- Aftermath, shock and trauma