Tag Archives: self-editing

Why should you hire a professional proofreader?

Check out this popular meme: Did you catch the error? Between the image and the text font, you might have missed the fact that the word overlaying the lemon is actually “melons”, a transposition of the “l” and the “m”. Happens to all of us. But your brain can trick you into missing errors likeContinueContinue reading “Why should you hire a professional proofreader?”

Writing a Book Blurb

In November, you probably wrote madly and got a lot of words down for the story of your dreams. You now have to take a step back and figure out what it is you’ve got. If you don’t know what you have, you’re not likely to get very far trying to fix it. In myContinueContinue reading “Writing a Book Blurb”

Individualizing characters

This is the last one where I’ll suggest you bookmark and come back if you’re NaNo-ing. Good luck as you finish! This is my last post on broadly editing the story you’ve written. This is not the end of such self-editing, but I feel like it’s important to thoroughly check your story’s structural pieces -ContinueContinue reading “Individualizing characters”

Growth

Again, consider bookmarking this post until after NaNoWriMo if you’re taking this month to write your book. In this second post for broad evaluation and fixing of your story, let’s talk about growth and change. What happens to us affects us. What we experience changes our perspective, our behavior, and our relationships. We understand thisContinueContinue reading “Growth”

Self-Editing Guide is live!

It’s alive! Available now in Paperback or Ebook, Self-Editing Guide: A workbook for the DIY fiction author, is now available. Proof prints have been checked, and the “publish” button has been pushed. Just in time, I hope, for the NaNoWriMo authors all ready to dive into their manuscripts from November and turn them into theirContinueContinue reading “Self-Editing Guide is live!”

Throw away the crutches

Photo by Dom J on Pexels.com Copy editing (and line editing – I do both together) are organized around making sure your story is streamlined and contains the best word choices to suit the characters, the tone or tension of the situations, and the setting or time period. The application of grammar rules is balancedContinueContinue reading “Throw away the crutches”

Attributions in Dialogue

Reference: Managing Attributions in Dialogue Scenes: Who Said That? (Florida Writers Association) One of the toughest things to explain, IMHO, is when attribution is necessary, when it’s not, and whether it goes in front or behind the dialogue. This blog linked above from the FWA is very bare bones and I don’t think goes quiteContinueContinue reading “Attributions in Dialogue”

Editing Yourself

You don’t have to edit on paper, but you do need to be able to gain distance from your writing process to edit yourself. I generally recommend only that you edit yourself after a very long break – and stick to broad concepts. Unless you have already internalized the grammar rules – or are willingContinueContinue reading “Editing Yourself”