It’s a very nice red pen, isn’t it? The ink is smooth, the grip is light but firm. The colour is vibrant. How are you using it? Are you liberally applying ink to the page or are you more reserved […]
Read moreTag: editing
Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling – Oh My!
There are reasons we read fiction. Finding out how good the author is at their spelling, grammar and punctuation is not one of them. If it is for you, you’re a stickler. Or a sicko. Or a sticklo. There, that […]
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Watch your Language!
The first sweep (or sweeps) have landed your book in a nice spot: It makes sense, it says what you want it to say, and it starts and ends properly. You’ve checked the continuity and all of that in the […]
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From the Top… Down
Sweeping through my draft on the first run, I want to make sure that my story says and does what I want it to say and do. If it’s a comedy, it has to be funny. If it’s adventure, the […]
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Sweeping Your Manuscript Clean
So you’ve bought yourself your red pen, good, and you’ve printed out your manuscript, even better, and you’re ready to get correcting. This post is about how I go about editing and correcting my work. Now, to give you a […]
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First, Buy a Good Red Pen
Back at school, when the teacher took out the red pen, you knew exactly what was coming. Underlines, circles, cross-outs, comments and the occasional tick. All in aid of making your work better. Now that you’re an author, you’re going […]
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Uh, I’d prefer it if you didn’t…
“What is this filth?” Nana exclaimed, hurriedly clapping the novel shut lest the foul contents should spill upon the floor. She looked up, “Who’s leaving this lying around? What sort of person gets his jollies writing this tosh?” “Um. That’d […]
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Getting to know your Audience
I’ve written quite a few Project Proposals in my time as a software engineer. The goal is clear: to communicate to a technically minded audience the problem space, the proposed solution, the tasks to achieve that solution, an analysis of […]
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Slow down there, Tiger!
Great stuff, Max! You knocked out your draft, you managed to find some people to read over it and give you advice. You probably even went back and deleted a bunch of crud, reworked some bits, softened your metaphors. Come […]
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When It Just Ain’t Right
I got to the end of my first draft of Hampton Court Ghost. I smiled, patted myself on the back, content that the hard part was over. I had started with a premise, refined it and wrote it down, got […]
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