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Tag Archives: writing
To Pants or Not To Pants
Today on Twitter, a question came up about outlining: “What’s your favorite and most effective way to outline your work before you start writing?“ Good question. As an author, I don’t typically outline, but my current work in progress (“WIP”) … Continue reading
Posted in Writing and Editing
Tagged fiction, narrative, outlining, writing, writing advice
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Hopping the Fence: When an Editor Writes
I’m an editor. I get a manuscript, dissertation, or textbook and I dig into the words to root out fluff and transplant content from areas where its meaning is obscured in shadow to places where the light hits it more … Continue reading
How Not To Be a Naked Emperor
Doubt feels awful, even when it’s just a minor, nagging little thought in the back of your mind. After all, what if you really did leave the stove on and burn down the house while you were at work? Even small doubts can have dire consequences if they are justified. The problem is, many of them aren’t justified, but it’s not always easy to know when you should invite doubt in for tea and when to shut the door on it. However, if you’re going to be a writer, you need to make friends with your doubt. Continue reading
Posted in Writing and Editing
Tagged doubt, imposter syndrome, writing, writing advice
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Rules, Shmules?
People like to talk about rules. Rules are supposed to make things clear and easy, and knowing the rules makes you look smart. But are there really rules of writing? Continue reading
Don’t Look Down
In many disciplines, if you follow a specific set of instructions, then you should get the intended outcome, whatever that may be. But following rules does not significantly improve art, except incidentally. Art is not art merely because it has technical merit. In fact, some of the best art busts all the rules and gets away with it. If Tom Thompson or Vincent van Gogh had decided to do what a good painter is “supposed” to do, we might never have known their names. Continue reading
Posted in Theory and Discussion, Writing and Editing
Tagged art, value theory, writing, writing advice
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Type While the Idea is Hot — Or At Least Lukewarm and Fermented
I like to write. Editing is a great career, but writing has been a wonderful hobby and sometime escape. Nonetheless, I go through long periods where I don’t write at all or can’t finish a paragraph before give up on what I have concluded is a defective story, essay, or poem. In fact, I don’t publish blog articles half as often as I should because I’m ridiculously critical of my own writing. (Sound familiar?) However, I’ve decided to pick up the pen once more. Continue reading
Just To Be Clear …
A few years ago, I discovered an interesting segue in an article by philosopher George N. Schlesinger. While relating moral integrity to the selection of articles for academic journals, he recites journal editor J. Scott Armstrong’s “author’s formula” for publishing … Continue reading
Bedevilled by Details Part II: Beware of Overshare
Details are wonderful. They enliven your story, create characters that seem uncannily real, and generally make your fictional world go ’round. You can never have too many details … right? Continue reading
Bedevilled by Details Part I: Keeping It Straight
If your details are inconsistent, your story will lose credibility and your readers will start to lose interest. Additionally, it will take longer for your editor to help you find and clean up those details, so if you are paying for editorial services out of your own pocket, this may increase the costs to you. Continue reading
The Tyranny of Words
It doesn’t really matter what you’re writing, whether it’s a brief news article, a short story, or a mammoth doctoral thesis — writing can be stress Continue reading
Quills and Queries Editing 