Return of the Crutch Words
The next round of editing, and I encounter the return of the Crutch Words. All of those verbal ticks, habits […]
Editing
Posts on editing a manuscript
The Prose that Defies Editing
For me, the hardest part of writing fiction is fixing the prose that defies editing. In my head, my prose
The Pain of Editing
Nobody tells you about the pain of editing. How frustrating that ‘one last revision’ gets when you find another truckload
A Strong Opening Chapter
A question or an obsession; how do I write a strong opening chapter? How do I hook the reader and
What’s Taking So Long?
Endless posts on writing but no sign of publishing a novel; what’s taking so long? It’s not one novel but
Revision Planning with Troy Lambert
One of the sessions of last year’s writers’ summits covered revision planning with Troy Lambert. At Daniel David Wallace’s Revising
Editing the ‘Crutch’ Words
Sooner or later in the process, every author faces editing the ‘crutch’ words. These are the habitual words or phrases
The Professional Working Draft
Never mind that I’m 65% through editing and still don’t know if the novel is any good: do I have
The Fault in our Scenes
When the story doesn’t work, you don’t know why, and it’s the fault in our scenes.
How long is a paragraph?
A dense wall of text sends readers running; so how long is a paragraph? Online and digital make short paragraphs