Facebook. In defence of 'basically' Should you ever begin a sentence with an adverb?
Basically, there's nothing wrong with it. Oops: I have just committed a wordcrime heinous to some sensitive souls. The popularity of "basically", especially among young English-speakers, sorely offends older ears, including those attached to the head of Harris Academy in Upper Norwood. The school has recently specified "formal language zones", where one must not use the words "ain't" or "bare" (who knows how the poor pupils will get all the way through some future school production of The Jungle Book?
Are they supposed to sing "The Very Necessities"?) 3 Punctuation Marks to Incorporate Into Your Writing Today. Most people don't spend much time thinking about punctuation.
We're not most people. When properly used, punctuation can enhance the rhythm of your writing or change its meaning entirely. And yet too many people rely on a scant handful of marks to express themselves. Commas and periods are the bread and butter of punctuation: familiar, safe...and bland. Copy-editors: What They Really Do. Today we have a guest post from editor Robert Doran, whose previous guest posts on the subject of all things editing –Structural Editing for Self-Publishers and Why Hire An Editor?
– were exceedingly popular. Today he’s explaining exactly what it is copy-editors do, and he’ll be back on Thursday to tell us all about proofreading. Welcome back to Catherine. Caffeinated, Robert! Take it away… “People often think that if you can write you can edit – and vice versa. Many self-publishers decide not to hire a copy-editor because of the cost involved and because they don’t fully understand what a copy-edit can do for their work. In broad terms, the copy-editor must ensure that the author’s words are true to the intended message. Proofreading Explained. As promised, today we have another guest post from editor Robert Doran, whose ‘copy-editing explained’ post on Tuesday gave this blog a visitors spike.
(As did his previous guest posts on the subject of all things editing –Structural Editing for Self-Publishers and Why Hire An Editor?). This morning, his focus is on proofreading… Association of Freelance Editors, Proofreaders & Indexers. (Updated: 2 February 2013) Recommended minimum rates for proofreading and editing Rates will be higher for specialist editing services in areas requiring professional knowledge of technical concepts, terminology or methodologies.
See the FAQs for information on the distinction between proofreading, copy-editing, substantive editing, etc. Although speeds vary, the following guidelines may be useful: The Editing Process: Interview of a Freelance Editor. Are you thinking of using a freelance editor to go through your novel manuscript before sending it off to an agent or publisher or publishing it yourself?
Smart move! I asked our regular guest blogger, Jodie Renner, who is a freelance fiction editor, to give us some ideas of what to expect when seeking out and working with a freelance editor. MP: How do writers go about finding a freelance editor? JR: They can just Google words like editing, fiction editor, editing services, freelance editor, copyediting, copy editor, copyediting services. Or go to the websites of editors’ associations like The Editorial Freelancers Association, or the Editors’ Association of Canada, . The Editing Process: Interview of a Freelance Editor. What does an editor cost? This post first published 9/6/08 and not much has changed, including debate over fair and affordable editing costs.
Wilcox Editing Services. Services Editorial Assessment: If you are not sure which level of editing you require, you may benefit from an initial editorial assessment.
I will read through your manuscript and identify general problems and attributes. For example, I might note the spelling is generally poor but the character development is excellent in your manuscript. A Short Course in Line Editing. How would you edit the following paragraph?
If a fellow workshop student turned in a story containing this paragraph, could you offer specific suggestions to improve the individual sentences? The man dropped his bags and she ran straight into his arms. Two Signs of Overwriting and Why It’s a Problem. Often, when I read a submission from a newer writer or one who has just come out of a fiction class, I flag it for overwriting.
What is overwriting? Basically, it’s a sense that the prose (and the writer behind it) is trying too hard to get their point across or impress the reader. A Test to Decide Whether Adverbs and Adjectives Deserve to Live. A Test to Decide Whether Adverbs and Adjectives Deserve to Live “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” “When you catch an adjective, kill it.” “Write with nouns and verbs, not with adjectives and adverbs.” These three bits of writing advice, from experts Stephen King, Ben Yagoda and the team of Strunk and White, aren’t just their authors’.
They’re pervasive in writing and teaching circles. The idea behind them is that “A totally scary and extremely mean-looking person hurriedly moved toward me” is a poor substitute for “Freddy Krueger lunged at me.” A lot of writing experts take issue with this advice. Creative Writing. Bookmark This: Rick Moody's Guide to Revision. Below is an excerpt of "A Guide to Revision" by Rick Moody.
Download the full document by clicking here. Revision is the most important part of what we do as writers. It's also the least studied stage in the process. There are stylemanuals in abundance, true. These style manuals often feature a wealth of practical recommendations for writers. As a way of rethinking the kind of instruction I have recently offered my own students, it has occurred to me that I might attempt to make scientific - however disagreeable that word might sound - the art of revision.
Of course, I am by no means perfect at these things myself. 1. This suggestion is from a style manual, one of the best, and it is therefore a good place to begin. Download the rest of Rick Moody's essay here. What does a proof-reader do? What does a proof-reader do? You might think it's obvious: finds typos. And that's true. But it is also more complicated and more technical than that. After all, while some typos are clearly typos, others are stylistic traits and others are not typos at all but do require consistency. Let me list some of the things my expert proof-reader found in Dear Agent (coming on Aug 10th!)
Places where I'd got a very slightly different wording in the contents from the actual wording in the heading, because I'd changed my mind about the heading but not the contents list.I'd used the word blind-folded with a hyphen twice and without twice - the examples were far apart and to notice I'd have to remember to write down every single word that could have two forms as I came to them, so that I could check each one. What I Charge for Proofreading Services. The Importance of Editing. By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig I’m thankful for the rise in dystopian fiction (my son’s favorite genre and one that was difficult to find before the Hunger Games gained prominence) and e-readers. Believe me, we’d tapped out our county library system before getting a Kindle. In fact, I was sending purchase requests weekly to the acquisitions librarian until they instigated a limit on the number of requests a patron could make.
Before ebooks, I ordered books online, drove across town to the bookstore, visited the second-hand store—and we still kept running out of books. We got some relief from our problem when we bought a Kindle. There was one series that I kept running across. From all the reader accounts, the plot and characters were very sound—but there were a lot of errors in the books, (mostly typos but also continuity errors). 6 Tips For Hiring The Right Freelance Editor « Writerland. As a freelance editor and someone who has hired several freelance editors, I wanted to give my two cents about if/when/how you need to hire an editor.
Anne Allen wrote a wonderful post about this topic Sunday as well. Be sure to check it out when you’re done reading this: 1. Do I need a freelance editor? If you’ve completed your memoir/novel/nonfiction book and plan to upload it to Amazon or Smashwords or one of the many other self-publishing websites, YES, you need an editor. That depends. Do NOT send your book to an editor after the first draft unless you are okay with getting feedback on content ONLY and doing some major rewrites.