Monthly Archives: December 2016

Any journey you set out on requires time and at least some hard work. No matter how difficult such travels may be, though, the destination is always reachable. Wrong turns may be made along the way or a cliff then a thicket of thorns may stand between the starting point and your goal, but ultimately withContinue reading “Every word I write is another stroke that takes me to the shore of a completed book”

When self-editing a draft of your manuscript, consider doing it the old-fashioned way: printing it out on paper. Reading text on paper will allow you to catch errors that you might not spot when editing on a computer screen. That’s because we read text on computer screens differently than we do that on paper. With computerContinue reading “Missing typos? Try editing old-fashioned way”

“What we call fiction is the ancient way of knowing, the total discourse that antedates all the special vocabularies….Fiction is democratic, it reasserts the authority of the single mind to make and remake the world.” – E. L. Doctorow “Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.” – Mason Cooley “Fiction is about stuff that’s screwed up.” – Nancy KressContinue reading “Five Great Quotations about Fiction”

Suffering from writer’s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine. To that end, try this tip: Risk means being vulnerable. Accepting that as a writer is vital to developing your skills. So go ahead and try writing something you’ve never done beforeContinue reading “Writing Prompt: Try Something Risky”

Before we get started, let me just preface by saying I see this mistake a lot in manuscripts I edit, though the difference between the two words is quite easy to remember. I suspect that the problem may be some writers don’t realize that the word “foreword” exists. “Foreword” is an introduction to a book, usuallyContinue reading “Get out front of this pair: Forward vs. foreword”

“I knew as I wrote them (journals) that even though they provided an excellent place for brain (and heart, and psyche) dump, they were mainly a map of me.” – Colleen Wainwright, “communicatrix” “Writing takes you into a confrontation of self.” – Gene Roddenberry, television producer and writer “Better to write for yourself and have no public,Continue reading “Five quotations about writing as self-discovery”

• Types of third-person point of views By far, the most common point of view used in literature is that of third-person. When the narrator is not a character in a story, a third-person point of view is being used.  • Use third–person limited for greater clarityOne type of third-person point of view is third-person limited. This is when the narrator tellsContinue reading “4 Tips on Using Third-Person Point of View”

“Mam” refers to a member of a Mayan people of southwestern Guatemala or to the language they speak. “Ma’am” is the correct spelling of the polite address of a woman, as in “Thank you for the change, ma’am.” ______________________ My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets theContinue reading “Pardon me, mam (or maybe it’s ma’am?)”