Author Archives: Rob Bignell

“Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.” – Thomas Berger “All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not drivenContinue reading “Five Great Quotations about Why We Must Write”

In a way, writing is like a waking dream meditation (a “vision quest” in other parlance) in which the very essence of who you are utilizes the symbols of everyday things to discover the answers to life’s most challenging questions. Which of the “big questions” of life does your writing address? If none at all, wouldContinue reading “Writing Inspiration: Go on Vision Quest”

Among the most common yet avoidable errors when formatting a book to be self-published is inserting the wrong font, font size and or other style into the manuscript. For example, if you want your text to be in Times Roman, 12 point, and single spaced, you might find when editing it that a few paragraphs areContinue reading “Avoid Introducing Wrong Styles into Your Text”

Among the most common mistakes I see when editing novice writers’ manuscripts is the use of redundant words. A redundancy exists when the modifying words aren’t needed because they say exactly what the word being modified implies. For example, “rich heiress” is redundant as an heiress by definition is rich. Writer Samuel Delaney recommends a simpleContinue reading “Delete Redundancies for Tighter Manuscript”

Science fiction stories typically revolve around a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that becomes “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or a space station with artificial gravity; it also can be hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine theContinue reading “5 Science Fiction Writing Prompts”

When describing a fair-haired man, don’t use blonde, even if the dude looks like a lady. A flaxen-haired female is a blonde, but a sandy-haired male is a blond (no e, please). ______________ My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both newContinue reading “Nothing to Joke about: Blonde vs. Blond”

Among the most annoying features of Microsoft Word’s Track Changes program is that every time you reopen a file, the corrections show up. To not see the corrections, you have to toggle the “Display for Review” setting to “No Markup.” This is a default setting because Microsoft says it doesn’t want you to share with others an editedContinue reading “How to Get Rid of Word’s Proofreading Marks”

“Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.” – Ray Bradbury “Publishing is a business. Writing may be art, but publishing, when all is said andContinue reading “Five Great Quotations about Business of Writing”