Hiring an editor
In my editing inbox, a typical first-time enquiry from a novice author often runs along these lines: “I’ve written a book. It’s 200,000 words long and taken me 10 years to write, on and off. I’ve sent it to agents … Read More
What is “maid and butler” dialogue?
Maid and butler dialogue I had occasion recently, on one of the submissions to my TheOpeningLines.com website, to comment on some “Maid and Butler” dialogue that an author had used in the opening to his novel. What is “Maid and … Read More
E-book pricing. Thoughts on value.
I wrote a piece for the Irish Times recently on e-book pricing. The link is here. It was picked up by the Arts & Letters Daily, which is very gratifying. The full text is posted below: E-book pricing: because you’re … Read More
Hyphens: when do I hyphenate a word?
As a partner post to my earlier piece on dashes, today I’m going into hyphenation in detail: Why we hyphenate words. What guidelines exist for hyphen usage. How word structure continues to evolve around hyphens. Why do we hyphenate anything? … Read More
How to write a synopsis – tricks and tips
Synopses A common problem for authors who are ready to submit to agents/publishers is the necessity (usually) to supply a synopsis. They’ve done all the hard work, written the book, gone through repeated revisions and rewrites, given it to beta-readers, … Read More