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
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
Must dash! Before I became an editor, I had only vaguely noticed that some dashes were longer than others. I thought it was perhaps a particular type of font, or just that some publishers liked longer lines and some liked … Read More
Are you ready to submit to agents? Or about to hit the self-publish button? I’ve been busy the last few months, getting a new website off the ground. Called TheOpeningLines.com, the site aims to give a quick professional editor’s critique … Read More
Beta readers A discussion about beta readers came up the other day in an editors’/writers’ group I’m a moderator of. There seemed to be considerable confusion about what the role of a beta reader is, what to look for in … Read More