A clever play on words can draw attention in a good way, but you don’t want anything to detract from your story. And nothing can yank a discerning reader out of a book quicker than heaving beasts or the flow of hair through fabric. But before we talk about proofreading—let’s define it, shall we? Because […]
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Tips for Writers: How to Develop Your Author’s Voice in Three Easy Steps
Voice. Authors have to cultivate it—it’s one of the major things that builds reader loyalty, especially in a saturated market. But what exactly do people mean when they talk about an author’s voice, usually in statements like these: “Make sure your editor doesn’t interfere with your voice.” “It took me years to find / cultivate […]
Read More »Grammar: Wishing upon a Star (or Are You Hoping or Dreaming?)
On my way into town this morning, a song came on the radio and part of the lyrics were “everything I’ve dreamed for.” I also recently heard that phrase on The Voice. And what’s wrong with that? We all have hopes and dreams. But you don’t dream for things. You hope for an outcome, you wish for […]
Read More »Grammar: Is It Changing Tack or Tact?
Whatever your character is doing isn’t working. Time to change tactics. There’s also a similar phrase—to change tack. But the two words—tack and tactic—are actually not related. Tacking is what sailors do with sails in order to take advantage of the wind. So when used idiomatically, the phrase means you (or your character) are adjusting […]
Read More »Grammar: The Difference between a Spoon Full of Sugar and a Spoonful of Sugar
You may be wondering if there’s a difference between a spoonful of sugar or a spoon full of sugar. The same applies to roomful, forkful, and numerous other words. And the answer is yes! A roomful of people is a measurement, albeit an imprecise one. It’s how many people it takes to fill a room […]
Read More »Grammar: That vs. Which
Grammar: Commas with Relative Clauses That versus which perplexes a lot of people. First things first—let’s talk about restrictive versus nonrestrictive clauses. A relative clause is said to be restrictive if it provides information that is essential to the sentence. In these cases, that is the word you’ll want to use. Let’s take a look at some […]
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