Semicolons: Commonly Misused Bits of Punctuation
The semicolon is the most commonly misused punctuation mark. Bryan Garner (A Dictionary of Modern American Usage) calls the semicolon…
Kicking High Concept into High Gear
We’ve been exploring the first key pillar of novel construction—concept with a kicker. Last week I explained that a novel…
10 Risks You Run if You Don’t Proofread Your Manuscript
Today’s guest post is from my beloved editing mentor Kathy Ide. Kathy is the person who introduced me to the…
Make a Dash for It
If you’re not familiar with printers’ terminology, you may not know the term em dash. But as a writer and…
Coming Up with a Kicker of a Concept
We’re taking a close look in these first posts on novel construction at the four main corner pillars. To recap…
How Your Habits Help You Write a Book
Today’s guest post is by author and writing instructor Alex Strike: Writing is not an easy process at all. I’d…
What Are Those “Long Hyphens” All About?
I’d like to dash off a not-so-short post today on en dashes, since sorting out the family of dashes—hyphens, en…
An Idea Does Not a Novel Make
We’re now starting to delve into the first pillar of novel construction—concept with a kicker. I introduced the 12 key…
Tried and True Tips for First-Time Authors
Today’s guest post comes from writing instructor Amanda Guest, who is the Community Manager for FastPencil, a site that helps…