If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: enjoy the daily grind. Writing books is hard, seeing them rejected is harder, and to keep on writing every day even on the days when you don’t feel like it is the hardest. All that hardship leaves...
I’m not a copyeditor, but I make a point of knowing certain things about the styling of the written word and so should you. Feel free to bookmark this page for reference. Mind you, stylebooks evolve, not to mention that they don’t always agree, so this article isn’t...
“Brevity is the soul of wit and many other virtues in writing.” Steven Pinker I’ve meant to read this book for a while now. A title like The Sense of Style, coupled with the brilliance of Steven Pinker’s own writing, can make you believe that reading the book from...
Many characterization guides will tell you to base a character on something like the 49 Personality Archetypes, Jung’s 12 Archetypes, or the 16 Personality Types. (All worth saving for reference, by the way.) These lists have led many budding writers astray, because,...
Sir Samuel Vimes, the Commander of Ankh-Morpork’s City Watch may be referred to as “Sir” by his butler, “Samuel” by his wife, “Vimes” by his friends, “Commander” or “Sir” by his watchmen, or “Lord Commander” by the city’s aristocrats. But a wise narrator will always...
