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January 2012: Don’t let your participial phrases dangle; attach them to whatever they modify. · Wrong: Racing along the highway, the farmhouses looked like a blur. (Really? The farmhouses were racing along?) · Right: Racing along the highway, we thought the farmhouses looked like a blur. (We were racing, we thought….) · Wrong: Arriving late again, my seat was the only empty one in the class. (My seat arrived late? Um, no.) · Right: Arriving late again, I saw that my seat was the only empty one in the class. (I was late, I saw the seat.)
December 2011: Statements that express doubt, wish, or a condition that is not real call for subjunctive verbs. Such statements often use “if” and “would.” Writers seem to have the most trouble with the verbs “were”/”was.” Here’s how to use them: · If that were the case, he would have called by now. (It’s doubtful that that is the case.) · If Joey were to win the contest, our class would be known as the best in the school. (We wish for Joey to win.) · If I were better at skiing, I wouldn’t fall so often. (I’m not a good skier.) But: · If I was wrong, I will take responsibility.
November: Use an apostrophe to show possession, not plural. A singular noun usually takes an apostrophe-s (’s), and a plural noun that ends in s takes an apostrophe only. Like this: · The dog’s tail · The cars’ bumpers The same goes for proper names, even when they end in s: · Mr. Addams’s house · The Addamses’ house Notice that Addamses is the plural of Addams. There are many, many exceptions. One good resource is Grammarbook.com.
October 2011: This advice comes from NPR essayist and host Ira Glass. I’ll summarize and paraphrase: Don’t get discouraged if the work you produce doesn’t live up to your ambitions at first, or even for a while. Trust your taste, trust your ambition, and keep working at it. Read it in Glass’s own words, here.
September 2011: Active voice is usually preferred over passive voice. (Who prefers it? If I had written that sentence in active voice, you would know.) Active voice means the subject of the sentence is doing the action. In a passive-voice sentence, the subject isn’t doing anything ... except receiving the action. Passive voice can conceal who is doing the action. Passive voice: · Mistakes were made. · Money was stolen. · The parade was canceled. Active voice: · We made mistakes. · The boss stole money. · The City Council canceled the parade.
August 2011: The words affect and effect do not mean the same thing. Affect is usually* a verb, meaning “to influence.” Effect is usually* a noun, meaning “result.” Try this memory aid: “A” is for “action.” The one that starts with “A” — affect — is the verb, or action word. Here’s how to use them: · The rain will not affect our plans. · My garden is showing the effect of last week’s rain. * I’m going to leave you on your own to consult a dictionary about the less common uses of these two words. Enjoy.
July 2011: Read all of your writing aloud, whether it is fiction or nonfiction. If possible, get someone to listen and give you HONEST feedback. But you should also learn to listen to your own words. Are there places where you stumble? Do certain phrases and sentences sound awkward, stilted or pretentious? Do some sentences leave your listener wondering what the heck you mean? If so, that’s your clue that you need to revise. Don’t make excuses. Make changes. The reader/listener is always right.
June 2011: In a sentence that uses a “both … and …” construction, make sure that what follows is parallel. Picture it like a Y, with “both” and “and” at the point where the Y forks. You should be able to cut off either tine (along with “both” and “and”) and be left with a grammatical sentence. The same rule applies to “either … or. …” · Wrong: He works hard both at school and home. · Wrong: The role will go either to Heather or Anna.
May 2011: Be careful about spelling. Misspelled words make it into print surprisingly often — even in books that have been read by several editors before they are published. Here are the correct spellings of a few words that somehow keep confusing spellcheck. · minuscule (NOT miniscule) · preventive (NOT preventative) · tendinitis (NOT tendonitis) · sacrilegious (NOT sacreligious) · predominantly (NOT predominately) · perseverance (NOT perseverence) · accommodate (2 C’s, 2 M’s — easy to remember)
April 2011: Open your dictionary often. Use words with precision. Here are some words that are often used way too loosely, along with their original meanings and what the writer is usually trying to say: · decimate — reduce by one-tenth (better: devastate) · dilemma — a choice between two equally unappealing alternatives (better: problem) · lion’s share — the whole thing (better: biggest share) · nonplussed — perplexed (better: angry, annoyed) · presently — soon (better: now) · literally — exactly as stated (better: figuratively … or just delete “literally”)
March 2011: Break down a large project into manageable chunks (chapters, for example) and give yourself a deadline to finish each chunk. Then divide each chunk by the number of days you can work on it within your deadline, and figure out what part of the project you will need to accomplish each day that you work on it. Take it one day at a time. Be patient with yourself, but stick with your plan. Any progress is good progress.
February 2011: “Less” and “fewer” are not interchangeable. Use the former for things that can be measured in continuous quantity, the latter for things that are counted in discrete units. Say what? Like this: · There are fewer people here than I’d expected. · That means we’ll need less time to see them all. · The pool has less water today than yesterday, because we pumped fewer gallons into it.
January 2011: Don’t attempt to write in any style or genre until you have read at least a dozen recent works in that genre. You’d be amazed how many people set out to write, for example, a children’s book when they have not read a children’s book since their own childhood. Sure, the rules of any genre can be broken. But you have to know those rules well before you can successfully ignore them.
December 2010: ’Tis the season for tired, worn, downright ragged holiday clichés. Don’t deck your prose with them. They are naughty, not nice. Leave the Jolly Old Elf to his winter wonderland, while you create fresh, new phrases. Make a list of those exhausted expressions, check it twice … and then boil them in oil and bury them with a stake of holly through their hearts as you shout out with glee: “Bah, humbug!”
November 2010: When a character stops speaking in mid-sentence, your punctuation can show why and how he stops. If he trails off, use an ellipsis (…). If he is interrupted, use a dash (— ). The dash also works if he interrupts himself. Like this: · “I wonder if I .…” He gazed out the window, lost in thought. · “I wonder if I — “ · “I wonder if I — Hey, we’d better get going,” he said.
October 2010: If you are planning to submit your writing to a publisher, be sure you format it the way the publisher wants it. A book manuscript, for example, usually needs to be double-spaced with indented paragraphs and no extra line between paragraphs. Use an easy-to-read font, such as 12-point Times New Roman. Print on only one side of the paper, and don’t bother with a binding. Find more details on the publisher’s website, or from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, www.scbwi.org.
September 2010: Get out of your comfort zone. Volunteer for an organization (or take a class) that will expose you to people and situations you would not normally have any connection with. Pay attention. Keep an open mind. Not only will you get ideas for stories and characters, but you should also gain insights that will help you write with greater depth and nuance.
August 2010: Remember fairy tales? Everything seems to happen in threes. In the same way, you can group things in threes on both a micro and macro level to enhance the rhythm and impact of your writing. Some possibilities: · Include three incidents in the middle section of your story. · Begin three sentences in a row the same way. · Use three parallel phrases in a single sentence.
July 2010: “Proven” is an adjective, not a verb. The verb form is “proved.” Like this: · She is a proven winner. · The charges against him haven’t been proved. · You’ve proved your point.
June 2010: Learn to listen calmly to the comments and suggestions of people who read your work, and don’t take any of it as a personal criticism. Some of the comments may be way off base, others may open your eyes or spark your own good new ideas. Only you know which suggestions fit your goals.
May 2010: “Loan” is a noun, not a verb. The verb is “lend.” Yes, I know you see “loan” used as a verb all the time. That doesn’t make it right. (This is a serious peeve of mine — can you tell?) Here’s how to use them: · He needs a loan to pay for his new car. · I’m lending my lawn mower to the neighbors. · I lent her lunch money last week, and she repaid the loan a few days later.
April 2010: When you’re showing words coming out of someone’s mouth, “said” often says it all. The words within the quote should make it clear that the speaker is declaring, denying, apologizing, admonishing, or asserting. Never use physical actions to mean “said.” Do not let your characters laugh, shrug, sneer, chortle, smile, or pout their dialogue.
March 2010: In honor of National Grammar Day, March 4, check out The Grammar Guide, the blog of longtime grammar guru Pam Nelson. Pam offers advice and insights on grammar, usage, vocabulary, style and more. Try out her quizzes, too.
February 2010: Learn to say no to distractions that will take you away from writing. There will always be friends who need help, laundry that needs washing, good causes that need volunteers. If you don’t give your writing high priority, no one else will either. Take charge of your time and energy, and just write.
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