Tag Archive for ‘editing’
Guest Blog: Jennie Nash on 10 Do's and Don'ts for Writers Seeking Feedback
Some handy rules for when, why and how to ask readers to respond to a work-in-progress: 1. Don’t Ask Too Early in the Process Work that is still incubating is too fragile for critique. Wait until you have a clear vision of your project so that you don’t get swayed by what other people think. I usually ask for feedback when I’ve stopped wondering if people will like my story and start wondering about the way a specific part of [...]
Writing Tip #5: Advice from George Orwell
In his essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell made a list of six rules for writers. “These rules sound elementary,” Orwell wrote, “and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.” Though he compiled this list in 1946, it’s as relevant and useful today as it was then: Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used [...]
Writer vs. Editor
I used to agonize over each word and phrase in a first draft, doubtful that when I came back to it, weeks or months later, I would be able to see, much less fix, the things that didn’t work. But while I was writing my third novel, The Way Life Should Be – and editing other people’s manuscripts at the same time – I had an epiphany. (Yes, it took three novels to figure this out.) Here’s what I realized: [...]
