Congratulations, you’ve finished your manuscript! You may feel proud, joyful, relieved, and even a bit let down. You may also feel confused, exhausted, and overwhelmed. Truth be told, you’re tired of writing and afraid that the weeks, months, or years you’ve invested in your work may still not be enough. But you want to get…
Writers want their characters to talk. Okay, most writers want this. Exceptions exist, of course, such as Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler (her protagonist never speaks), The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, The Color Purple by Alice Walker,…
What reader doesn’t appreciate a well-told tale, witty repartee, gripping courtroom testimonies, lovers’ quarrels, or dramatic monologues delivered by impassioned characters? Most, wouldn’t you say? So how do readers recognize when a character is tongue-lashing a sibling or hitting on his wife’s best friend? Punctuation marks! Some authors occasionally (or always) eschew commas, semi-colons, quotation…
A dialogue tag, also known as a speaker attribution, is a short phrase that identifies a speaker (and sometimes how the person speaks). “Pass the pickles,” Dan says. “Dill or sweet?” Donna asks. “I guess I’ll go for dill.” “Good choice—the dill ones are homemade, courtesy of your sister-in-law.” In this short conversation, we know…
Read more How to Write Effective Dialogue Tags (Without Putting Yourself in A Pickle!)
Writers rely on editors to detect inconsistencies in character and plot, to repair grammar errors, and to correct misspellings—in short, to make your manuscript memorable for its message, not its mistakes. Beyond the reputable dictionary, copyeditors turn to style manuals, such as The Chicago Manual of Style and The Associated Press Stylebook, which provide “rules”…
Based upon decades of research into the writing process and the work habits of real writers, this book inspires and reassures those of us who, in these days of instant gratification and on-the-go, 24/7 communication, write at a more leisurely, even glacial, pace. In fact, “slow writing” fosters risk-taking and stimulates intuitive leaps in…
Colleen Olle—Editorial Services 