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“Whoever/Whomever” in Fiction: Which Should Your Character Use?
Recently, a question that went something like this appeared in a Facebook group for writers seeking help from book editors:Help with this sentence please! “Some advice, for whoever/whomever is...
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Is Blogging for You? Part 1
Yesterday I had a wonderful time brainstorming about blogging with Louise Harnby and Denise Cowle at their joyful Editing Podcast. In fact, we dug into so many aspects of blogging, they decided to...
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Is Blogging for You? Parts 2 and 3
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the great time I had brainstorming about blogging with Louise Harnby and Denise Cowle at their joyful Editing Podcast. Parts 2 and 3 are now available. In part 1...
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When to Delete “That”
A piece of bossy advice often given to creative writers is to sweep through your manuscripts before you submit them and delete certain words. “Just,” “so,” “very,” and “really” vie for the top target,...
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Counting Pages or Words in a Manuscript Submission
Long before a book is printed, while the text is still in manuscript form, editors at publishing houses speak in terms of word count, not page count. An appropriate word count for a project depends on...
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When Friends Find Grammar “Errors” in Your Novel
Creative writers sometimes mangle grammar on purpose or get creative with punctuation. At the drafting stage, we keep a dictionary and style manual at hand. When slips are unintended, we count on our...
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How to Mention a Real Newspaper, Book, or Song in Fiction
Narrators and characters in novels and other creative writing can talk about whatever they want. A character might read the Chicago Sun-Times; they might say they like to sing “Drivers License” while...
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How to Reorganize Book Chapters with a Click
One of my favorite MS Word tricks allows a novelist (or any book writer) to view and organize their chapters in the Navigation pane (an option under the View tab). Using this feature, I can see all my...
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Does Your Novel Need a Table of Contents?
From our own reading, most of us know that some paperback and hardcover novels have a table of contents page in the front and some don’t. Lurking online, I perceive a widespread notion that tables of...
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When to Capitalize after a Colon
I don’t like to dither over style choices. At the beginning of a sentence, it’s routine to start the next word with a capital letter. But when I type a colon within a sentence, I often have to stop and...
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Is the Subjunctive Mood Right for Fiction?
Although some believe that the subjunctive mood in English is dying, many of us use it all the time, whether we know it or not. And that means the subjunctive is right for fiction, even in the mouth of...
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Exclamation Points in Creative Writing
Exclamation points are controversial. Writers can’t be blamed if they’re confused!Exclamation has always announced straightforward shouting, alarm, surprise, excitement, amazement, disbelief,...
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3 Easy E-Tricks for Writers, and 1 for Fun
Almost every writer I know has a love-hate relationship with their writing program, whether it’s Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, or a yellow legal pad. It’s clear there’s no single perfect...
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What Makes a Chapter of a Novel?
First-time novelists often struggle with dividing their work into chapters. A sample from my Facebook feed:“How long should a chapter be?”“Is it okay to have this one randomly short chapter?”“Is there...
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Should Your Novel Have Chapter Numbers or Chapter Titles?
Earlier this year, Fiction+ considered whether a novel should have a table of contents. Although it might seem to be a matter of personal preference, there are strong practical reasons for including or...
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Does Your Novel Need a Copyeditor before Submission?
In the writers’ groups where I hang out online, these queries are evergreen:How do I know if I need a copyeditor before I submit my work to an agent or editor?How do I find a good copyeditor?How much...
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Is a Comma Needed to Introduce Dialogue?
Q.Would you add a comma before the quotation marks in the following sentences?Ellie finally admitted, “They look different from before.”Kat set the painting on the windowsill, muttering “One more to...
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Note to Readers
After 12 years of blogging and social media, I’m retiring!I still have things to say about writing and publishing. If you don’t want to lose touch, please join my free “Writer, Editor, Helper” email...
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