Innovative Editing

There are so many tools professional writers can use to enhance their copy, including adding in charts and similar graphics. While charts ar

As we said on Tuesday, there are a variety of reasons why someone might want a pen name. For example, you might like the idea of going all s

Creative writers can learn a lot from studying other subjects, from history to politics to science to business. Even dreaded mathematics, wh

In designing this week’s writing Definition about pen names, I had a song run through my head repeatedly. Released by Johnny Rivers in 1966,

“Stay back, Abigail. I swear those bloody lobsters are everywhere,” Garrett snarls, looking out the sitting room window through the heavy, f

If the title above sounds effortless, don't be fooled. I really thought about whether to use it or not. “My final draft loves me. My final d

Last week’s Professional Writing tip, “7 Tips to Cut Down Your Word Count,” explored exactly as advertised. It’s a great topic to cover for

All the same, I have to say, he makes some very compelling, study-backed arguments for why we need it… in just about every facet of our phys

Despite what so many experts and supposed experts want to tell you. When it comes to effective creative writing – or effective writing in ge

It may seem like we’ve gone off the tidy novel-writing rails these past few months. We talked about first drafts, only to jump to hooks – so

If you’re just interested in reading a dashingly good spy story, then feel free to skip to the first chapter. These next few pages aren’t fo

In “Let’s Talk About ‘Show, Don’t Tell’” – published on Tuesday – I said we’d have a whole entire post about why it isn’t a writing rule. Pl

Last week’s Professional Writing tip, “Is Passive Voice Always Wrong? The Follow-Up,” explored how using – and not using – passive voice can

To start out blog post No. 2 on the “show, don’t tell” writing non-rule (again, more about this later)… let’s quote from blog post No. 1: "W

Since you can’t please everyone… That was the title of The Genuine Writer’s post on August 25: the start of a series on what you can do to m

When writing a novel, everyone wants to give you advice. Even people who have never penned a literary sentence in their life. “Put more of t

Sabrina came around much more quickly than she would have liked. Exhausted and disoriented, she still knew where she was and what had happen

Perhaps I should have led the literary tone series with this one. But it’s too late now, so let’s clear up what needs to be cleared up… Ther

As I edited something for SEO purposes the other day, I found myself staring at a set of sentences. They featured something shocking. To put

So we now know that literary tone is important. Very important. It can make or break a manuscript’s prospects or a book’s sales. If someone