“Over” versus “More Than.” As an editor, I come across this all the time in writers’ articles. It’s one of those things — kind of like when people mistakenly use “that” instead of “who” when referring to people (Writing Tip #66) — that often gets by even the most discerning editorial eye. Usually, Grammar Girl [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Writing Tip #70
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing Tips, tagged Grammar, Punctuation, Ramen, Semicolon, writing on February 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Demystifying the semicolon. My newly crowned teenager said to me last week: “Mom, I just don’t get when to use the semicolon.” “Never fear,” I said to her (yes, I actually said that). “The semicolon is actually a pretty easy punctuation concept to understand.” And it is, as hoity-toity as the darn thing seems. Think [...]
What is your favorite genre fiction?
Posted in Uncategorized on February 10, 2012 | 10 Comments »
The terrific response to this week’s discussion of fantasy fiction has got me thinking… What kind of genre fiction is most popular? What kinds of books do most people like to read? Please take a moment to vote (you can only vote once, so make it a good one!), and I will share the results [...]
Sometimes a Fantasy II
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1Q84, Haruki Murakami, Hofstra University, Japan, Murakami, New York Times Magazine, Philip Gabriel, United States on February 9, 2012 | 4 Comments »
A quick addendum to yesterday’s post: I am now reading a New York Times Magazine article on Haruki Murakami from last fall (as you can see, I’m behind on my reading…). Murakami’s latest, 1Q84, is on my reading list, and I have read a few of his short stories in The Elephant Vanishes, which he [...]
Sometimes a Fantasy
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged fantasy fiction, Fiction, Graduate school, Olivia Boler, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight on February 8, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Chatting with yesterday’s featured author Olivia Boler brought back a very vivid memory of graduate school. Olivia told me, “I have an MA from the UC Davis Creative Writing Program, and we were pretty much told by our professors that genre fiction, particularly science fiction and fantasy, isn’t real literature.” I suddenly remembered the dejected [...]
Writing Tip #68
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing Tips, tagged Arts, baby grand, FAQs Help and Tutorials, Grammar, Style Guides, Text file, Writers Resources, writing on January 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »
While you write, keep a text file open that contains all the story facts you tend to forget. I am the queen of creating character names, ages, occupations and family trees and then totally forgetting them the next time I sit down to write. How old did I make that character again? Did I spell [...]
‘Feeling’ Real
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Adam Johnson, Asia, baby grand, Entertainment Weekly, Johnson, Kim Jong-il, North Korea, Writer on January 23, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Last night, I was reading Rob Brunner’s review of The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson in Entertainment Weekly while watching the big football game (yay, Giants!) and came across this line: Johnson has created such a convincing universe [North Korea] that it doesn’t really matter if he’s accurately captured every detail. It FEELS real, [...]
‘Yes, It Is a Long Process’
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Academy Award, baby grand novel, Editing and Proofreading, Good things come to those who wait (Guinness), Writing & Editing on January 19, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Ah, waiting. My agent checked in with me yesterday. I love getting an email from her. Even when there’s no news. Her name appears in my inbox, and I feel my entire body lift in excitement and anticipation, as in Can this be the email? Should I start preparing my Oscar-acceptance speech for the screenplay [...]
Writing Tip #66
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing Tips, tagged Grammar, Neil Armstrong, word usage, writing, writing tips on January 16, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Never use “that” when referring to a person. This is a common mistake — one that I often find in my own writing during the editing stage. For example: (wrong) The first person that walked on the moon was Neil Armstrong. (correct) The first person who walked on the moon was Neil Armstrong. (wrong) The [...]
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