34 Words To Kill
Moderation in all things… especially these 34 words. Clusters of these words are the chief cause of the dreaded “wordy” syndrome. They’re also symptomatic of stage directions vs. meaningful characterization. Take control of what’s on your page. Do an editing pass to seek and destroy this list. That So Well Just Really Little Then As While Which About Very All But Was Were Had And The Her His He She It They To By For In From Into Of Out Because Two words in particular go beyond “moderation” into “should never appear in commercial fiction” territory: It Because “Because” is like the silica gel pack of fiction, drying everything out.… Read More
Continue ReadingCover Changes
You’ll notice some Season One cover changes coming through over the next little while. This is happening for two reasons: To accommodate the addition of audio versions with SQUARE covers Joy’s eternal hate for the covers from episodes 4, 5, and 9 The official Season One episode covers are changing to these:
Continue ReadingThe Binary Bindery
My formatting service, The Binary Bindery, is now up and running, and eagerly awaiting the chance to quote projects. I take: Fiction; all genres, including erotica Non Fiction Author/Brand promotion files Bulk, back-list, rush and publisher quotes available. Some proofreading service available. No developmental or copy-editing service available at this time. No cover-art services. (Both Emma and Joy love me, but not enough to moonlight for The Bindery. Yet. Especially not during tax season. Have I mentioned that poor Emma’s day job is accounting?) Custom CSS and graphics packages available. Send .doc, .docx or .pdf for quotes to On a more personal note, yes, I know I said I would… Read More
Continue ReadingWowza
Joy is subtle. And, apparently, very sick of the non-stop Fifty-Shades meshiva.
Continue ReadingWell Then
I have been given a stern talking-to by friends, family and colleagues, so this is about to become a thing: More details in the coming days.
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It’s Bigger Than It Looks
Tools Developmental editing requires good decision making. What do you base those decisions on? Let’s make some tools to help inform those decisions. TOOL 1: Reminder The first weapon is a simple reminder. On the first index card, write the following: Writers write. Facebook can’t edit this book for me. The audience is watching. TOOL 2: Focus Take out another index card and prepare to write small so that everything fits on one side. In 20 words or less, describe how this story idea came to be: In 20 words or less, describe what excited you most about this idea: In 20 words or less, explain what this story is… Read More
Continue ReadingFreebie
(This file was created to test custom chapter-header graphics with text subtitles. Custom fleurons, too, without minding about filesize.) [wpdm_package id=’1907′] [wpdm_package id=’1908′]
Continue ReadingAnother New Freebie
This file was produced to test several graphics/images/filesize issues. [wpdm_package id=’1900′] [wpdm_package id=’1901′]
Continue ReadingNew Freebies
A new freebie file just went up: This file was created to test the use of custom headers WITHOUT using graphics/images. [wpdm_package id=’1890′] [wpdm_package id=’1891′]
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