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Resource links from Harry Cutting Photography stock photo website

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Photo tips and tutorials. GRAPHICS IMAGES WRITING SERVICES. Illustrator extraordinaire. Searchable online image database, online delivery, accepts commissions. Elegant, friendly web layout. Photoshop, Corel and Paintshop Pro tutorials. Fonts and clip art. Gallery-quality custom posters, canvas printing - your photo on canvas, all sizes up to 90 inches, unique finishes; metallic, acrylic, wood, more; photo framing. Watercolors and pastels from Cape Cod artist Nance Driscoll. Efficient and effective copy e...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: “Began to” and “started to”

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015/07/began-to-and-started-to.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, July 5, 2015. 8220;Began to” and “started to”. I find sentences like the following one in most novels written by novice writers. She started to run across the street. You wouldn’t say, “The bomb started to explode,” would you? I certainly hope not. You’d say, “The bomb exploded.”. How to write a novel. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). My Book Editing Site. Don’t dangle your participle at me, buddy! Beware the run-on sentence. The perils of "-ing disease". Many write...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: Verbs are moody little buggers

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015/05/verbs-are-moody-little-buggers.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, May 17, 2015. Verbs are moody little buggers. Verbs have three "moods"—indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. The most common is the indicative mood. You are using the indicative mood when you make a simple statement:. I know the window was shut. (indicative mood). Where the indicative mood tells, the imperative commands, and the subjunctive wishes or speculates:. Shut the window. (imperative mood). I wish the window were shut. (subjunctive mood). The changing of was.

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An Editor Talks to Writers: May 2015

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, May 31, 2015. My book editing website. How to write a novel. Sunday, May 24, 2015. Indirect or summary dialogue. You don’t want to miss any opportunities to present dialogue. Sometimes, though, you should not present dialogue directly; instead, you should present it indirectly, meaning that it should be summarized, a.k.a., paraphrased. For example, two people meet and say something like this:. 8220;Hi, Bob. How are you doing today? 8212; Elmore Leonard, Cuba Libre.

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An Editor Talks to Writers: Using the semicolon

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015/07/using-semicolon.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Monday, July 20, 2015. When you place a semicolon in a sentence, remember that you must have an independent clause both before and after the semicolon and that the ideas expressed in both main clauses should be closely related. Example:. I like you; you’re nice. Also remember that the semicolon is always used before a conjunctive adverb that introduces a second independent clause. Example:. Her arguments sounded convincing; therefore, the majority voted for her. When you place...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015/03/shall-i-compare-thee-to-summers-day.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, March 29, 2015. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Tip: Similes and metaphors are best when they are a natural part of a character’s environment. If you’re writing a western, for instance, you shouldn’t say, “He looked like a New York City street peddler.”. Here are some fresh and effective similes:. 8220;Tom felt weighed and measured as neatly as a goose on market day.”. 8220;The crew got as skittery as water on a hot griddle.”. J Michael Straczynski, “We K...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: Pronoun agreement

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015/06/pronoun-agreement.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, June 21, 2015. A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent. They must both be either singular or plural. Look at this sentence:. This happens to everyone whether they choose to believe it or not. Here the pronoun they must agree with its antecedent, everyone. But they is plural, and everyone is singular (everyone means “every single one”). Uh-oh! 8220;Everyone was blowing their nose”? 8220;Everyone was blowing their noses”? An employee who thinks that he or she ...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: He spewed?

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015/07/he-spewed.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, July 12, 2015. One of my clients asked me this question:. Using the word said. After a line of dialogue all the time seems boring. Why can’t I use more descriptive verbs? Using attribution verbs like gasped, laughed, spat, croaked, rasped, barked. And even (oh God please no) ejaculated. And many others of their ilk is unnecessary and redolent of the work of amateurs and writers of pulp fiction. Speakers don’t gasp or spit or laugh a line, they say. As long as they aren...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: Scene construction

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2014/08/scene-construction.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, August 31, 2014. Many of the scenes I see written by first novelists lack structure, development, and purpose. They seem to be the result of the writer’s thinking, “Oh, I guess I’ll start a scene here” and “Well, I guess I’ll end the scene now.” That’s not what you should do. Ya gotta have a plan, Stan. This is the basic, age-old dramatic structure that Aristotle first called the “narrative arc.” Instead of using the terms beginning. The SCENE’S PURPOSE is to:. Do all ...

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An Editor Talks to Writers: June 2015

http://the-writing-coach.blogspot.com/2015_06_01_archive.html

An Editor Talks to Writers. Sunday, June 21, 2015. A pronoun must agree in number with its antecedent. They must both be either singular or plural. Look at this sentence:. This happens to everyone whether they choose to believe it or not. Here the pronoun they must agree with its antecedent, everyone. But they is plural, and everyone is singular (everyone means “every single one”). Uh-oh! 8220;Everyone was blowing their nose”? 8220;Everyone was blowing their noses”? An employee who thinks that he or she ...