Many months ago (in 2019) I read an interesting article by Fay Weldon in a Sunday magazine. She is the author of Life and Loves of a She-Devil that was also turned into an excellent TV series some years ago. In it she imparted her wisdom from writing experience on what errors are made by
In part 1 I considered why a house style is necessary for a business – for reasons of consistency, brand identity, and economy. Here I will cover a few areas that should be considered based on UK English usage Writing a house style • Abbreviations, acronyms, and contractions: A common style for abbreviations is capital
Why you need a “house” style By “house” style I mean a writing or editorial style that a company or organization will aim to apply to all the documents and communications it produces. The same can perhaps apply to an individual author who is writing a series of books, guides, or articles. The main reasons
In an earlier blog I discussed what proofreaders would normally do as part of their duties. There I touched on aspects of writing and publication that proofreaders would not normally be involved in: copy-editing, copyright and permissions, indexing, literary appraisal, page design and layout, and rewriting. Many professional proofreaders have the skills to perform some
It is always good practice to revise and if necessary completely rewrite text in documents to ensure that they are accurate, concise, and the best they can be. Straightforward you might think and Aleksandr Orlov, TV superstar meerkat might say “What could possibles go wrong?” Quite a lot actually. But in the process of review
A pen name, also known as a nom de plume, is an assumed name used by a writer instead of their own real name. It can also be a variant form of their real name and might be known only to the publisher or might be widely known. For example, Ruth Rendell, author of dozens
Put yourself in your readers’ shoes: how would you feel if you had received a document or publication from someone that contained numerous errors and inconsistencies? Even worse if you had paid good money for it. You would might possibly feel insulted that they could not be bothered to ensure their output was readable and
Next to a plot or central purpose, humour is possibly the next most important ingredient of writing. Perhaps humour would not be welcomed in a textbook on physics or a philosophical discourse, but certainly for fiction, travel books, memoirs, and the like it can be a valuable way of injecting some character and light relief. There are several reasons for this.
I have discussed previously authors’ quotations about each other – sometimes derogatory – but how do they and others regard the craft of writing? Here are a few of the more humorous ones.
You might be forgiven for thinking that proofreading is proofreading – there are no variances in style or intensity. The proofreader would read through for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and other errors and inconsistencies and that is it. Well not quite – it depends on the authorship, readership, and context, and where the writing will appear.
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