The Process: EDITING: Nouns and Pronouns
Continuing along in the editing process in your writing, I thought we should do a quick review of the proper usage of nouns and pronouns.
My biggest problem is remembering how to punctuate possessive nouns correctly. Do you add ‘s or just an apostrophe? For example: Is it boy’s? Or is it boys’? Actually the first (boy’s) is singular possessive. The second (boys’) is plural possessive. There are other tricky things to remember, like when do you capitalize proper nouns?
To learn more about these writing elements, I have added my artilce, EDITING: Nouns and Pronouns, to the Writing Tips on this blog and to my Writing Tools on my website.
The Process: EDITING: Dashes, Ellipsis Points, Numbers
I am finally beginning my discussions on various Editing elements in your writing. Some of the punctuation elements I have the most trouble with are when and how to use dashes (em- or en-dashes) and ellipsis points. I am forever and again breaking up pieces of dialogue or narrative with dashes or using ellipsis points …
The Process: Climax and Story Resolution
The story you’ve been working on is almost finished at this point. But are you sure you understand what a Story Climax is supposed to be? Do you understand what a Story Resolution means? This part of the story can be approimately 25% of the work, so it is very important. At this point, the …
The Process: Subplots: How and When to Use Them
Have you ever thought about a book or a movie that you really liked, and why you liked it? Maybe the characters drew you to them and held your attention until they reached their goal. Maybe the setting just absolutely fascinated you. Or maybe you enjoyed the book or movie because there was so much …
The Process: Confusing Words & Correct usage
Do you ever stumble over which is the correct word or correct spelling of a word to use? Do you mean “affect” or “effect”? That is a particular word choice that I have to think about every time. I also stumble over is it “farther” or “further”? There are a lot of confusing words. You …
The Process: Dialogue: Bringing Characters to Life
This is a fast paced world we live in. We want our news delivered quickly. We want bulleted information instead of sifting through paragraphs upon paragraphs to find what we really wanted all along. We want to be pulled into a book on the first page, maybe even the first paragraph. And we definitely don’t …
The Process: Building a Cowboy Story World
Are you writing about cowboys? Or ever read a Western (historical or contemporary) and wondered what some of the terminology or descriptions meant? My latest article on Building A Cowboy Story World offers some great links to websites that can help you both understand and write about cowboys. For writers, this goes along with doing …
The Process: Using Sensory Details
What we experience in the world around us by using our five senses affects how we perceive things. For your reader to be drawn into the world of your character, you need to use sensory details. But use them wisely. Every word in a manuscript counts, so descriptions need to be precise and something that …
The Process: Building a Medieval Story World
Not only do you need to hook a reader quickly, but also you need to keep them involved in the story. Part of doing so involves your creation of a believable “world” for the story. A story world includes the minute details of where and when the story takes place. Think about the world around …
The Process: Hooking the Reader
You have maybe five minutes to hook your reader. That’s it! Scary thought, you bet. You may have written the most beautiful piece of prose, something that will touch a reader’s heart clear to the end. You may have written a thriller that will make a reader bite their nails all the way to the …
