Blog: October 2017

Recent Posts

October 27, 2017 @ 4:05 AM

Seven Sensible Steps to Success as a Writer
Step 7 (continued): Suzanne

I may have had a few problems along the way. Who hasn’t? But I’ve also been exceptionally fortunate in having as my principal editor a woman whose contribution to my books has been to strengthen and improve them immeasurably.

Suzanne has either copy edited or proof read all of my significant books. She’s a grammarian, walking lexicon, stylist, disciplinarian and guide all in one. Yes, and also a friend.

Let me tell you, she is somebody who knows when to use ‘onto’ (one word) or ‘on to’ (two words) … who can not only advise you to use the double possessive ‘Banks’s Journal’ but explain why from .........

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Writing tips 50

October 27, 2017 @ 3:55 AM

Seven Sensible Steps to Success as a Writer
Step 7 (Continued): One cruel word…

While a good editor is a valued partner in the production of a book, it's also true that an unsympathetic one can turn what should be a rewarding experience into a misery, indeed destroy creativity altogether. Which means that you probably have the wrong editor, and need to find – or ask your publisher to find – another.

In the course of a writing career stretching over thirty years and some eighteen books, I've had only a few editors that I couldn't get along with. One, I remember, tried to get me to change a direct quote because that person didn't agree with the substance of the remark.

It's a cardinal rule of .........

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Writing tips 49

October 6, 2017 @ 11:03 PM

Seven Sensible Steps to Success as a Writer
Step seven (continued) Ninety-five percent

As a general rule, I try to give my editors ninety-five per cent of what they ask for when it comes to changing my manuscripts.

This is not necessarily because I think they're right most of the time … although often they are, and there are many ways to express a thought correctly in the English language. That’s what makes our mother tongue so generous and flexible a tool for the writer of books.

No. The principal reason behind my ninety-five per cent practice is to keep my editors happy in order to protect the five per cent that I really wish to retain.

It’s a political ploy, if you like. A trade off.

If one is to .........

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