Keep boring conversations out of your fiction

Posted on 05/14/2021 at 10:55 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Editor Louise Harnby opens her discussion of effective, compelling dialogue with a handy trick. Evaluate your dialogue by three measures:...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Louise Harnby, Writing advice, Dialogue

How to show action affecting an unconscious POV character

Posted on 03/26/2021 at 02:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

If you’ve been following our newswire for any length of time, you’ve become aware of the perils of “head-hopping.” That’s...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Characters, Louise Harnby, Writing advice

Try these six writing tips to improve your novel immediately

Posted on 02/25/2021 at 03:22 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Some editing and revising tips are like a deep clean of your house, while others are a nice surface-clean. Today’s...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Language, Louise Harnby

Viewpoint characters and protagonists aren't always the same

Posted on 02/18/2021 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Louise Harnby's new post on viewpoint characters versus protagonists reminds us of geometry class — remember how a square is...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Characters, Louise Harnby

Comma class is in session at editor Louise Harnby's blog

Posted on 10/30/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Falling leaves, Halloween parties, discussions of when to use commas — it really feels like back-to-school season around here at...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Language, Louise Harnby

Yes, you can start a sentence with "and" or "but"

Posted on 10/22/2020 at 04:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Editor Louise Harnby says it’s more than okay to begin a sentence with “and” or “but,” no matter what your...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Louise Harnby

Should you delete these expletives?

Posted on 10/10/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

When you see the word “expletive,” you probably expect something profane. But in the world of grammar, an expletive is...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Language, Louise Harnby, Writing advice

Louise Harnby's 10 easy ways to clean up your writing

Posted on 06/03/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

We and professional editor Louise Harnby would never suggest that technology is just as good as a human proofreader. However,...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Louise Harnby, Technology

Editor: There's no rule on whether to use contractions

Posted on 04/13/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

There isn’t a hard-and-fast rule on whether to use contractions in your dialogue. However, there is plenty of guidance available,...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Louise Harnby

Louise Harnby: When to ditch "before" and "after"

Posted on 04/08/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Editor Louise Harnby is full of small tips that can make a huge positive effect on your writing. We loved...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Editing, Louise Harnby, Writing advice