Writing Your Novel: Forego Irrelevant Description

Remember when your English teacher told you that good writing is descriptive writing, showing not telling, rich in the details of sensory experience? While this is true to a degree, there’s an important caveat to that advice that typically writing teachers forget to mention. We book editors, however, deal every day with the writing mistakes the missing information causes. So ... Read More

What Is Syntax, and When Was It Murdered?

Syntax only appears to be dead. It’s actually hiding out, living a limited, muted existence inside university linguistic departments. As far as the world is concerned, it might as well be dead, though. When did you last hear the term used? Sixth-grade English class? As an author, should you be concerned about syntax? Well, not really. Syntax is essentially the ... Read More