Now there’s science to back up my contention in The Well-Presented Manuscript that writing more slowly may improve your work’s quality. (Pity about the clickbaity headline.)

http://www.spring.org.uk/2016/02/improve-writing-quality-with-one-easy-psychological-trick.php

Nothing makes you look more foolish than misplacing a modifier.

Originally shared by Karen Conlin

Yes, it’s from the Chicago Manual of Style, but misplaced modifiers (danglers) aren’t style.

They’re grammar.

Here you go.

http://cmosshoptalk.com/2016/06/16/sections-5-112-13-in-the-spotlight/

Some of these sentences are only difficult to understand because they lack punctuation. If you know how to punctuate, your communication becomes much clearer.

And if you don’t know how to punctuate, may I recommend my book The Well-Presented Manuscript: Just What You Need to Know to Make Your Fiction Look Professional?

Via Laura Gibbs.

Originally shared by World Economic Forum

“Most of these sentences were invented by psycholinguists to break the human mind.” Can you work them out?

http://wef.ch/1YejVcM

These points are a good summary. I have a fuller explanation here:

csidemedia.com/wellpresentedms

Originally shared by Grammar Girl

15 Ways to Use a Comma http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-use-commas-a-summary

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-use-commas-a-summary

Here’s the interview I did yesterday with the Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast, complete with show notes, links, and both video and audio formats.  

http://www.marketingsff.com/editing-and-selling-short-fiction/

Well, hey, look at that – because we did a Hangout On Air, this interview is already available. It’ll also come through as an audio-only podcast soon (I have a good face for radio, so if you want to spare yourself…).

Disclaimer: I don’t consider myself an “editing expert”. But I do know some things.

Originally shared by Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

Today we’ll talk to indie author and editing expert Mike Reeves McMillan about how to avoid common grammatical and formatting mistakes, and produce the sort of manuscript the traditional publishers are looking for.

Just got finished recording a show with Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast (Lindsay Buroker and Joe Lallo) about my nonfiction book, The Well-Presented Manuscript.

We talked about short stories, being a “light hybrid” author, trad vs indie quality levels, the role of editors, and the importance of not tripping up your readers unnecessarily. It was a good time.

So you won NaNoWriMo, and now you have 50,000 or so words that might, with hard work, become a novel some day.

The smart way to do revision is to go in understanding how sentence structure and punctuation work, and with a handy list of a hundred or so easily confused words at your elbow.

Where can you get that? Right here.

Click the link, and if you like what you find, there’s a book with much more.

http://csidemedia.com/wellpresentedms

I’ve been a loyal listener to Len Edgerly’s Kindle Chronicles podcast for a while. He’s an excellent interviewer, and I had a lot of fun as his guest.

We talked about The Well-Presented Manuscript, and other topics including fantasy fiction (which isn’t one of the genres he’s read). I’m not sure what did and didn’t make the final edit–haven’t had a chance to listen yet–but I’m sure he made me sound more coherent than I felt.

Originally shared by Len Edgerly

My interview guest this week is a Kiwi author irritated enough by errors in eBooks to publish a guide to avoiding them. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010RJOAYA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B010RJOAYA&linkCode=as2&tag=httpthekicom-20&linkId=JVZSG4RFK7K7ZAN7

http://www.thekindlechronicles.com/2015/09/04/tkc-370-mike-reeves-mcmillan/