by Jamie Chavez | Mar 21, 2015 | Your Editor Says …
I just sent back a first pass edit on a well-researched novel set in the Middle Ages. I can tell you this only because it rang true; the few facts I know about medieval life could dance on the head of a pin with room to spare for several angels. But I knew enough to...
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 14, 2015 | Your Editor Says …
No, really. I’m not. Not outwardly, not inwardly. Promise. The Old Editor Says … Edit to live, don’t live to edit.* It’s not your job to correct other people’s speech. It’s not your job to correct menus or public signage. It’s not your job, however much it may appeal...
by Jamie Chavez | Apr 10, 2014 | The Writing Craft, Your Editor Says …
You’ve seen it in dozens of movies, so many it’s practically a cliché: on a desperate deadline, the writer frantically types the last words of the manuscript—closeup of the words The End—then rrrrips the paper out of the typewriter carriage, and immediately sends a...
by Jamie Chavez | Dec 9, 2013 | Your Editor Says …
No, no. I don’t mean passing notes. (Or margin notes; I’ve already talked about those.) You’ve probably called them footnotes—you see these mostly in scholarly works—or endnotes, which you’ll see (ahem) at the end of a text. When do you need a note? That’s easy: • if...
by Jamie Chavez | Dec 7, 2013 | The Writing Craft, Your Editor Says …
We’ve talked about “writing rules”* before. Some are inviolable, like No Double Spacing After a Period. Some have to be reconsidered, like my stance on the singular they. Some fall into gray areas depending on the audience you’re writing for or which side of the pond...
