Sunday, August 9, 2009

Note to writers from the Conference

Lesson from a workshop that is about half-way through.

Writers, be very careful about choosing your editor. I have heard many conflicting "this is how it is" opinions on items such as style (APA, MLA, etc.), adverbs generally carry a warning for sparceness regardless of speaker, description (show don't tell versus use minimal description), use said and only said versus vary the tags, appropriate grammer versus street language, and so on.

I understand needing an editor to capture what the writer overlooks and cleaning up or tightening the story. But if an editor takes the strict "said and only said" approach and the writer's philosophy is variety, it will be a rough road.

There are rules. There are conflicting rules. Pick who fits your style, unless you're just curious how someone from a different perspective would view your work.
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