The Optional Comma
on May 1, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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The optional comma can go or not go somewhere depending on what you think works best. It sounds great, but actually, it’s grammar’s version of giving you enough rope to hang yourself.
CONTINUE READINGMistakes New Fiction Writers Make: Dialogue
on April 28, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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Using terms like "uttered," "exclaimed," or "interjected" can pull your reader out of the flow of your narrative and make them focus more on the words than on what you’re conveying with those words. And let’s not even get started on "ejaculated," the biggest dialogue-tag offender of all time!
CONTINUE READINGNesting in Lists and Outlines
on April 18, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Let’s focus on the pre-writing phase of your project and how list making can be a useful method for organizing your words, and with them your thoughts
CONTINUE READINGWhen Grammar Check Is Wrong
on April 4, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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I’ve already talked about the limitations of spell check, but grammar check is actually a trickier beast, sometimes offering what look like perfectly reasonable “improvements” to your work that actually are the opposite.
CONTINUE READINGGuide to Style Guides
on March 30, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Students learn that in addition to effectively applying the rules of English grammar and usage in their writing, they often must also follow conventions of a particular style guide. Style guides are primarily differentiated by their rules on documentation of sources. They also vary in terms of their formatting requirements.
CONTINUE READING3 Tips for Using a Thesaurus
on March 16, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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When used correctly, a thesaurus can help you punch up your writing by using just the right word when you want it. Here's three times a thesaurus can come to the rescue.
CONTINUE READINGCheat Sheet for In-Text Citations by Style
on February 27, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Uncategorized
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In today’s post, I’ll explore the intersection of punctuation and in-text citations and the troubles that can arise.
CONTINUE READINGUsing MS Word Lists: Bullets & Numbers
on February 20, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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All writing tools or techniques should help you express yourself more clearly. Lists can be particularly useful for this, especially in dense academic writing. Presenting important information in discrete items, rather than a block of text, can alleviate visual clutter and even provide a key to structuring your piece.
CONTINUE READINGHow to Write Stock Characters: The Likeable Superman
on February 16, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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Headhopping: New Fiction Writers’ Mistakes
on February 1, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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All too often, new fiction writers get excited by the different perspectives their characters have to offer and jump between them in a single scene. This is intensely disconcerting—whose head are we in now? What are they thinking? Why did we leave the other character?—and should be avoided.
CONTINUE READINGWorld Building: How to Cut Down on Exposition
on January 22, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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Creating a world for your story, whether based on the real world or not, involves a series of challenges, especially when it comes to not smothering your reader in exposition. Here's a straight-forward approach to the dreaded "exposition dump."
CONTINUE READINGHanging Indents with MS Word Ruler
on January 13, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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the first-line indent, by virtue of being so ubiquitous, seems quite intuitive and natural. But there’s another kind of indent, found almost exclusively in academic writing: the hanging indent.
CONTINUE READINGQuick Guide to Pronouns and Antecedents
on January 2, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Problems with pronouns and antecedents can significantly interfere with your readers’ understanding, so make sure each pronoun’s referent is crystal clear.
CONTINUE READINGEasy Guide to That vs. Which
on December 23, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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The rule for US English is actually pretty simple to state: use that when the phrase that follows is essential for the meaning of the noun (or is a dependent phrase), and use which when the phrase that follows offers additional, nonessential information about the noun (or is an independent phrase). Getting it right, however, can be complicated.
CONTINUE READINGTop 5 Eyesores in Self-Publishing
on December 13, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Publishing
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You have to pay attention to formatting and presentation when you’re getting ready to self-publish. When it comes time to self-publish your book, don’t make these five key layout mistakes.
CONTINUE READINGMicrosoft Word Guide: Using the Ruler for Indents
on December 4, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Let’s look at how Word’s built-in ruler automates the indentation of text, along with why you should use it rather than indenting manually.
CONTINUE READINGCommon Apostrophe Errors
on November 30, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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While researching apostrophe use and common associated errors, I learned several interesting facts...
CONTINUE READINGTop 10 Changes in Chicago’s 17th Edition
on November 16, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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Clocking in at 1,145 pages, this is not a book meant to be read cover to cover (thank God), so Chicago has a handy guide to the edition’s updates. The problem is, the handy guide is itself somewhat daunting. So I’m going to cover the top ten changes,
CONTINUE READINGControl Your Tone with Your Mood
on November 2, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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When it comes to the real nuts and bolts of writing, you’ll find it easier to control your tone by paying attention to your mood. I don’t mean your personal mood, as in not writing when you’re angry or texting when you’re drunk (though that is sound advice). I’m talking about the mood we establish with our words.
CONTINUE READINGRecovering Lost Documents
on October 28, 2017 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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However it happens, we all learn to fear the aftermath, the moment when we click open the folder where we save our work and see that the file we were editing only moments ago is just . . . gone. Here's a quick-and-dirty guide to getting it back.
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