If all the cool kids on Editor Twitter are gushing over a book on language, then I should probably read it too. Because peer pressure. But also because I follow other editors for good reasons: to learn from them, to stay current on trends in the industry, to feel part of a community even while […]
Along with the much-anticipated rebirth of Fangoria magazine came Fangoria Presents, a publishing venture that launched with the release of 2018’s critically acclaimed Our Lady of the Inferno by Preston Fassel. With its splashy neon-pink-accented cover art and the all-but-flickering “Fangoria Presents” signage in the paperback’s upper-right corner, Our Lady has much of the same […]
While there’s no substitute for a mentor of the flesh-and-blood variety, the five “book mentors” below provide indispensable advice on the processes, philosophy, and business of editing. (Note that these are not writing or style guides. Click here for my look at the major style guides.) The Business of Editing by Richard H. Adin A […]
At one point in Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing (2013), Wallace suggests that usage dictionaries are perfect bathroom readers because the entries have the appeal of trivia, are brief, and connect with usages the reader will inevitably encounter soon thereafter. While Garner’s usage dictionary is one of […]
Too often people perceive the work of editors as so much pedantry or needless fussiness. But editors help authors communicate to their audience, and, as Harold Evans demonstrates in Do I Make Myself Clear? Why Writing Well Matters, writing well does matter—and sometimes it even saves lives. Emotional Response I did not expect […]
Wired Style and Sin and Syntax author Constance Hale inspires an infectious appreciation for verbs in Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing. While the book dropped in 2012, its not-so-hot-off-the-presses status doesn’t diminish its readability, power, or utility for writers and editors. Deep into the book, Hale relates that, while serving as […]
Recent Comments