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13 Years Ago


Blood-Red Pencil founder Dani Greer brought together a group of fellow editors in the second half of 2008, with the idea of creating a repository of articles offering writing and editing advice. Thirteen years later, this humble blog now contains nearly 2,500 posts and over 30,000 comments.

Here is a selection of posts from our first full month in operation. As Dani says, "We came out of the gate strong. Wow."

 



The Curse of Commas
: L.J. Sellers discusses rules for commas that are open to interpretation.

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Curse of Commas

Commas are the single worst thing about being an editor. How can such a tiny little piece of punctuation cause so much time-sucking anguish? The rules are both inflexible and squishy at the same time.... [Read more]



 

Naming Your Characters : Elle Carter Neal offers advice for choosing the perfect name for your characters.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Naming Your Characters

Many writers are uncomfortable about starting a book without having found the right name for at least their main character. It’s easier to work with a "working title" for the book than a "working name" for a character. Once the author gets to know their characters, their names can become almost as entrenched as the writer’s own, and having to change them can be very off putting.... [Read more]



 

Politics and the English Language : Dani Greer shares an essay of George Orwell's:

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Politics and the English Language

Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent... [Read more]




 

Ten Tips for Self-Editing : Lillie Ammann shares her top tips for editing your own work:

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Ten Tips for Self-Editing

You’re faced with editing your first draft. Where do you start? What do you look for? Here’s an overview to get you started.


1. Remember that writing... [Read more]

 


 

Don't Kill Her, Chop Her Legs Off : Sylvia Dickey Smith has some extreme advice for us:

Monday, September 8, 2008

Don't Kill Her, Chop Her Legs Off

You don’t always need to kill your... [Read more]



 

What Does an Editor Cost? : Our most popular and most commented on post. Not much has changed, including debate over fair and affordable editing costs.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

What does an editor cost?

It's all well and good to tell a writer they need a professional editor to peruse their manuscript before submitting to an agent or publisher. But, how much does that cost?

[Read more]

 

 Compiled by Dani Greer

Comments

  1. Wow, we've come a long way, baby!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like going back to the beginning. As Dani said, we've come a long way. This is a great blog, and I'm really glad to be a part of it.

    ReplyDelete

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