This month we’re posting about our pet peeves here at the Blood-Red Pencil. Previously I’ve shared some of the craft issues I see repeatedly in some published books that bother me as a reader, and I like to think of them as a mishap. Those same craft issues also bother me as an editor, especially if I'm working with a new client who decides that just because they see it in already published books that must mean it’s okay. It's not okay. We owe it to readers to give them our best, and our best doesn't include weak or ordinary writing. In a second or third draft of a story we can take an ordinary turn of phrase and make it extraordinary. Here are just a few little things that could be changed to improve a narrative. They're ones that jar me every time I read them in a novel and prompt me to consciously pay attention to avoid them while writing: Shrugging shoulders . Very few of us ever shrug anything other than a shoulder, so why not just write "shrugged." Or ...

Image via Flickr / Sharon Drummond Every author and every editor has at least one pet peeve when it comes to how a collection of words should be set down upon any given page, and those of us contributing to the Blood-Red Pencil are no exception.    Things that Drive an Editor Crazy   Maryann Miller's post regarding her pet peeves ruffled quite a few feathers...  Tuesday, October 7, 2008 Things That Drive An Editor Crazy I’ve been editing for a long time and am still amazed at how often I see common mistakes repeated over and over again. For instance: Fred walked out, taking the file with him. You don’t need ‘with him’. If he took the file, it’s with him, DUH!! [ Read more ]     May I Say a Word in My Defense?   ... and prompted a follow-up post.   Sunday, January 24, 2010 ...

I pay the bills as a newspaper copy editor. This is an altogether different creature from a book editor. Those of us who punch daily deadlines are the short-order cooks of the publishing world; we read and edit reams of copy in a compressed window of time. In many ways, the pressure-cooker aspects of the job lend themselves to the cultivation of pet peeves -- little word burrs under our saddle that we automatically change to something more palatable (to us, if to no one else). But copy editors aren't alone in this tendency. Anyone who spends time pushing words -- writers and editors -- ends up adopting some of these needy pets. It's all well and good until a few pets become an unmanageable zoo that detracts from the more important aspects of job. Here, then, are some common peeves that often require too much care and feeding to be worthwhile: Split infinitives: In the 1994 film Quiz Show , Charles Van Doren (played by Ralph Fiennes) rather pedantically points out that a TV...