So you’ve finished the next great American novel. Or the next great American top-ten listicle. Now it’s time to talk about the next step: writing your own bio.
Unpacking CMOS: British vs. American Style
Blame Downton Abbey or Kate Middleton’s beautiful wedding, or the fact that we owe over 1,700 English words to Shakespeare. Anglophilia (or love of all things English) is alive and well in much of the United States, and many British rules and styles have crept into common usage in our writing. Let’s take a look at some of the differences between American and British grammar, as explained by The Chicago Manual of Style.
NaNoWriMo: Reality Checks, Rebels, and Redos
Autumn brings to mind falling leaves, pumpkin spice lattes, and . . . a dissonant symphony of frenzied keyboard tapping? That’s right—we’re talking about the annual, global event known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short.
Nine Steps for Editing Your Novel
After months of forcing yourself to write regularly, pushing through writer’s block, reconsidering plot points, and diving deep into your characters’ lives, you finally have a finished first draft of your novel.
You know what comes next: editing.
Three Tips to Combat Writer’s Block
Have you ever gone to bed excited about where your novel is headed, only to wake up completely bewildered as to how your characters got here and what to do with them. Or stared at a computer screen, wondering for the hundredth time how to reword copy to fit into 140 characters without losing any of its charm or humor. Writer’s block . . . it happens to all of us.
Six Tips for Proofreading Your Final Copy
After many months of writing, receiving feedback, editing (and repeat), you are confident in the quality of your work and ready to publish, right? Well, let’s not forget the important last step of the final proofread. You’ve come this far. Honor your hard work by not skipping this step, and use these tips to breeze through the process.
The Four People You Need in Your Writing Community
A good writing community can make all the difference to you as a writer. Discover the four kinds of people you should look for in that community to challenge, inspire, and bring some healthy competition to your writing life.
Unpacking CMOS: Titles of Works
Standards for writing titles, such as capitalization and italicization, make it easier for the reader to understand what the writer is communicating. Yet with the rise of easily published, unproofed text and social media that doesn’t allow for italics, a writer can miss a lot of these standards—or simply not know them. Check out the latest installment in our “Unpacking CMOS” series to find out what our favorite style guide recommends for dealing with titles of works.
You Are What You Read: What Sits on the Writer’s Bookshelf
Writing, like any other art, is only as good as your knowledge of the craft. You can’t be a good writer if you don’t read. So, what books are on the writer’s bookshelf?
Eight Books to Add to Your Summer Reading List
The sun is shining, the air is warm, and the Scribe team has no shortage of recommendations to fill out your summer reading list. Here are our top eight books to take on your vacation.